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 5

Chapter 5

Early next morning, Naboo woke Howard up like he asked and they both rode to the graveyard, taking two able men with them to dig up the coffins. The clergyman Harold Boon watched over this, outraged “You can’t do this, it’s unholy!”

“I need to inspect the bodies properly” Howard explained.

“Can’t you do anything about this, Lance?” Harold pleded, but Lance just gives him a helpless expression, which wasn’t easy with an hangover “I will not allow this travesty to happen”

“Then you should have spoke to my bosses about it then” Howard nearly yelled.

“But your bosses are two days away” Harold tried reasoning.

“Then you should have left two days ago, because I need this done today” The clergyman gave him a disapproving scowl and rode off, leaving Howard to his work. A few hours later, three graves were dug up-Van Garret and his son and the widow Winsor’s. The lids were opened to reveal the three headless bodies of the victims, making Naboo look away slightly.

Howard then notises something about the widow, stepping back aghast “Why didn’t someone say something about this?” He yelled, looking down at the bulbous belly of the corpse, concluding she was heavily pregnant at the time. He then sees a tear in the cloth of her blouse and feels her stomach through the tear, then straightens up quickly “We need to get her to a doctor”

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They quickly took the corpse to Doctor Ferry’s office, laying the body on a operating table. Howard takes a pair of scissors and cuts the rest of the blouse off, revealing an inch long knife wound on the belly. Bryan and Naboo watch in a corner, nervously as Howard writes notes down in his ledger “There has to be some kind of link between the victims, and we have to discover the reason for the murders. I mean, the wounds all look the same, one single stroke to the head. Doctor, have you seen this, the spinal bone sliced as smooth as butter?”

“I haven’t. I know I’ve welcomed you to use my office, but please put her back in her resting place” Bryan pleded.

“I will once I’ve finished, now you both may want to leave the room” Howard promised, picking up an iron knife. An hour later, he emerged from the office, covered in blood “We are dealing with a madman, he stole the widow’s child” He annoced to the doctor and Naboo.

The two men came back and took the body over to the graveyard, restoring her and the Van Garrets to their resting places “I hope the Lord never forgives your sins, Howard Crane!” Harold cursed, slamming the church doors behind him as Howard watches him.

Later on when it got darker, Howard rode along the village, crossing the small bridge that spanned over the small river in the centre. As he got to the other side, he heard another horse neighing, looking behind him to see a headless figure holding a lit-up pumpkin. Fearing for his life, Howard forced his horse to gallop off into the forest, the mysterious figure chasing after him.

Halfway through their chase, Howard stopped his horse and turned around, seeing the horseman had stopped too. The figure threw the pumpkin at him, which smacked Howard upside the head and off his horse, splattering into many pieces as he watched the horseman gallop away. The life frightened out of him, he prometly fainted, not knowing that the horseman was in fact Fossil, playing a trick on him to scare him away.
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That night, Howard dreamt of his past…

He sees himself, aged ten standing in a wheat field as a female voice calls out to him faintly, but soon got louder and louder “Howard…Howard…come along now” He turns and smiles as he runs to a clearing behind his house, where his mother waits for him. She hugs him close and kisses his forehead. He watched as his mother placed a small bouquet of flowers into the fire, drawing pictures in the ash as she sang.

That night, Howard pretends to be asleep in his room as his mother has her back to him, whispering to no-one in particular. She turns and places something in a drawer by his bed before leaving. He gets up to the drawer and curiously opens it, taking out an object underneath some clothing. It was a piece of woven reed grass, shaped into an elaborate pattern with shafts of wheat twisted in the middle. He replaces it, closes the drawer and goes back to sleep. An image of a room full of tools flashed in his mind…

…And Howard jerks awake in fright, panting heavily as he tries to calm down. He desides he can’t sleep anymore and gets all the notes he’s collected, taking them down to the kitchen with a laturn. He sits down, but before he starts looking through his ledger he sees a light coming from the end of the hallway. He follows the light and enters a sewing room, noticing Vince was sitting in a large chair in front of him, reading a shabby, small book by candle light. The young Van Tassel looks up to him and smiles.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to distrub you. I’ll leave now” Howard shyly said. Vince just closes his book and puts it with another in this lap, covering them both.

