I'm so sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry this chapter took so long! I have been the busiest ever trying to get my grades up in school, but the next chapter won't take this long.
Clara belongs to me, but nothing else does.
"Clara, come on and hurry up with the firewood!" Katrina shouted.
Clara rolled her blue eyes. Katrina seemed a little antsy and grumpy these days and it wasn't because of the cold weather. Clara quickly picked up the firewood and carried it gently to her house. Katrina took the wood from her and placed it in the already burning fire. Slowly sitting down near it, Katrina shivered.
"It's too cold." She muttered. Clara sat next to her and slowly started rubbing her arm. Katrina gave her a grateful look and then looked back into the fire.
"Sleepy Hollow is a much different place now." Katrina said quietly.
"How so?" Clara questioned her.
"Many people report seeing…things in the Western Woods." Katrina hesitated at the word thing.
Clara stood up, dusting herself off. "It has always been haunted there. No different since I have been here."
Katrina gave her a strange look, as if she was hiding something, but her dark brown eyes betrayed nothing as Clara looked down.
Slowly helping her up, Clara walked outside and took a breath of fresh air. She smiled with happiness. Clara was full grown now, almost as old as Katrina. Her dark brown hair, some people thought it was black, was a bit long, about an inch below her shoulders and was very wavy, as if she had braided it and undone the braid. Her crystal blue eyes were like ice chips when she was angry, but glistening pools of water when happy. She had a slender figure and wore a dark blue dress.
One thing she always wore was her amulet. She had had it since she was born. It was a black oval with the picture of a sword and an axe crossing drawn in gold.
Katrina seemed to smile too, very slightly, but it was a smile. She started walking down the roadway of Sleepy Hollow, Clara following close behind.
Katrina was like an older sister to Clara, the only one close to her. She had heard the story of how she had ended up in Sleepy Hollow many times and knew she really wasn't related to Katrina, no matter how much she wanted to be.
After she was old enough, they had tried to track down who her parents were. Apparently, her mother was a midwife in a town a few days travel from here. Her name had been Sheryl Iden. She had given birth to Clara right before illness had taken her life. But no matter how hard they tried, they could not track down Clara's father. He had been killed in battle, but that was too specific for Clara and she had given up, leaving her old parents behind and settled in with her new family.
Clara had been so distracted in her thoughts; she hadn't seen Katrina stop in her tracks, right in front of the house of the Widow Winship.
"What is it Katrina?" Clara asked. She didn't know what had caused her to stop.
"Clara, what time is it?" Katrina asked.
Clara looked up at the sun. It was almost above them, but not quite. "Almost noon, why?"
"The widow usually makes her way to our house with a basket full of eggs around this time." Katrina murmured.
Clara shrugged, not grasping why her friend was so worried. "Maybe she already left."
"No, look." Katrina said, pointing to an empty basket right outside the door. Fear clutched Clara's heart.
Trying to sound brave, she responded, "Well, maybe she slept in today…" she trailed off, afraid of what both she and her friend were thinking.
Katrina rushed past Clara, almost breaking down the door, and ran into the house to find her friend. Clara walked more slowly when she noticed a gust of harsh wind sweeping over the town. She then followed Katrina inside.
Once she found her friend again, she helped her look for the Widow. Everyone knew Emily. She was sweet, kind and never judged anyone because of where they came from, which made Clara like her more.
Of course, when Clara and Katrina went up to the bedroom, they discovered a body. The body was on the floor, limbs spread awkwardly and clothes stained with blood. The thing though that made Clara turn away, into the arms of her friend, was that the head was gone…no where to be found.
Clara coughed a bit, before she looked again. "Emily."
Katrina cringed and slowly nodded. "Yes, it is her."
"What's left of her." Clara whispered.
Katrina took her friend by the shoulders and led her away from the sight. Walking out of the house, Katrina caught sight of Steenwick and walked over to him, explaining what she just saw.
Clara looked back at the house with such great regret she couldn't have helped Emily before she was killed, but it was too late.
A sudden noise off in the Western Woods distracted her. She turned her head sharply and thought she saw someone watching her, a dark shape hidden in the shadows of the trees, but when she blinked, it was gone.
Clara wanted to go into the forest and find who it was, but she stopped herself. She was a young woman that needed to find a new way to turn her life around. She didn't notice Katrina next to her, clearly concerned.
"Clara, you okay?" she asked.
Clara shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Yeah, yeah I'm okay. I think I'm going to go riding for a bit."
Katrina looked like she was going to protest, but Clara was already walking to the Killian's stable, where her horse was kept. Walking out, she had the reins of her gorgeous black mare, Luna. The horse had a pure black pelt with many tiny dots on her, looking like her whole body was the night sky.
"Hey there, miss me?" she whispered to her friend. The mare began shaking her head up and down, her black hair tossed in the wind. Clara smiled and slowly got on the horse. Pulling the reins gently, she led Luna out of the safety of Sleepy Hollow and into the Western Woods.
It was dark, much darker than woods should normally be, but Clara didn't care. The wind parted her hair and it was swooped backwards, making her look free. She just closed her pale blue eyes, enjoying the cool wind against the face. As if it ended all too soon, Luna stopped short, almost knocking Clara off her. Smoothing her hair back, Clara looked at her petrified horse.
"Luna, what's wrong?" she asked the horse gently. She stared out to try and see what Luna was looking at, but it seemed that whatever it was, if there was anything, was hidden.
Clara had a feeling of unease crawling up her spine. She kept looking behind her, to her right and left. The woods suddenly seemed more dangerous than she imagined. She pulled on the reins, wanting to return to the town.
"Come on Luna." She said softly. But the horse refused to move. Clara felt a little scared at first, but pulled a little more firmly, but still, Luna stayed fixed in place. Clara almost raised her voice at the horse, when there was a rustle behind her. Clara's eyes shot wide opened, as if she too were frozen in spot.
Turning around slowly, she gulped, seeing no one was there. Suddenly before she tried to coax Luna again, there was an angry neigh in the distance. She couldn't tell where it was coming from, but it was a real sound. Suddenly Luna took off, catching Clara bit off guard, but the young girl held the reins tightly as her horse broke off into full gallop.
Clara really didn't want the horse to stop. She wanted out of these woods now. She got on the horses back properly before she looked to see a dark shape in front of her. She squinted to try and see what it was, but it was getting larger as if it was coming forward.
Almost before she could say anything, she felt something slam into her, knocking her off of Luna and onto the ground. Shaking the grass and dirt off of herself, she held her head and groaned.
"What in God's name was…" she didn't finish, for she saw that Luna was gone, run off. Rolling her eyes, she stood up and tried to make her way through the brush she had just landed in, but froze right on the spot, not moving and inch.
She was standing right in front of a huge black horse, but this horse was much much bigger than any horse she had seen in her life. The horse's eyes seemed almost narrowed with anger as it looked straight into her eyes. Her gaze traveled up the horse until her terrified eyes rested on the rider.
He looked just like everyone said he did, dark and well headless. She felt her heart beat faster. Even though the horse was obviously staring at her, she could feel his invisible gaze burning into her.
Finally, as if the shock and fear was too much, Clara felt her eyes roll back into her head and a soft thump before their was darkness.