THE GAZE

Chapter 1: THE  NOT SO PLEASANT BUT PLEASANT SUPRISE 

It was a pleasant sunny evening Rita and Ria were just returning from school , "Meh, just another boring day at school.... And a ton of homework" said Rita . Rita and Ria Kumar were both twins and the only difference was their height and that too not much, so that was not a reliable source for telling them apart. As Ria only was only 1 millimetre taller than Rita which made her angry. "But on the bright side , at least we have sports day and Ananya's birthday party /sleepover to look forward to "said Ria . "Yeah" said Ria. Both of them were thin, had black eyes and wore similar type of hairbands.

The only thing that people can pretty much notice to tell the difference, was their hair length, as that Rita had long hair and Ria had short .Though they may seem similar, they are actually really different , as Ria only preferred to look on the bright side of things , while Rita on the other and , well cant say that she was the opposite , she too looked on the bright side sometimes but was careful not to always .... Almost too careful .

although Ria was always fun and jolly and always ready to mingle and socialize , Rita was also fun and jolly but in a different way , she was .... Let say but not that awkward , she would also talk to people but not that much ....

"So are you still joining the art competiton or ...." Said Rita . " I have to still decide though " replied Ria

"well, decide fast then, the deadline is tomorrow ..., or it will happen like last year." Last year Ria had an amazing idea for the theme 'favourite book' but by the time she had registered the deadline had already been long over , and she was weeping and crying the whole day , especially since Rebecca , their enemy since 1st grade and (teacher's pet much !! ) had won first prize. "If I had entered last year would have at least beaten that donkey !!" "calm down !" said Rita .

It was exactly 3:45pm, the time they always reached home , when they entered through the front door everything was suspiciously quiet as there is always something or the other creating noise in the house

Like the cookers or their grandma and her bhajans , but nothing .

They looked at each other "Something is definitely wrong, Rita......." Said Ria with their eyes wide open as they have never encountered anything like this , but was sure something was wrong . when they reached their room , it was locked and they heard some murmuring behind it . " Are they planning something ? " said Rita . "Think so" said Ria. Finally when the door opened , "Mum their here !"

It was their younger brother , Samarth. When they looked inside , they saw their mum dad and grandparents , they were puzzled . It wasn't their birthday , no special days marked on the calendar , suddenly they started getting anxious , had they forgotten something , was it their great aunts birthday ? no , it got over last month , with her ending up blowing the candle after a whole 5 minutes , as all of them were trick candles , while everybody was wondering who did it , the twins already knew the answer , it was Samarth of course. Because every time they forget something their mother reminds them and tells not to forget it , but how were they supposed to memorize the birthdays and anniversaries and of ALL their family members , while there were family members that they didn't even know yet ? . Now I know what your thinking , " why couldn't they just mark on the calender ?"

Well they couldn't because there was only 1 calender in the household and right from the start of the year almost each week was crowded with something or the other , as their mom was an engineer and their dad was a professor , where they study at. "What is it ma ?" said Rita irritated . " were moving to your grandfather's " said Mrs kumar .