Ta-da! First Sleepy Hollow fic. I'm not gonna lie, I'm nervous.
English isn't my native language, so there might be some mistakes.
Cover and idea taken from bebe-benzenheimer on tumblr.
Katrina van Tassel was not one of the good girls. Not anymore.
As a little child she had dreamed of finding her own prince, marrying him, and having beautiful children with him. She would die old, by her prince's side, holding his hand as they relaxed in their comfortable chairs on their front porch, gazing at the horizon.
Her life, however, took a completely different turn when her father agreed to marry his daughter to Abraham Brunt. The Brunts were a rich and prestigious family, and the van Tassels could only benefit from such a union. No one asked Katrina how she felt about the arrangement. No one seemed to realise that fathers sold their daughters like that centuries ago.
Katrina had tried to make the best out of the situation. She really had. Abraham seemed to be a nice guy, and he treated her right. He could put a smile on her face. He often made her forget why they interacted that much; he helped her lock her anger and misery away for a while.
Everything was all right until they got engaged. The engagement made Abraham - Abe, as he wanted to be called - think that he owned her, that he had some sort of claim over her. He didn't treat her like her only purpose was to be a proper housewife who lived to serve him, which was fortunate. Nevertheless, Abe was extremely possessive and got jealous so very easily. He trusted Katrina around no man; if she ever so much as caught a glimpse of a guy, Abe would beat her for it the moment they got home. He would apologise the following morning - he even brought her mouth-watering breakfast in bed every time - but Katrina could never forget, no matter how many delicious pancakes and waffles and croissants he made for her. She couldn't forget even if she wanted to; she had bruises on her body to remind her.
She tried to kill herself once, but she reached the conclusion that she was too much of a coward to do that. She could not bring physical pain to herself, so cutting was also off the table. So, she turned to other things. She started smoking. It tasted horribly and would eventually kill her; she loved it. When Abe was away for business, she went to clubs and partied like there was no tomorrow. She couldn't understand how someone so possessive didn't just lock her in the house whenever he left. Sometimes she considered telling him about what she did when he was away just to piss him off, to spite him: she made out with random guys, she had one-night stands, she even gave men hand-jobs and blow-jobs for money.
To be honest, there was one good thing in her life. That was As the Page Turns. It was a small antique bookshop, filled with books written centuries ago. Katrina found peace there. She loved perusing the old tomes and briefly imagining being swept away in the far-off fantastic tales. She loved reading biographies about great people she would never meet. She loved reading fiction where people finally got their happy endings.
And she loved seeing the owner.
Ichabod Crane was a tall handsome man with shoulder-length chestnut brown hair and eyes that sometimes were blue as the clear sky, other times green like fresh grass, and others stormy grey. He loved history and although he was British, he had a passion for Colonial America. He had great respect for George Washington but regarded Benjamin Franklin as vain and self-centered. Katrina got that information mostly when he heard him talk to clients or to his friend and employee Abbie Mills. At least, Katrina hoped that the young woman was merely his friend. They did seem to be rather close, but she didn't know. She couldn't just go and ask her - or Ichabod.
Truth be told, she could barely have a conversation with the man. Not because he was rude to her or because he didn't want to talk to her. No, Katrina was...shy. It was easy for her to approach a total stranger and do things with him in his car or even in an alley under the cover of night. But conversing with Ichabod...He was charming and kind and always asked her how she was. Katrina thought that sometimes he looked worried, but she quickly dismissed that thought. When Ichabod looked like that, either she was imagining it or he had things in mind. Nothing more. He couldn't possibly worry about her. Why would he?
That particular day, Ichabod was not to be found in As the Page Turns. Abbie was the only one there, and as Katrina paid for her book, she found herself opening her mouth before thinking.
"Isn't Ichabod coming today?"
Abbie looked surprised at first. "Um...no, he's sick actually. He's got the flu."
"Oh," was Katrina's only reply. Why had she asked that question? What would Abbie think of her?
The employee smiled at the redhead as she handed her purchase to her. "I'll tell him you said feel better."
