Boosht Hollow

After a series of murders have been carried out at the small village of Sleepy Hollow, constable Howard Crane has been called out to investigate them. Can he slove the mystery with his new friend Naboo and his new love interest, the mysterious Vince Van Tassel?

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Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was early evening when the villagers gathered in the square, the setting sun giving the town a dusky feeling. The last few rays of orange from the dying sun shone behind the belltower, which was covered in sharp, rusty spikes. Howard, Gideon and Dixon stood at the back of the crowd, Howard remembering seeing a man sitting in the crow’s nest on top of the tower. The man climbed down using a rope ladder, as armed man gather at the bottom. Lance Doir sat on horseback, addressing the crowd.

“Listen to me, all of you. Now’s the time to choose who will be the next to go into the crow’s nest for the night and each man’s name has been placed in the box” Lance grabbed ahold of a small, black box someone passed to him and he grabbed a piece of paper, holding it up to the remaining light to read the name written down “May the Lord watch over him…Bollo”

People gasped with shock in the crowd as they parted to reveal a large, black furred gorilla, wearing a quiver full of arrows and a bow. A small, youngish man next to him, wearing blue robes and a blue turban “Bollo take responsibility, Bollo ready”

“No way, Bollo. You’re my familiar, you can’t go” The young man pleaded, stepping in front of his friend before looking up to Lance “He’s already done this, why should he do it again? He nearly died last time”

“It like lottery, could have been anyone here Naboo” The wise gorilla answered.

“Then I’m coming with you, you’ll need my help” Naboo tried to reason with his familiar, but Bollo gave him a stern look “No, Naboo stay here, Bollo go on his own” He looks up to the crowd “Will someone look after him please?” Fossil nodded and walked forwards and takes Naboo, not before the gorilla gave his master a pat on the back before moving to the rope ladder going up to the crow’s nest.

Howard watched as Naboo was taken away from the scene, then looked at the smaller man “Don’t worry, sir. Nothing will harm him from up there, it’s the problems on the ground tou people should be worried about” He then watched as Bollo climbed the ladder to the high perch above “Leave him a horse” Lance desided, before leaving as well.

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The star filled sky and full moon cast a perfect scene above the Van Tassel mansion, giving it an unearthly glow. Inside his room, Howard was sitting at a desk and wrote down the days events in a ledger, not notising the younger Van Tassel behind him “You will dream so much with this stuff” He whirled around to see Vince smiling at him, strolling in and sitting on the bed “It’s something in the air so that dreams come to everyone. According to the elders here, an Indian prophet cast spells here before the land was taken and those spells cast then still linger today”
“Do you always sit on stranger’s beds?” Howard asked, slightly nervous talking to the stunning creature in front of him.
“Are you always this old-fashioned?” Vince asked back, smirking as he moved slowly closer to Howard..
“That’s your opinion really, little man. Though looks like you already did” Howard turned back to his ledger, hoping Vince would leave.
“I should really say sorry for Fossil’s behaviour before, but it seems I’ve made things worst. I’ll leave you alone now” Vince made to get up and move towards the door, but was stopped by Howard’s voice.
“No, I should say sorry..I just have no love for…” Vince raised an eyebrow coyly at Howard’s nervousness and smirked “What? Other people?”
“No, small talk” Howard said, sporting his own smirk. He raised off his chair and graciously offered it to Vince, who take the offer and sits down in it. Howard remains standing as it’s the only chair in the room.
“Are you always this nervous around attractive, young men?” Vince asked, quite smugly.
“I think it’s probably because your ‘suitor’ nearly strangled me before” Vince looked confused at this “My suitor?”
“Yeah, that Fossil fellow. For someone who’s your friend, he’s certainly jealous” Howard answered, making Vince laugh “Yeah, he’s proposed twice, the nutjob”
“That explains him then, to ask twice means you shot him down at least once” Vince looked down at his black boots, before looking back up with a smile “I’ve read all about that London place you’ve come from, you have to tell me all about it. Sounds a great place to live”
“It is, but first tell me everything you know about the headless horseman” Howard knew he hit something good for his research as Vince paled slighty and looked away for a moment, shyly.
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In the belltower, Bollo starts setting up a large rifle and was having difficulty putting the bullets in, his fingers being slightly too big. Thunder boomed and echoed suddenly as he stood up, watching and listening as the ground trembled. The gorilla gripped his rilfe tightly and sees a heard of deer stampede out of the forest outside the border of the village.
A thick fog creeps out of the forest, drifting quickly along the ground towards the belltower. It snaked up and snuffs out the flames of the torches around the tower, as Bollo aims the now ready rifle at the trees “Come out, Bollo ready…”
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Back in Howard’s room, he was leaning againest an wooden dresser as Vince started his story, still seated “Not everyone thinks it’s the horseman, some thinks it’s witches from the western woods to steal skulls for spells. Some believe that someone is a devil worshipper and offers these deaths as sacrifices and some just don’t believe it at all”
“Are you supersitious like them?” Howard asked, curious.
“If they were supersitious, it’d be like saying they fear magic, but not all magic is black” Vince explained.
“There’s no such thing as magic you know” Howard said, looking at Vince strangely.
“Really? Course there is, otherwise how would those poets that say magic is in a rose at full bloom, or even in a teardrop?” The younger man asked, eyebrow raised once more.
“That they are full of it” Howard smirked back, making Vince laugh “You’re so funny, mate” Howard didn’t know what was so funny about that, but jumped slightly as he heard the bell ring out. Vince looked around fearfully, before rushing over to open the window, looking outside at the quiet village.
A man comes out of his barn to listen to the bell, before moving inside his house. Windows shut tightly and lights go out as Howard bounds out from the mansion, halting to listen. Vince and Dixon come out onto the porch to watch him “Constable Crane, where are you going?”
Howard never answered back, instead running out to the square “Absolute madness” Dixon muttered quietly. Vince tried to run after Howard, by was pulled back inside protesting by his father-in-law.
Howard chages across the square, stopping as he got to the centre. The belltower was down, its mast smashed into bits and the crow’s nest broken into hundreds of piece, Bollo and the horse no where to be seen.
Bollo was currently running around the village back to the forest, gripping his bow tightly as he heard hoofbeats loudly behind him, knowing he was being followed. Looking behind him, he could see the headless horseman getting closer to him, so he started getting his arrows ready. Unfortunatly, his large monkey hands made placing the arrows in the bow difficult. He sees the horseman getting closer and scambles backwards through the undergroth of the large trees.
As the horseman gets closer, Bollo gives up the fight and closes his eyes to his fate, the horse halts astride him, two legs each side of the old gorilla.