Winter

I was in a hurry when I bumped into a guy, this resulted in me falling on my ass in the freezing cold. My bags were scattered around me and I was really hoping that my books weren't all wet. "Damn it." I mumbled whilst getting up to retrieve everything, when a shadow fell over me. "I'm really sorry." I heard him say with an Irish accent but I didn't really have time to make small talk and I just nodded and actually waved him off not thinking twice about it.
After getting everything from the floor I started to make my way towards the train station, because I was actually on my way to this cottage somewhere in the woods in the middle of Scotland. It used to be part of a castle and my friends decided that we had to celebrate Christmas there.

I wasn't really against it as I really didn't want to spend Christmas home, as my parents were divorcing right now and as they were battling over my attention, I just told him that I wasn't even planning on spending Christmas with either of them, which resulted in a fight. I wrote them both a letter in which I wrote that I would call them on new-years eve but that they had to celebrate the holidays without me. The fun part of this trip was that we had neighbors and I was really curious who else was celebrating Christmas away from home.

The train was already waiting on the platform when I got there and I actually had to run to make it and as I set a foot in the train I heard to whistle and the doors closed behind me. I put my hands on my knees to catch my breath and in the meantime I was cursing the guy who had made me fall in the first place. I quickly made my way to my seat and as I sat down I felt my phone vibrate, I had put it on silence because I was expecting my parents to call me and I wasn't wrong about that.

"Mom." I said when I picked up, bracing myself for her a long lecture. "Winter, where are you?" she was actually sounding worried and it did make me a bit sad. "I'm in England for now." I told her and it was silent for a second or two. "I wish you would've stayed home." She was trying to make me feel guilty by putting on her sad voice and to be honest that usually worked but not today.

"I didn't feel like spending Christmas with people who were only fighting mom." I told her quietly not wanting to hurt her on purpose. "We would've put that aside for you, you know that." They wouldn't have and not because they didn't try but because they really hated each other.
"You wouldn't mom and that's okay but I wasn't planning on getting in the middle of that so now I'm spending Christmas with friends in Scotland." Hopefully this would calm her down and leave me alone for the remaining days, I was going to be here. "Alright dear, I hope you have fun and let us know when you're coming home." She gave up way too easily but I wasn't complaining and I quickly thanked her and hung up.

I looked outside and wasn't surprised to see it snowing. I luckily had packed enough clothes and my important stuff, like my laptop and phone plus chargers. I also brought along my e-reader with a lot of books on it and as I had to fill up a few hours, I started to read, completely forgetting my surroundings and eventually I must've fallen asleep because I woken up by my alarm, which indicated that I had to get out of the train.

I took in my surroundings and I was completely mesmerized with the town I was standing in. It looked like time had stood still, since the eighteen hundreds, excepts for the cars and streetlights but the houses looked like I would imagine a middle age town. This was going to be absolutely awesome. I grabbed my bags and made my way to the waiting cab and quickly got in. I couldn't stop looking outside. The snow made it look even better and the Christmas decoration everywhere was amazing.

"Is this your first time in Scotland lass?" My cabdriver was being polite but I didn't mind. "Yes, this is my first time." I smiled at him and that set him off, he began to tell me that this town was build in the sixteen hundreds and that they had a duke living in the big castle in front of us, there wasn't living any relatives any longer and the castle was used for tourists. "Really so I could take a look inside?" he nodded but he also got a weird expression on his face.
"I would be careful lass because it is haunted." I tore my eyes from the castle back to the cabdriver. "Really, like actually haunted?" I shouldn't sound so curious because that would only get me into trouble but then again, who wouldn't be curious right? "Yes one of my mates still has nightmares about a guy that appeared and disappeared in thin air." He told me and I listened carefully to see if he was joking but he was dead serious, which meant that I already had an activity for us planned.

After driving for quite some time, we finally arrived at the cottages and as I looked at the next door cottage I saw a group of four guys unloading a van, I saw them carry instruments inside. I recognized them from somewhere but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"Thank you and I wish you a lovely Christmas." I paid the driver after he had placed my bags in front of the door. He waved and drove off and before I could even knock, the door flew open and I was engulfed into a bear hug from my best friend Elena. "OMG you're finally here!" she exclaimed. She pulled me inside but before I closed the door I felt a pair of eyes on me and as I looked behind me I saw a blond guy watching me with I think a smile on his face, I shrugged and closed the door.

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