Katrina knew that she should tell Abbie not to do that. She already felt embarrassed as it is. What if Abbie was actually Ichabod's girlfriend and was playing a cruel joke on her? What if Ichabod only appeared to be a good guy, as Abe had, and only wanted to have his fun with her?
But then she saw him in her mind, his eyes filled with honesty and kindness. She told herself that a woman like her should know better by now, but Ichabod's image was stronger than her inner voice.
She smiled at Abbie. "Have a good day," she said and left.
Katrina wanted to go to As the Page Turns. It was her shelter, her safe haven, her little piece of heaven on earth. It gave her strength.
A part of her wanted to see Ichabod, but another part didn't. What if he was nice to everyone and Katrina's interest was something unwanted? What if he wanted her to keep away from him? What if he tried to put a distance between them by being cold towards her and not saying one more word to her than what was absolutely necessary? Katrina dreaded this turn of events. She didn't know whether she could call Ichabod a friend, but his kindness was as bright as the sun. Even when it was not directed to her, it filled her with warmth, because it helped her see that there was still good in the world.
She delayed her visit to As the Page Turns as much as possible until she couldn't take one more second inside the hell she was supposed to call home. Abe was at work, so she took the all too familiar route toward the book store.
There were new arrivals, so Ichabod and Abbie had a lot of work to do. Katrina walked around silently like a ghost, picking up various books, not really paying attention to what she was reading. The words danced before her eyes as she lost herself in thought. Was Ichabod ignoring her? Should she go and ask him how he was feeling? Should she walk out of the bookshop and never come back again, lose herself in the darkness and her vices?
She felt a hand on her arm and jumped as she was pulled out of her thoughts. She turned around and found herself looking at Ichabod. He looked apologetic.
"Um, I'm sorry for startling you," he said and paused. It looked like he wanted to say something but couldn't quite find the way to do it. Would he ask her to leave his shop forever? "I, uh, well, I wanted to thank you for your...your concern when I was ill."
She nodded. So, Abbie had told him. "Yes. I, er, I hope you're feeling better."
Ichabod's face lit up and he seemed to take courage from her words. "I am, thank you. I felt better the moment Miss Mills told me about it."
Katrina blinked rapidly. Surely she must have misheard. Had Ichabod just said that her concern for him had alleviated his pain? No. Surely not.
He cleared his throat. "Anyway," he said, looking at his shoes, "I was wondering whether you'd like to have a cup of coffee."
Katrina's heart, a little bird trapped in her ribcage, missed a beat. "Um - coffee? Are you serious?"
"Forget I asked."
"No, wait," Katrina said. As Ichabod turned to go, she carefully placed her hand on his arm just as he had done when he helped her escape from her ill-founded thoughts. He turned around and looked at her delicate hand. Then he looked at her face, both surprised and hopeful. "I'd love to," she said honestly and with a rare genuine smile on her beautiful face (only he managed to make this sort of smile stretch her lips).
"That's wonderful! Are you free now?"
Katrina's eyes fluttered. "Now? Aren't you busy?"
"No, Abbie can handle it."
She nodded, the smile still on her face. "Okay then," she said, and just then it dawned on her that she was still touching him. It was like he was working some kind of magic on her, because she felt so serene. Dare she say that she felt happy?
Feeling that what she was doing was indecent and impudent (how ironic, taking into account what she had done with strangers to forget everything just for a little while - without the desired result) she moved to take her hand away from him. However, Ichabod her delicate hand gently and looped it in his arm.
"My lady, shall we go?"
Katrina blushed. She felt like she was in one of those old books that she so dearly enjoyed reading. She pretended that she was no longer wearing a shirt and jeans but a lovely gown; her hair was done up in a complicated hair-do with one loose fiery curl over one shoulder; Ichabod courting her and was dressed like a 18th century Englishman.
She smiled at him and nodded. Walking arm in arm, they left the small but precious book store. As they exited it, Katrina looked around and looked at her little sanctuary. As the Page Turns, indeed.
So, maybe this ended up too cheesy...Huh...Anyway, feedback is love! xxx