Bewitched {ON HOLD}

5 - A Fifth Victim

Evangeline woke with a start. Her stomach lurched in an unpleasant feeling. She looked out the window of her room to see that the morning light just seemed to be dawning across Sleepy Hollow. 

She returned her thoughts to the dream she just had. Vague as it was, she was sure it was trying to convey her a warning. All that she could recall was seeing a terrified Jonathan Masbeth sprinting through the forest in the night. It was difficult of Evangeline to resurface the scene, but the sound of thunderous hoof beats pounding on the ground was still ringing in her ears. The galloping was seeming to pursue Mr. Masbeth as he fled, frightened out of his wits from whatever seemed to be chasing him. 

Evangeline grabbed her cloak, pulled up her hood and set outside in search of her horse. 

She galloped towards the forest, crossing fields of trees hoping that her intuition was simply a dream, but this was never the case. She feared the Headless Horseman had picked out a new victim during the night, and as it was clearly morning, it would be too late. That is, if what Evangeline thought was right.

It may not of been wise for her to seek this out on her own, but her rational mind was overruled by her desperate ambition to prove herself wrong. 

Evangeline galloped past trees and felt as if she had circled the same route several times. Evangeline spotted a glimpse of footsteps marked into the ground and abruptly halted her horse. The horse whined at the sudden pull.

"Sorry, Salem..." Evangeline patted the horse affectionately. She dismounted Salem, deciding to follow the track of footprints on her own.

Evangeline paced slowly, following along the marks in the ground. She began to notice that several hoof shaped prints were shown over the footprints, and she feared the worst.

Her eyes widened as a pair of feet came into sight, and as she walked further she spotted an entire body sprawled in the dirt. Whether it was Jonathan Masbeth, she couldn't be entirely sure as the body was conspicuously missing a head.

The buzzing of flies rung in Evangeline's ears as they hovered near the rotting flesh of the victim's neck. Evangeline placed her hand over her mouth and nose, the stench attacking her as she neared closer and she let a high-pitched noise in between a cowering whimper and a gag.

Although horror struck, Evangeline found herself paralysed and unable to even drift her eyes elsewhere. She couldn't yell for help, she couldn't back away. She simply stared.

The sound of hoof beats pounding against the ground rung in her ears again, although it seemed much louder than the sound that bounced in her head earlier. She thought that her dreams were playing over in her head, but she was mistaken upon turning around and seeing a rider approach her.

She cursed under her breath. It was Van Ripper - a dimwitted, dullard man who Evangeline knew could all too easily get the wrong end of the stick. She stifled an unpleasant expression as he spotted her as well and motioned to stop his horse.

Clearly, he had not spotted the obvious headless corpse lying beside her as he was busy enthralled in his threatening stare down with Evangeline. 

"Well, well. If it isn't the wi--" His throat was stuck in a silent, suffocating gasp and as his eyes travelled rapidly between Evangeline and the headless corpse. It was all too clear what he had presumed happened.

Evangeline was aware that it was no use trying to explain herself, but went to sternly explain to him before he imploded himself into a frantic tizzy. "Listen, I know what it looks li--"

Van Ripper drew out his rifle and in his distraught nature, his horse whinnied and raised it's front two hoofs, causing Evangeline to stumble away and fall on her back, feverish with fear that his rifle was about to be aimed on her. In her fall, her foot twisted against the uneven hard ground and she felt a searing pain surge there. She shut her eyes and screamed after seeing Van Ripper's finger lace around the trigger of the rifle, helplessly injured and lying across the ground.