“Nah, you didn’t disturb me. Stay with me, nice to have some company. Were you having trouble sleeping?” Vince asked, concerned.

Howard ignored his question “Why are you covering your books?”

“They were my father’s books, my mother wouldn’t approve of them, unless it’s the bible. She believes tals of romance and magic was the thing that gave my father brain fever, he didn’t survive it. The male nurse who looked after him is my father-in-law” Vince admitted, watching Howard with a smile.

Howard looked down at the large bible on the table and opened the cover, staring at a family tree bearing the names ‘Van Garret’ and ‘Van Tassel’ “Why didn’t anyone say your family were related to the Van Garrets?”

“Everyone knows about it, they are either related or married to one of our kin” Vince answered “This land were on now, this was Van Garret land. It was given to my parents when I was a kid. They worked for the Van Garrets and they were given a acre of land and a rundown cottage. They worked hard to get to where they are now, do you want to see the cottage?”

“Yes, I would like to” Howard answered, making the young Van Tassel smile, as they looked out the window at the misty dawn.

“I have a present for you” Vince reached into one of his coat pockets and pulled out a small book, the title ‘A Conpendium of Spells, Charms and Devices of the Spirit World’ is printed on the front “Keep it close to your heart”

Howard hesistated in taking it, opening the cover to reveal two names-Vince Van Tassel and Graham Van Tassel “This was your father’s book?”

Vince nodded “It’ll protect you againest any harm” Howard smiled at him and placed the book inside his jacket pocket. They both walked out of the house and rode towards a burnt down house, only the large fireplace stood proud. Howard helped Vince off his horse, and the younger man held his hands out flat, his thin fingers quickly sliding over the small, many scars on his palms “How’d you get these?”

“I’ve had then since my childhood, how I got them I can’t remember” Howard answered, touched by Vince’s concern. They went inside and Vince knelt by the open fireplace “I used to play here as a child, my first drawing place with my father as my teacher” He grabbed a small stick and drew shapes in the old ashes. Howard looked on, images of his mother and past flashed before his eyes “If you look right in the back, you can see a carving of an archer, it’s been there before we even lived here”

Howard walked away from the fireplace and Vince noticed “You alright?”

“Yes, thanks” Vince smiled at him and looked up to the trees, seeing a red bird staring down at them “A cardinal, I wish I could tame it and have it as a pet, but it’ll be wrong”

Howard looked up, then back to Vince with a grin on his face “Then I have a gift for you” He reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a disc with string tied either side, on one side was a red bird, the other a cage “When you spin this round, the bird appears in the cage, see?”

He smiles at the look of childish wonder on Vince’s face “I knew you could do magic, can I keep it?”

Howard gave it to him “It’s not magic, but an optical illusion. Truth made simple” Vince gave him a confused look, before playing with the disc again.
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That night, Howard walked through the village and sees four figures arguing through a window-Bryan Ferry, Lance Doir, Harold Boon and Tommy Nooka. He hid round the corner of the house and saw Lance walk out of the house, going out of the village with a horse and small cart. He followed the man as he walked past the forest “What are you running from?” He called out.

“Helping you has put me in mortal danger, so I’m leaving” Lance answered.

“Did you know the widow Winsor was expecting a child?” Howard asked, curious.

“Yes, she told me and the name of the father. She wanted advice on how to protect the rights for her child” Lance said, looking grave.

“Do you think the father killed her?” Howard asked again “No, the horseman killed her”

Howard rolled his eyes “I keep telling you, there is no horseman. There never was one” The thunder and lightening clapped above them, as a neighing sound was heard in the forest. Lance started to run up the small hill they were standing on as the horseman galloped from the trees, brandish its sword. It rushed past Howard, knocking him down and quickly sliced off Lance’s head.

The severed body part rolled down the hill and settled between Howard’s legs, much to his horror. He looked up to see the horseman raising his sword once more and rushing towards him, only to thrust the sword down into the head and gallop off back into the forest with it. Howard felt as if he was going to be sick, but instead fainted hard onto the soft grass below him.