October and April (John Mitchell x Winter Waters)

Chapter 1 - Arrival

Mitchell's POV

I wake to the feeling of one of my best friends gently nudging me awake. I slowly shake my head a little and blink my eyes open, waking up and feeling slightly disoriented. I look to my left where George is sitting and groan a little, sleepily.

"What's wrong, George?" I ask, still feeling disoriented.

George looks at me and replies in a tired voice "We're about to land in Newcastle Airport."

I groan a little again in an exhausted manner and look beside George at Annie. Annie was fiddling around with her fingers nervously. It is her first flight ever and it is understandable that she is nervous. I reach across George and gently hold her hands. She stops fiddling and looks up at me from her hands. I offer her a soothing smile and she returns a slight and nervous smile. I look back at George, who also looks a little nervous.

"You'll both be fine. I do admit that the landing is a little rough sometimes, but it's going to be fine," I tell them both, hoping to ease their nerves.

Both give me a bit of a nod just before we all felt the plane starting to descend down towards the earth, slightly roughly. Both George and Annie look even more nervous and I look outside the window, seeing clouds hugging closely to the plane. I relax, knowing what landing is going to be like, but I know that both my friends are oblivious to how smooth landings are.

If there were less clouds, it'll be smoother. But at least it's not raining.

A bit of turbulence shakes the plane slightly, making me look at both my friends. Both of them are holding hands nervously and trying to calm each other down. I reach over George to hold both their hands.

"It'll be ok, you two. It may be a little rough because of the clouds but it'll be fine," I tell them, trying to calm their nerves.

Both nod as we continue to descend toward the waiting airport. I give them both a reassuring smile and hope I am helping with their nerves. A sudden small jolt and a slight screech of the wheels on the runway causes George and Annie to jump a little. It is slightly rough, like as if it has been raining a little while back. I look out the window and see that the runway was indeed slightly rain-washed.

The plane turns towards the building and slowly creeps over to its side until it stops in front. George, Annie and I unclip our seatbelts along with the other passengers. We stand and scramble about in the overhead bag compartment for our carry-on luggage. After grabbing our carry-on luggage, George, Annie and I scramble off the plane on the stairs at the back.

We walk into the airport building, carrying our packs and looking around at the crowded arrival area of the airport. All three of us wait beside the conveyer belt for our suitcases, staying silent as George and Annie recover from their nerves. We wait for a while before the we finally find our suitcases and start heading out to the parking area were our rental car is waiting.

"George, you got the map book?" I ask, peering over at him.

He swings his bag to his front and starts rummaging through until he pulls the map book out. I sigh in relief, knowing that I would have forgotten to pack it if it were my responsibility. Annie walks up to one side of our rental car, me following behind, and George walks up the other, unlocking the door and getting into the driver's seat. Both Annie and I get into the car with Annie in the front passenger seat. All of us clip our seatbelts and George hands the book to Annie.

"Annie, can you direct me to the house that we're temporarily staying at?" he inquires and Annie pours through the book, looking for the page with the small circle where the house would be.

"I believe so," she replies, finally finding the page.

"Can you find where we are?" I question, leaning forward and gazing over Annie's shoulder.

Annie suddenly perked up a little like as if she realises she doesn't have the page with the airport on it open. She places a finger between the pages that our house is on and starts to look for the page with the airport. I help her look for it while George just sits there, watching us like as if we're ignoring him.

"There," I say quickly, darting my finger to the spot that says Newcastle Airport.

Annie looks at the map a little closer while I pull my finger away and look at it also. George also leans closer and it's just the three of us staring closely at the map like we're expecting it to do something strange or abnormal.

"Ok. So we go out here. Turn here, I think. Go along here. No, wait. We turn here....No," George mutters, using his finger as a guide but pulls it away when he says the last "no". "Hmmmm..."

Annie looks at George and softly said "Just drive. I can take care of the directions."

I sit back just as George replies "Ok."

A moment later, the engine shivers and shakes into life and George starts to carefully reverse out of the parking spot. He starts to drive out of the airport and drive the Australian streets with the guide of Annie. I look out the window, keeping my eyes sharp for the streets that Annie call out and pointing them out when I spot them.

Two small arguments and three wrong turns (so about an hour or two) later, we arrive at the house. George kills the engine and the three of us just sit there, silent, and probably thinking the same thing: What is my ex-coven doing here in Australia?

I sigh exhaustedly and ask "Shall we go inside and check our temporary home?"

"Yeah," both George and Annie answer in unison, clearly sounding jetlagged.

All three of us unclip our seatbelts and clamber out of the car, silent. George locks the car and tosses me the keys to open the boot of the car. Unlocking and opening the boot, I toss the keys back to George and both Annie and I grab our suitcases and packs. George unlocks the front door and opens the door for both Annie and I.

"Thanks, George," I thank as I walk past, carrying two suitcases and a pack with a bit of difficulty.

Annie walks in behind my, carrying two packs and a suitcase. We both walk into the living room and put the stuff down, groaning while doing so. I place a hand on my shoulder and stretch my shoulder, feeling like I pulled a muscle in it.

"We should get some rest and get over this jetlag," George suggests, making both Annie and I nod in agreement.

"But first we need to sort out our rooms," I point out.

All three of us pick up our own packs and suitcases and head up the stairs. We look around the second storey, opening doors to see where the rooms are and where the bathroom and laundry room are. After exploring, we stand in front of the rooms and look at each other.

"So who wants what room?" Annie questions, gazing around at the rooms.

There's silence that sticks like a cold chill of winter as George and I look at the bedrooms. The three bedrooms were a few different sizes but it wasn't much of a difference. Probably around half a meter at most difference between them.

"I'll take the smallest one. After all, I have less stuff than you two," I say, starting to walk to the smallest room.

Annie peeps up from behind me "You sure, Mitchell?"

I stop in the doorway of the room, turn to face her and nod. "I'm sure."

Both George and Annie nod and I walk into my new room, leaving the other two to decide who's going to have which room. I gently shut the door, set my pack on the end of the bed and sit down on the bed. The house was a little bigger than ours back in Bristol and had an extra bathroom, one downstairs and one up. I sigh sleepily and lay back on the bed, my head just hanging off the edge. I look at the creamy-white ceiling, hoping we could figure this mystery out before anybody goes missing or turns up murdered in an 'unusual' manner.