Summary:
What if the real hero of Sleepy Hollow is not Ichabood ? Would a simple servant be able to save more souls and could she free the Hessian of his curse? Short story, 3 parts. HessianxOC.
Part 1
Sarah knew that the wife of his master was keeping a secret and she was determined to find out what it was. Since her arriving at the Van Tassel Manor little more than a year ago, she had sensed that Mrs. Mary Van Tassel was not the kind of person you would like to have against you and since her first day in the manor she was treating her bad. Despite the fact that was the richest house in Sleepy Hollow Sarah was the only servant and the more she worked, the more her Mistress abused her. There were days in which Sarah could not eat a single bite until each and every one of the stair steps were completely washed and polished until she could see her own tired reflection on them. Other times Lady Van Tassel would not allow her to sleep until every single room were not perfectly clean and the breakfast, lunch and dinner from the next day would not be ready. Sarah did as she could. She woke very early and started with the cleaning: scrubbing the mansion wooden floor inch by inch, cleaning windows inside and outside, cleaning the latrines and dusting all furniture. Then, she ran to cook the meals, which she tried to keep well-seasoned but for some reason, once she left the kitchen suddenly the food became too spicy or too salty. Of course she knew her mistress was doing it, same with the windows when she suddenly found them dirty of eggs threw by "someone" and the floors that seemed impossible to keep clean more than five minutes without someone "accidentally" made them filthy with dirt.
Nevertheless, none of these methods of abuse were as terrible as the one she was obliged to do a couple of weeks ago, a bleak day in which Lady Van Tassel called her apart to tell her she needed her and if she was loyal, she would be rewarded with a little fortune. The job? To practice fornication with an old man, the only doctor of Sleepy Hollow: Dr. Lancaster. She had seen him before in one of the parties her mistress did to show the villagers how rich she was. He was a thin man, with strange nervous mannerisms and hungry eyes for the youth and well curved forms of women.
"No." – She said. - "What else do I have in this world besides my virtue? I cannot compromise that."
"I am trying to make it easy for you, don't you see?" – Replied Mrs. Van Tassel. - "Once I got what I want, I will take you under my wing, dear."
"And what is what you want, Madame?"
"That is not your problem Sarah. You keep your nose out of it and I will not have to cut it as I did with the last servant." – Lady Van Tassel was hissing at her while giving some steps around her, the same way a beast would do before catching its prey. – "Indeed I will be generous with you, I will give you two options: First one would be to sleep with that Lancaster in exchange of the coins I promised."
"And the second?"
"The second…" – Lady Van Tassel stopped right in front of her and with her delicate silk and ivory fan hit the servant girl in the face with all her strength . – "This is your second option insolent!"
Sarah covered her painful cheek with a trembling hand and bowed her head in a gesture of obedience.
"That is a good girl!" –Said the mistress. – "Now, I think you chose wisely, but just one thing: Don't you dare to tell anyone about this. Your life depends on it."
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