Chapter 1:

_Location: somewhere in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India_

In the snow-clad regions of this beautiful hill station-Mussoorie, a garden is situated on the hilly terrains, surrounded by ravishing snow-covered tiny hills. A garden that is lively with the freshness of nature and greenery. A garden that is full of colourful flowers and chirping birds. Tall and bushy bougainvillaea trees standing eminently on the boundaries of the garden give it an ambience that is filled with divine energy.

It's a garden with a play area where the kids gleefully enjoy their childhood, free of life pressures and hardships. It's a place where the elderly meet one another with the happiest hearts to release the emotional stress that eats them up in their lives. This garden is a place full of love, laughter, optimism, natural freshness, divinity and genuine serenity.

_*Present Day*_

It was about five in the evening. Seven to eight kids were playing Hide-n-Seek in the play area of the garden. They all were laughing and screaming joyfully. Their grandparents were sitting on the nearby benches, enjoying their play. It was Advait's turn to seek his friends. He ran to his grandfather who covers his eyes with his palm and gave the kids a countdown. 10...9...8...7....

Kavish- an eight-year-old- looked around hysterically to find a place to hide. He was suddenly struck with a mischievous idea and he excitedly ran towards the back gate of the garden which was rarely used. He exited the garden and began looking for a place to hide. He came across a bushy tree and hid beneath it. He waited there calmly as he knew Advait wouldn't dare to exit the garden alone just to seek him.

Meanwhile, in the garden, Advait managed to find all his friends except Kavish. He had already looked like a thousand times throughout the garden but couldn't find a sign of him. He ultimately panicked and asked the grandparents about what to do next. Giving up seeing the sadness on his face, Advait's grandfather suggested he should look for Kavish outside the garden through the back gate. Advait got excited again and along with his friends moved out of the gate. After a struggle of about thirty minutes, Kavya- Kavish's twin sister- found his shoelace on the floor and they all finally succeeded in finding him under the bush. Kavish was sitting calmly, rubbing his palms together to be warm in the chilly winds. Advait shouted in his ear that he had found him and they all laughed out loud. They all then turned around to go back to the garden when Kavya's attention was grabbed by something shining on the ground. When she moved closer, she saw a wristwatch half dug in the snow. She tried to pick it up but to her shock, she was pulled by it on the ground. Hearing her scream, her friends ran to help her get up. Kavish also saw the watch and agreed that it was their mother's. He pulled on the watch harder and to their utter distress, it came out along with a wrist too. The kids dug the snow to find Kavish and Kavya's mother- Shweta's cold dead body buried meticulously in the snowy hill!

End of chapter 1

- Sneha Dholakia