I don't own any part of sleepy hollow especially the horseman but I own Janise and other characters of the "real world"
It was a crisp day at the end of fall, and the whole neighborhood was a buzz with talk of candy and costumes. There was one house decked out to the max, as if some sick elf had no idea what a gingerbread house should look like. There were false limbs everywhere, tombstones and cobwebs, giant candy corns, and so many strange sights strewn across the yard. The house itself wasn't much to see a small white house with a black shingled roof and little green shutters. At the very edge of the yard crouched a strange dark cloaked figure, it seemed to be tinkering with an electrical box.
"Janise, where the devil are you," Cried a plump woman in the doorway to the little house.
The figure stood from its place between the two enormous oak trees, "Over here mother," she cried.
"What are you doing?" asked Janise's mother in exasperation.
"Fixing up the wires for the sound effects and pop up monsters," said Janise jovially, "you see, when a trick or treater walks through this little laser beam it trips off the pop up zombie, and then they'll jump, causing their foot to slip backwards through the laser a second time. This will cause the howling and wailing to be set off through that speaker." At this she pointed to a speaker mounted to the left of her in a low branch of the oak.
"I will never understand your silly obsession with Halloween and mechanics."Her mother rolled her eyes and walked back in the house.
Janise shrugged her shoulders and went back to work, singing Halloween tunes all the way. She was all prepared for Halloween, tones of candy, decorations, and the perfect costume. But still the mood was incomplete, for what good is trick or treating without a friend? In school all mocked her for her constant reading of sleepy hollow. "I hope the hessian rises for your head!" she would think to herself.
Halloween went off without a hitch; Janise's yard scared at least twenty kids and at least ten adults. Her costume was enough to scare anyone, a long silky evening gown with rips all over it. She fixed it so that shattered bone poked out at strange angles, blood stains covered the chest, and her throat appeared to be slit. Her face was painted a silky hue and her lips a breathless blue. Her long brown hair fell like veil of spider webs around her head, giving the impression of a restless live burial escape.
Slowly October chilled itself to November and her birthday came and went with little celebration. Imagine turning sweet sixteen and having a party for you your family and your cat, not a happy occasion, huh? She was very happy to receive a new hand carved figure of Dracula which she proudly mounted on her book shelf, and a strange real skull.
"It's from the revolutionary battle in new York. We thought you'd like it seeing as you have an obsession with that roving fellow." Piped Janise's father eager for her approval.
"Irving"
"What?"
"Irving, Washington Irving…not Orving." She clarified as she rolled her eyes. "I love it thank you!"
Sadly the month rolled on with little to do for thanksgiving break, but at least Christmas was on its way. Indeed Janise was ready for Christmas; she started pulling out the ornaments a week before her father brought the tree home. Her family woke the next morning t an array of lights and shiny baubles covering a large green douglassfur. They smiled knowing that soon the world would seem a little brighter with their daughter looking forward to snow. She would be cheerful and sing and miraculously talk and mingle with others.