Chapter Twenty - Still Standing

CHAPTER TWENTY

Still Standing

I DON’T KNOW how to wrap a bow on something like this, because there was never a bow on it in real life. Nobody gave me a tidy ending. Nobody shook my hand and said, “Hey man, that was messed up. Sorry about that.” There was no apology. No closure. No refund. Just silence. Just… nothing.

And yet here I am.

Still breathing.
Still building.
Still putting words to something most people never get to say out loud.

This wasn’t just a summer job gone wrong. This was a system that chews people up on purpose. A playbook they run on repeat. A pipeline that convinces broke kids they’re CEOs in training, then dumps them in neighborhoods with no food, no breaks, no protection, and a quota wrapped in a smile.

It didn’t break me.
But it could’ve.

And if I hadn’t gotten out when I did, if I hadn’t had enough people in my life to call bullshit when I couldn’t and to remind me who I was when I forgot or to pick me up when I was face-down in the mud, I might still be out there knocking.

Still chasing carrots.
Still chanting mantras.
Still thinking it’s my fault for being exhausted.

So this is my last word to anyone who’s ever been there.

If it feels wrong, it probably is.
If it feels like a cult, it probably is.
If it feels like you’re trapped, you’re not crazy.

They built it that way.

And if you get out? If you finally step back and see it for what it was?

Then you’ve already won.