Disclaimer: I do not own The Hollow or any of the characters portrayed in this fanfic. Hope you all like it!

Chapter 1: A New Beginning

I never imagined leaving Calverton, my hometown on Long Island. I never imagined saying good-bye to what ever friends I had back home….I was moving to Sleepy Hollow…that freaked me out a bit.

Even though what they said about Sleepy Hollow is a myth, I still have a feeling that all of the events that occurred all of those years ago are real. I saw the movie. I read the story. I don't care if they say that Ichabod Crane and Katrina Van Tassel are fictional characters. I was convinced that they haunt everyone up there. That's where I was moving. My dad, Malcolm, got a promotion up there and took me, my older brother Matt, my younger brother Mike, and my mom, Maggie, with him.

Matt was going to be a senior, so he was really upset about moving. I felt really bad for him. He was looking forward to graduating with his friends and enjoying his last year of high school with the people he was used to seeing every day. Everyone at Sleepy Hollow High School probably grew up with each other and spent three and a half years together so Matt probably felt like a complete outsider. Now he has to start off fresh for a whole year and then he'll be all alone again when he goes to college next year.

I was going to be a junior, so I at least had a little bit of time to build some form of memories at a new high school. I was still anxious regardless.

Mike had it easier than all of us. He was going to be a freshman so no one was able to tell if he just moved there or not.

The only friends I truly had were Billy and his girlfriend Emma. I introduced them to each other, but Billy died in a car accident and Emma stopped talking to me afterwards because apparently my presence reminded her of "painful memories," so she stopped returning my phone calls. So in a way, I was glad I was moving. My only regret was that I never got the chance to visit Billy at the cemetery before I left. I was going to miss him the most. He was one of my closest friends and the only memory I have of him is the prayer card I took from the wake.

It takes roughly an hour and a half to drive from Calverton to Sleepy Hollow. It felt like I was in the car for six hours.

Once we made it to Sleepy Hollow, we passed by a bridge with police tape blocking it.

This place is giving me the creeps already. Someone was probably murdered there. Get me out of here...I thought.

We finally got to our new house in Sleepy Hollow; it was bigger than I expected. The house has two floors and a basement instead of a one story house with no basement back home.

I carried my bags of clothes and my guitar up to my new room: the last door on the right with a window that faced the front lawn. My room was painted red and I put up my band posters despite my mom's protest. She wanted me to have a "clean slate" not only with the people I was going to meet, but with myself as well.
I arranged the furniture the way I wanted it, I finally got a chance to relax until…

"Melanie!" my mom called, "Dinner's here!"

Since we didn't get a chance to go food shopping, we ordered some Chinese food.

The five of us sat in the dining room. It almost felt like we were home again.

"Remember to get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow is a big day for all of us." Dad said.

"I don't know how the hell I'm gonna fit in," Matt finally said. "I was supposed to be graduating back home, not here."

"Honey, I'm sure you'll fit in perfectly," my Mom replied.

I bet if I said that, Mom wouldn't be so nice.

"How do you know?" You never moved away a year before you were supposed to be graduating high school."

Dad sighed in exasperation. "I don't know if you got the memo but we're all in a new environment. There is probably someone out there who has it worse. I don't want to hear anymore complaining for the rest of the night."

Matt rolled his eyes. "Whatever…"

Mike and I looked at each other. Even though we didn't say anything, we knew exactly what the other was thinking. We were in for a long week.

That night I tossed and turned in my bed. I turned my iPod on to put on classical music, but to no avail, I couldn't sleep. I scrolled down to Pink Floyd, Billy's favorite band. I listened to "Comfortably Numb" and fell asleep instantly.

*I'll be updating very soon!
Again, I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING!