u/Dry_Pomegranate3311

She approached the unfamiliar door and nervously took the key from her pocket. She took a deep breath, unlocked the door, paused, then opened it. To her horror, she saw a body lying by it, the room filled with an unbearable horrid stench. The body must've been there for atleast a few months, she judged by the decay. As the sight of it all began to slowly settle in her head, a new thought started to take shape in it, terrorizing her. She prayed and wished desperately for it to be untrue and for the first time in nearly two months wished for her daughter to not be found. The face was no longer recognisable, thanks to the bugs helping themselves to the rare human bounty.She quickly began searching for signs to soothe her loudly thumping heart. She looked at the dirt laden clothes for signs of beautiful pastel-colors and traces of laces. Just as she relaxed and heaved a sigh of relief, her eyes fell on the pair of one-of-a-kind, vintage brown boots she spent months searching for.

The end.

Im looking for feedback, so pls feel free to be as brutal as you want. 'A door to unlock' title not only refers to the actual door that the woman had to unlock but also a new phase or chapter in her life as she finally comes to terms with the fact that her daughter has been found, dead.

So i follow this one girl on instagram and her videos do crazy numbers, so i did some research, she used to post random videos of her day to day life and suddenly one day started posting highly curated, scripted videos with great structure, same background, giving value type of content, she would post 3-4 different niches' content and her finance reels did well so now shes a full time financial advisor with a staggering 958k followers, it took her only 1 year to get here.

I couldnt help but wonder if there are agencies that will help you curate your entire feed from scratch? If so, how do i get in touch with them, whats the monetary contract like and are there any downsides to this?

I had a dream. I couldnt achieve it, i was young (16), but i havent been able to get over it since then (20 currently). I couldnt get into my dream university. I keep grieving the life it could have led to. It has seriously impacted my confidence, my self esteem, my believe in myself that I can achieve other goals is completely shaken now. I spend half of my life running on autopilot.

Today, I saw an instagram of a girl. Very beautiful and also somewhat looks like me, has the same dressing sense as me, same hobbies and shes better than me at them and she's in my dream university. She has an internship at one of the biggest firms, and an offer from there. She has followers on insta as well and overall has achieved EVERYTHING i had ever wanted to do. Test scores, college experiences etc. Amazing social life, group of friends, solo travel experiences, you name it.

I spent the last 3 hrs rummaging through her profile as if trying to find a flaw that makes it not so very "how i envisioned my life to be when i was 16".

I kept crying and crying and it honestly felt like she stole something that was supposed to be mine. She took it from me. God took it from me and gave it to her.

And now that its gone, i have nothing left, i have no friends in college, i havent been to any parties, no internships, I am in a constant state of de realization. When i saw her, it was like the kid in me broke down crying.

I have no idea what to do, what do i need to achieve to make it go away, to make myself feel better about myself and to feel proud of myself once again and to believe in my abilities like i used to believe in half a decade ago.

Intern ssn ended, couldnt land one, couldnt even clear any OAs and so I have decided to not apply off campus or to startups because i wanna give my 100% preparing for on campus placements. I do have a few paid research intern offers for this year because in my 2nd year, i was extremely research focused, even worked under an IIT prof during summers, published a journal paper etc. But seeing the brutality of research in India and how much it limits my options of being comfortably-independent early on, I made the decision to switch to corporate roles but now I dont have a summer internship but my friends do, goldman, microsoft, flipkart etc

It's honestly driving me crazy and making me paranoid, yk the whole WHAT IF WHAT IF but I have made up my mind to not do any time consuming summer intern. I'll have to look for something "On paper" that also doesnt raise any suspicions when companies arrive in July-Aug.

To people who have done this before, how and what did you do?

https://preview.redd.it/thwawrr1oyxg1.png?width=1000&format=png&auto=webp&s=c9bb771518626c4b3a33b76327a9ccadbb12696a

https://preview.redd.it/uzcmll5mirxg1.jpg?width=3022&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5cee944acb62a0142c1821bca962e831e20f01f2

Ever since I got to know that Banu Mushtaq from Karnataka won the 2025 International Booker Prize, I've been very curious to read and see it for myself. It's a collection of short stories centred around the day to day lives of Muslim Women in Southern India. Although I don't belong to the faith myself, it's been a refreshing read because alongside focusing on the women, it also focuses on their husbands, their lives and who gets to 'control' them. Even in stories where the woman doesnt play much role, the silent power of them is very much visible. It is a book that says a lot with just a few words. Every story makes you stop and think, makes you feel angry, sad, happy, disgusted, heartbroken, the emotions are very real with this one. I found myself sometimes sympathising with the women, sometimes questioning their double standards and hypocrisy and this is what's real and special about this book, it is grounded in reality. You can see the stories' women around you irrespective of the faith. It might even question what you (the reader) believe to be true and throws light on just how much other people get to control a woman's life's narrative even if she's well educated or smart or 'progressive'. For me this book is a solid 'MUST READ'. And it's a booker winner from INDIA! lesgoooo.