Woman In The Hollow

Five

Ichabod's Pov

It had gotten dark while I was out the sounds of crickets calling my name mixed with the sound of the creaking wood on the bridge made my hair stand on end. I stopped Gunpowder for a moment to listen for anything suspicious and as I did suddenly everything went silent. I gave Gunpowder a nudge to move forward when I heard a horse whinny causing my to stop Gunpowder again. I turned around and looked in the direction of the sound. "Who's there!" I called out. And as I did a black horse came out into the open with a large man on him with no head. I quickly turned forward and kicked Gunpowder to run forward and as I did this the horseman behind me followed. I ran Gunpowder down a dirt road isolated by surrounding trees. I heard the horse behind me getting closer and the thought of dying by having my head cut off enter my mind but suddenly the sound of betting hooves stopped. I slowed Gunpowder to a stop and looked behind me to see the headless man holding a flaming jack-o-lantern and as his horse reared back on his hind legs the horseman threw the flaming  jack-o-lantern at my head. The force of the impact threw me back causing me to fall off Gunpowder and into the dead grass and broken sticks on the side of the dirt road. The horse and it's rider came running at me rushing past Gunpowder and out of sight into the fog and shortly after I heard laughter. I had been made a fool of and on top of it Gunpowder spooked and ran down the path back into town. The pounding of my heart and rush of adrenaline was wearing down and I started to feel light headed and dizzy causing me to pass out.

*********

"Ichabod, Ichabod please wake up." I heard someone say as they were shaking my shoulders to wake me. Slowly I started to open my eyes and I was met with Y/N's face right above mine. 

"Y/N what are you doing out here?" I asked.

"Oh thank god, I was so worried when Gunpowder came back to my house without you. I quickly got on Sparrow and ran around looking for you." She explained.

"Just how quickly did you come out to look for me?" I asked as I noticed that Sparrow didn't even have a saddle on.

"As soon as Gunpowder came back.... I was watching for you to came back through the window. What happened?" She said.

"Gunpowder spooked and I fell and passed out. " I said but I could tell Y/N didn't fully believe my lie.

"Anyway it's getting really late and we should probably get back to my house before we freeze to death out here." Y/N said extending her hand to help me up.

"Do you want to walk or do you think your able to handle ridding Sparrow back?" She asked.

"I'm ok to ride back." I said.

Y/N walked Sparrow over to a fallen tree and used it to climb up on Sparrows back. "Ok, what your going to do is step on the fallen tree and put your arms over Sparrows back to help pull yourself up and you can adjust your seat once on his back. I will hold him still you just worry about getting on and be careful not to put to much of your weight far down on his butt then he might try to kick you." Y/N instructed as she tighten the reins to hold Sparrow still. I did as she said and used the fallen tree to help climb up on Sparrows back and made sure not to lean to far back on his body. Once I was sitting on his back I adjusted my seat to be farther forward to get more comfortable.

"Ready to go?" She asked.

"Yes." I answered.

Y/N gave Sparrow a small nudge with her leg to move forward and as Sparrow moved forward I lost my balance and reached my arms forward to hold onto
Y/N's body for support.  "Sorry, I guess I should have mentioned you might need to hold on. It's harder to balance that far back on the horse." Y/N explained. Which I took as the "ok" to keep using her as support for better balance. Y/N used her leg again and had Sparrow pick up a canter  (canter is almost like a slow run this is the best way I can describe it to non horse people.)  Which was smooth and faster than the walk meaning we could cover more distance.

As we came up into Y/N's front yard she slowed Sparrow down back to a walk before stopping in front of her door.
"Ok, so just swing your leg over Sparrows back and slide down." She instructed. I did as she said and I was easily able to get back on the ground.

"Thank you for coming to look for me." I said.

"No problem Constable." She said with a smile.

"Sorry I missed dinner." I said.

"There is a plate and cup of water on the table your welcome to eat it if you want to." She said as she got down from Sparrow and brought him back to his barn for the night.

As I went inside I walked over to the table and picked up the plate and cup of water and brought it up with me into my room to finish before going to bed. It had been a long and eventful day but I could tell sleeping would not be peaceful tonight.