Ichabod: A Sleepy Hollow Story

Ichabod: Part Five

Last chapter:
After their confrontation with Charlotte, Ichabod and Diedrich discussed what to do next. They decided to go and investigate the infamous bridge. As they walked, Ichabod confessed his distrust of Baltus VanTassel to Diedrich, until the pair were attacked by Brom Bones' dog, Nails. Afterwards, the two pressed on to the bridge. While on the bridge, Ichabod was faced with a multitude of strange visions and hallucinations, though that's not all they might be. After coming off of the bridge, the two met Charlotte again, who disappeared and left them with a mysterious emerald. The next morning, Ichabod headed off to the schoolhouse to teach the children of Sleepy Hollow...

August 19, 1820, 5:31 PM
"...and that, my pupils, concludes today's lesson in mathematics. Now, for our next lesson, we shall-" Ichabod paused mid-sentence and looked at the clock in the schoolhouse. He turned back to his students and said, "Well, I guess you're all free to go today! Remember to work on your Cotton Mather recitations!"
The children leapt up from their seats, cheering, and rushed outside. "I'm afraid I won't do well," said Judith, a student who tries a bit too hard to be the perfect student, and who can also be a bit of a tattletale.
"Well, I think I'll do just fine!" said Ruth, a much more wild student, who always finds either the easy way or the insane way out of things. She always acts like the perfect angel when she's in trouble, however. Ruth is also always in a good mood, so everyone seems to like her, except for Judith.
"Whatever, I'm sure you're just going to cheat!" Judith declared.
Ruth turned to her and made a baby face and said, "What?! I would never do something like that!" She then ran off, laughing, with Judith chasing after her, trying to explain why cheating is wrong.
Hansel and Sadie were bickering about stupid something as they left. This is something that they're always doing. This argument has something to do with who was better at watering a garden. In general, Hansel is quite a gentleman, however, whenever he's around Sadie, he instantly loses this trait. Sadie is usually short tempered and quite obnoxious, so it's no wonder she's always fighting.
The two left the schoolhouse, which left Peter in the room with Ichabod. Peter is very quiet and almost never talks, however he always seems to know the answer to any question. He seems extremely shy as well. Ichabod jokingly thought of him as a younger Diedrich.
"Um, Peter, class is over," Ichabod said.
Peter continued to write in his notebook. Finally he looked up and Ichabod and nodded. He then ran out the door as the other children did. Ichabod then turned to look at the other seat in the room that was unused that day.
That should've been Allison's seat, Ichabod thought, still blaming himself. It was still difficult for him to think that the event had only happened yesterday morning. The two had only been in town for a total of barely three days. Ichabod sighed then collected his things. He needed to stop by Claus' to get his clothing tailored.
Upon arriving at Claus', Claus looked up from behind the counter. He saw Ichabod and got a big grin on his face. "Ichabod! It's great to see you stopping by!" Claus ran around the counter over to him. It was right there that Ichabod realized that Claus was considerably shorter than him. "What can I do for you?" Claus asked happily.
"Well, last night Brom's dog attacked me, and it tore up my clothes considerably," Ichabod explained.
"Oh no! Well, I'm glad you're alright. Brom's dog is quite terrifying. Once, there was a squirrel running in front of my shop. That dog came running at it at full speed, and tore it to shreds. It only took the dog a few seconds to turn that squirrel into pulp!" Claus told him.
Ichabod just stared at him. Claus was the nicest person in town, but he had some graphic stories. Claus realized Ichabod was staring at him, and immediately apologized. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry for that! Didn't mean to tell that violent of a story. Perhaps I should just take your clothes and fix them up!"
"Um, yes, that'd be fine!" Ichabod said.
"Great! I'll come by and tell you when I'm finished!" Claus said, energetically.
Claus then picked up Ichabod's clothes and went back around the counter. Ichabod tuned to leave, but then changed his mind. Instead, he leaned up on the counter and asked, "Uh, Claus? Remember how you told me about the burning of town hall and all that?"
Claus turned to him. "Yes, what about it?"
"Well, it...I guess you could say it intrigued me. What else could you, um, tell me about it?" Ichabod said, starting up his cover act again.
"Well, as I said, my great-grandfather was accused of being a demon when the town hall burnt. Then he was hung. I'm not sure there's a whole lot more to it," Claus said.
"Well, I, uh..." Ichabod searched his mind for another question to ask.
"Ichabod, are you alright?" Claus said, genuinely concerned.
"Y-yes I'm fine...why was he accused instead of someone else?" Ichabod said, still pretending to be nervous.
"Hmm...I always thought it was because he was the 'scary blacksmith' or something, but I actually don't know why," Claus explained.
"Oh okay, well, t-thanks anyway. Oh and thank you ever so much for the tailoring!" Ichabod then moved towards the door.
"You're quite welcome!" Claus paused, then said, "Ichabod?"
"What?"
"If our town's ghost stories frighten you so much, then why do you always want to hear them? It makes me worried when you're scared," Claus said, truly caring about Ichabod.
"Well, you see, I-I'm, um, concerned about, uh, protecting myself from them, I-I guess," Ichabod stuttered.
"Well don't worry. There are no real ghosts in this town!" Claus said with a reassuring smile.
"Thank you again, Mr. Mogens!" Ichabod said as he left, smiling at Claus.
"Good day, Master Crane!" Claus said with a smile and a wave.