Sleepless Nights

Stomach Pains

   It had been a long day for the both of them.  The latest of Moloch's  minions had stormed into the  back woods of Sleepy Hollow threatening to unleash mayhem onto the native people.  Abbie and Ichabod openly agreed that it was the ugliest thing that they've ever seen (which was alot considering all of the mutilated demons they've seen as their roles as witnesses). Though the demon was foul and as big as the trees it ran through, it lacked intelligence. Instead it sniffed around the woods like a curious dog. 'If Moloch wanted my soul he's gonna have to do better than a big ugly ass  dog' Abbie thought.  She asked herself what Crane would say if he heard 'a lady' using that language. Then she chuckled to herself thinking of the never-ending speech he would give. That of course earned her a disgruntled look from Crane advising her to stay quiet. As it turned out the demon dog  not only looked like one, but it had canine hearing as well. At the sound of her light chuckle the demon craned it's neck to lock eyes with the two witnesses.

"Well he spotted us time to set up this trap," Abbie said almost too enthusiastic.

Crane sighed too himself and began rolling out the huge rope they would use to trap the demon. Abbie ran off to lure it; setting their plan in motion. It was agreed that Abbie would act as bait because she was the fastest. Crane would tie the rope to a tree and hold the other end. Abbie claimed to have seen it done in a movie. Their plan went perfect, but it wasn't until Abbie shot the huge canine that it turned into dust and disappeared.

  "Why do they always turn into dust," she inquired.

  "Well I have to assume that it's because they are of another world.  They don't truly belong here," Crane answered.

  Abbie dismissed it with a shrug of her shoulders. The two drove back to the archives in a comfortable silence. They worked non-stop for at least an hour trying to find something that would give them the upper hand in this war. Besides Crane's constant murmuring or slamming of a book when he read anything that was absurd, there was complete silence. Abbie  heard a noise she related to a dying cat and turned to see what it was. There wasn't anything in sight as far as she could tell. She proceeded surfing the web. After five minutes the sound occured again followed by a pain in her stomach. She realised that she hadn't eaten anything all day.

  "Crane do you want to get something to eat? I could get takeout," it was more of a statement.

  "Oh, yes and may I ask if you could bring me those petite chocolate covered candies as you call them," Crane asked with his child-like face on.

Abbie rolled her eyes playfully      "You just did," she said as she pushed his shoulder.

The guy had a sweet tooth like she's never seen before. 'Maybe introducing him to those chocolate whoppers wasn't such a good idea' she thought.

  "I'll be back in 20," the cop said over her shoulder as she walked out the door.

Like clockwork, Abbie returned to the  archive. She silently praised herself for sticking to her word. Upon opening the door she found Crane slumped over in his chair with his head on the table. She noted how at peace he looked. Her stomach made a final call for help which reminded her to sit the Chinese food down and start devouring it already. She had to wake Crane because he was in her way, and he wasn't going to waste her money by letting this food go to waste.

  "Crane...Crane wake up I got the food," she said expectingly.    He didn't budge. Abbie immediately got annoyed. This time she tapped his shoulder.       "Hey...Crane. oh you couldn't  possibly be in this deep of a sleep in 20 minutes,"she got louder.

  She was starting to get worried, so she began shaking his shoulder.

  "Hey, are you alright? Wake up," whining a little more than she'd like.

In one fluid move Crane had violently pushed Abbie onto the floor and got ontop of her. It all happened too quick to react. Crane had both of his hands on Abbie's shoulders and his knee dug harshly into her stomach making it difficult to breathe.  She began struggling. No amount of struggle availed her. Every time she thought she had gotten free his hands were there to remind her that she wasn't. 'He must still be sleep' she thought. She tried her best to call his name again.

  "Cra-," she was cut off by the seering pain in her stomach.

She started to kick and wiggle out of his grip. Ichabod now pressed both of his knees into Abbie's abdomen as hard as he could. She allowed for a few tears to burn her cheek.

  "You were told to stay put was I wrong? You are being accused of treason  and still you don't cooperate? What type of man are you," Crane's voice bounced off the walls of the archive.

Crane began to shake her shoulders. 'Oh God what did he want me to say?' She thought. Abbie attempted to push Crane off of her, but that only caused him to put his nails deeper into her skin. The cop cried out loud as the soldier put all of his weight onto her petite body.  His face was so close to hers she swore that she could smell what he had for breakfast.

"Crane it's,  it's me-,"

"Soldier,  you are not to speak until the committee comes. Anything you have to say can be said when they get here," his voice was so loud it left Abbie's ears ringing.

Her heart beat dangerously fast. Abbie panted through the pain and thought about the spit that landed on her  face with each word he spewed. She thought about the bruises that would be apparent tomorrow.  It scared her how easily he could overpower her. She stared at Crane angrily and fearful. With fresh tears painting her face, she locked eyes with him for the first time in this ordeal. What she saw frightened her more than any demon could. He had the eyes of a mad man. His eyes were his, but there was so much anger behind them that she hardly recognized him. Abbie strained her neck so she would at least be able to speak.   "Crane"

(breathe)

"it's me"

(breathe)

"Abbie"

(breathe)

"please"

A slight look of recognition grew on the soldier's face. Crane threw himself back  against the chair he had once peacefully slept.

"Left-tenant,"he questioned.

Abbie scrambled toward her purse trying desperately to keep her breathing together. She quickly found her emergency inhaler and began pumping it like her life depended on it.   "Miss Mills did I hurt you? Are you okay? What is going on here," he said an octive away from yelling.

Abbie  stared at him as she finally gained control of her breath.

  "I tried to wake you and you...you atta...you attacked me," she hated the way she sounded, but she couldn't help it her stomach felt like there had been ten men punching her for an hour straight.

Crane stood and rushed over to Abbie.

"Oh my, my deepest apologies left-tenant I didn't mean-"

"I know," Abbie interrupted.

Crane helped her off of the floor. All Abbie wanted to do was eat her Chinese food and go home. Abbie explained all that happened over chilled food. Ichabod must have said a million apologies that night.