Nothing Changes in Charming

1. Awoken by Death

In a dark, lonely apartment, where the only light that enters is the view from across New York city, sleeps a young woman. Cuddled up in a king size bed, all alone, dreaming about newspaper articles and work-related tasks, a constant worry of her working life. She sleeps undisturbed by the sound of the traffic, rushing through the city streets, the sounds of the clubs and bars nearby. She is in a deep sleep, until the loud vibration coming from her mobile awakens her, quickly trying to grab at her phone, she makes a quick observation of the time before answering the call, it two in the morning, who could possibly want her at that time? Without looking at the caller ID, she answers with a very sleepy "hello". There is silence for a minute so she has to repeat herself, until a quiet but familiar voice answers on the other side. "Hi Honey, something bad has happened, you need to come home".

Three hours later the young woman, Haley Winston, is making her way to JFK Airport for a direct flight to Stockton in California. She in the back of a yellow cab thinking about what has just happened in the last few hours after receiving that phone call, how everything has now changed, she is no longer worrying about newspaper articles or work related tasks but the news she has just received.

"Mom?" Haley reaches over to her bedside lamp, brightening up her bedroom which makes her rub at her eyes once more. The voice on the other side of the phone was, indeed Haley's mother, Mary Winston, it was very rare to have a phone call from her mother as it had been months since they spoke last. Her voice was calm, as it always was but Haley could sense the despair in her voice, "Yes honey, it's me" there was just silence for a moment, allowing Haley to take in what she had just said, she has to go home? Something bad had happened? "Mom what's happened? Is dad okay?" Haley sits up in bed to await the bad news, pulling the bed sheets closer to her. "Donna's been shot, she's dead honey" Mary was silent, she was clearly trying to contain her emotions at this point, "your brother needs you, Haley". Trying to take in this news was hard for Haley, her brother's wife has just died, a close friend to Haley who meant a great deal to her. There was further silence for a bit, Haley still trying to get over the shock of the news she was hearing. Before Mary could carry on talking to Haley she just simply answered "I'll be there soon" and ended the call with her mother.

Haley was around thirty minutes away from the airport, her flight was taking off at 5.45am, she had plenty of time to gather her thoughts before she would go back to the place where she hadn't been in over nine years. She hadn't really thought about this until she got into the cab, everything happened so quick after having the phone call from her mother, she got changed, booked the flight, packed a suitcase and left. She managed to phone her boss while waiting for the taxi to arrive, explaining to him that she would be away for a while, which of course he was happy to allow and told her to take as much time as she needed. Going home wasn't going to be easy for her, it would bring back memories, painful ones at that. It was going to make her see people she had wanted to forget, people who had hurt her so bad, people who she once loved.

As she was getting ready to board the plane, she grabs her phone out of her bag and makes a quick phone call before turning it off, it was to one of the two men who never hurt her, her father. He answered the call straight away which was never the case for her father, he was useless with his phone but obviously this was under different circumstances. "Hi Daddy, I'm getting on the plane now, just wondering if you're still picking me up when I land?" she loved her dad so much and was actually pretty happy to see him, but the only person she needed to see was her brother, Opie. "Yeah I'll be there. How are you?" he knew that Haley would be holding it together like she had always done, Haley loved Donna just as much as anyone, she was the one who got her through the bad times of her teenage life, she was practically the sister she never had. "I'm fine daddy, just need to see Opie. Look I better go, I'll see you soon" she ended the call before her father could reply, she found it hard to talk, she was finding it hard to be strong and she needed to be strong for her family.

She turned off her mobile, placing it back into her bag and retrieved her ticket. She was hoping for some sleep during her flight but she knew that wouldn't happen, she knew she was going to overthink about what was actually happening. The flight attendant called her row to make their way onto the plane. She slowly made her way towards the flight attendant, was this actually happening she questioned herself? Or was this just one bad dream and she was going to wake up back in bed? Haley took once last look behind her before entering the plane, she was saying goodbye to the normal life she had in New York as she knew it was all about to change.