"Wake up, Ichabod." The voice came to him as from far away, it was a female voice, a kind voice.
"Katrina…?" He murmured. Feeling came floating back into his hands, his fingertips were alive with the electric tingle of soft skin beneath them, he sucked in a sharp breath and sat up, burying his head in a shoulder he knew would be there, although his eyes were closed. "Oh, Katrina… I dreamed… I…"
"Katrina was buried this past winter, Ichabod… it said so, here in your ledger." Ichabod Crane opened his eyes.
"Ngyeh!" He gasped, pulling away from the warm comfort of Abigail's embrace and falling back onto the bed where he lay. "Tell me I am not in Sleepy Hollow…" He said after a moment.
"If you would have me lie, Ichabod, then I would."
"What… happened?" He sighed, suddenly unable to look anywhere but the ceiling.
"You fainted. I told your servants that I was sent to fetch you by a doctor, to remedy you of that very thing."
"Well, there would be no denying that you are a sly thing."
"Thank you, Ichabod." Abigail smiled. "I was worried for you… you did not wake during the ride here, nor for the rest of the afternoon… I am glad you came back in time to see the Horseman…"
"No!" He sat up and grabbed her shoulder. "You cannot keep me here! I will send for the police in New York! Surely they will come and bring me home-- this is kidnapping!"
"I doubt a letter will get very far… all the townspeople are too frightened to leave their houses." Abigail rose, and Ichabod saw for the first time that she was only wearing a white cotton shift. He felt the blood rush to his face as he closed his eyes.
"Please, put on a housecoat, Ms. Van Tassel." He bade her. He heard an exasperated sigh and a door opened.
"Mr. Crane, my nightclothes should be the least of your worries." He heard a door close, and yet he kept his eyes closed for several moments, hoping it was just a dream, hoping that when he opened them he would be safe in Katrina's arms.
But he wasn't.
Instead, a bland room with a wooden floor and pewter candelabra's upon the walls greeted him. The candles were dripping wax, indicating that it had been dark for several hours.
"Abby!" A voice outside of his window called. He roused himself and slid out of the large bed, moving to the open window and gazing out into the night, where a young man stared up at him, confused.
"Young master, try knocking on the door." He told the youthful face, which disappeared in the shadows on the front stoop. Below him he could hear the door being banged softly, and then opening. What sort of gentleman makes calls upon a young woman so late in the evening? Ichabod thought, looking out at the overcast night sky. Below him, he heard hurried voices whispering, and then shoes pounded up the stairs and the door burst open.
"Master Crane?" The young man inquired, Ichabod started, turned.
"Yes?" He asked, surprised. The young man looked at him, breathless.
"Abby told me that you were here to help us be rid of the Hessian, is it true you are here to help us once again?"
"I… well…" Now she had gone and done it. How was Ichabod going to tell this gentleman he was terrified, and that he could not stand the thought of even staying in Sleepy Hollow?
"Daniel." Abigail's smiling face appeared in the doorway. "Please, do not disturb our guest. " Daniel turned and smiled at her.
"Of Course, Abby." He responded, bowing briefly to Ichabod before leaving him. The door closed again, and Ichabod sighed. What would Katrina have wanted him to do? Well, stay and complete the task asked of him, of course, but how could he? How…
"Daniel, please, think about this." He heard Abigail pleading in the next room. "Ichabod is here to rid us of this evil, you know he cannot be done away with by mortal means."
"Abby, I have to try… he took my family."
"You have me."
"Forgive me, Abby, but our relationship leaves something to be desired." The responded, not harshly.
"We're promised!"
"You know as well as I that that betrothal means nothing now that our families are gone…"
"So you are willing to give your own life for nothing?"
"It's not nothing!" The young man shouted now. "It is my family's memory!"
"You'll die!"
"At least I am not afraid to!" A door opened hurriedly, feet capped down the stairs, and Ichabod heard the front door open and slam. Ichabod saw the first blue streak of lightning split the sky just as he heard the boy's horse shriek; spooked, and hooves retreat from the house. The coroner knew too well what was coming, and threw the door to his room open, only to find Abigail staring down the stairwell at the closed front door, her pale face crumpled in silent dismay, her underclothes still uncovered.
"Ms. Van Tassel, you just let that boy go to his death!" He declared. She looked at him a moment, and then another bolt of lightning creased the clouds. Outside, the horse screamed again, and a loud drumming, like the hoofbeats of the Stallion of Lucifer himself, came close. Abigail streaked down the stairs as Daniel's cry pierced the air, hurrying out into the autumn night practically naked, leaving the door ajar. Ichabod, froze, the darkness of the windy night glared at him, and then, with a sigh of exasperation, followed the mistress of the house. Lightning washed everything a bright silver for a moment, and he could see, ahead of him, a path going out through a field, bordered by the woods, and branching off towards the center of the small village. "Abigail?" He called, over the heightening wind. He began to hurry down the first leg of the path. As he reached the fork, he could hear her mournful cries growing louder and louder, and finally, he saw her kneeling over Daniel's prostrate form, weeping madly.
"Mr. Crane… This town has gone mad… it is as if they go to their deaths willingly…" She wept, another bolt of lightning cracked the clouds above, and he could see she was bent over the boy's headless body… rocking back and forth in a crazed sorrow. "He was such a sensible man… what made him do this…?" She sobbed. He could see that the body itself was ot bleeding, but her palms, the cuts he had noticed before, were gushing crimson. Then he saw the sky reeling over him, and then he saw nothing.