The dead trees loomed over the gravel path while the moon cast her adoring white glow upon the five travelers. At the front was the shortest of the group. Walking quite carefree with an oil lamp, he wore nearly all black clothes, with a dark yellow undershirt beneath his sweater. Behind him, were two other guys. The second shortest of the group was wearing a pale green jacket, while the tallest of the group was wearing a light blue hoodie. Finally, taking up the rear was a girl wearing dark clothes, obscured into shadow by a black cloak that she wore. Next to her, another guy walked with a lantern. He had a black coat with a brown fedora resting snuggly on his head. The two in the back seemed the most wary of the group.
The boy in the back called up to the front, “Ben? Are you sure we want to be here? At night of all times?”
Ben, still walking ahead, laughed and called back, “What? Ya ‘fraid of a legend? I thought you were the most fearless of the group, especially considering who you’re walking with.”
Mattilius replied defensively, “Amanda is a different story, we’ve known each other for ages. Longer than I’ve known you for that matter.”
“True, but still, she’s a vam-”
“That has nothing to do with anything.”
“Ha!” Ben shouted irreverently, “She’s an undead creature Matt, I’m pretty sure that has a very large impact on her existence.”
“Shhh!” Mattilius hissed as the boy in the green jacket slapped the back of Ben’s head.
“Ow! Steve, what was that for?”
“Ben, we’re in the middle of a hollow that is said to be the home of a hostile specter! Even if you don’t believe in ghosts, at least have some respect!” Steve reprimanded.
Amanda finally spoke up, “Ben, technically, I am not undead. I am a vampire by biology. Like a, uh…uh…mosquito! Or, vampire bat. That’s a more reasonable comparison. Not a…uh, curse.”
Ben chuckled nervously, still rubbing the back of his head, “Oh, s-sorry.”
A silence washed over the group once more, and they continued venturing deeper and deeper into the woods. After a bit more walking, the moon was high in the sky, signaling the approach of midnight. Amanda glanced at Mattilius, before whispering to him, “Matt, are you alright? I’ve never seen you this on edge.”
Mattilius glanced around quickly, before whispering back to her, “I’m fine with the physical. And the mental. Those things are tangible, I can understand them, face them. But, phantoms. Ghosts. We can’t interact with them. What’re we supposed to do if we encounter him?”
“Matt. Don’t worry so much. Like Ben said, it’s just a legend.”
“You know just as well as I, almost all legends stem from some sort of truth.”
Amanda went silent, grabbing her arm anxiously. Before full silence could return, the tallest of the group finally spoke, “So…uh…w-what is…the…um…legend of…this land, exactly?”
Ben shrugged, “I dunno, why don’t you ask the nerds?”
The tall boy looked at Steve who said, “Martin, as far as I’m concerned, these tales don’t matter in the slightest, you don’t need to worry.”
Martin shook his head, “I’m not…worried Steve, I just want to know what’s so famous about, this place.”
Mattilius proceeded to speak up, “The story starts during a war. Here they call it, ‘The Revolutionary War’. In this war, they used primitive weapons, including canons. One of the sides hired mercenaries called Hessians. Legend says, during one of the battles, a canon ball hit one of the Hessians…in the head. Since that day, starting at midnight, his ghost would ride a horse through this very hollow, searching for his head. And if someone just so happens to be in these woods, he’ll take theirs. Only then, will he be able to pass on.”
Martin shuddered at the tale as Steve discreetly checked his watch. Ben simply laughed, “It’s just an old legend guys, no need to get so grim.”
“Might I suggest, we start to head back home,” Steve decided to chime in.
“What? You getting paranoid too?” Ben teased.
Steve pointed at his watch, “It’s two minutes till midnight, and I’d like to get a good night’s rest. Thank you very much.”
Ben groaned, “Fine, let’s head home.”
The group turned around and looked down the path they came. The trees seemed to reach over them blotting out the stars and filtering the moonlight. The path appeared darker and their lamps flickered subtly. The air grew colder.
Ben looked around, although he didn’t want to admit it, he was getting a bit frightened too now.
The gravel path scratched beneath the soles of their shoes. “Dang,” Ben muttered, “Who knew it could get so dark?”
“Do we…actually know where w-we’re going?” Martin stuttered out warily.
Ben laughed, pretending it was a silly question, but he stopped in his tracks a moment later.
“What? What is it?” Martin inquired as Steve followed Ben’s gaze.
“Was this…here before?” Ben asked flatly.
Ahead of them was a clearing, with a small church. Around the church, a field of graves. Amanda took the lantern from Mattilius and walked ahead, inspecting the area. Steve followed shortly after. Ben took a wary step back before Martin put a hand on his shoulder, “It’s a-alright Ben. Maybe we…uh…took a wrong…turn?”
“I pray to the creator that we did.” Ben muttered.
“Old Dutch Church.”
Ben and Martin turned to look at Mattilius. He was staring at a nearby sign that pointed to the clearing.
“That’s where we are.” Mattilius said as he looked at Ben and Martin.
Ben rolled his shoulders, trying to act nonchalant, “Alrighty then, how ‘bout we just leave the church be and leave the hollow, I’m getting hungry now.”
Mattilius nodded and called out, “Steve! Amanda! Let’s go!”
Silence.
Mattilius called out again, “Amanda! Steve? You good?”
Steve appeared quite suddenly from behind the church and approached them, “Sorry! I was reading the tombstones. What’s up?”
Ben began yapping to Steve about leaving the place behind as Mattilius stepped into the graveyard for the first time. A chill ran up his spine. The sound of the wind seemed to amplify in his ears. He heard something, some sort of movement, shifting of leaves…
“Hey there.”
“HOLY F-! Don’t, scare me like that…”
Amanda chuckled nervously, “Sorry Matt. You good?”
“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Let’s go, Ben’s getting panicky. What happened to the lamp?”
“Oh, ran out of oil while I was reading an epitaph.”
“Ah.”
The pair began walking back to the others, who were getting quite restless, but a cold wind rustled the leaves. Ben’s lantern flickered before dying, engulfing them in Darkness. Amanda grabbed Mattilius’ hand and began guiding him to the others. Her eyes adjusted far easier to the dark than the others. They were about a yard away from them, when Mattilius stopped. He turned his head, listening hard. Amanda looked at him in worry.
Galloping
That’s what he heard. The rhythmic thumping of a horse's hooves.
Mattilius yanked Amanda to the others and whispered, “He’s coming. Run!”
Ben, laughed half-heartedly, “D-don’t, scare us Matt…i-it’s just cold from…the night, wind.”
Before Mattilius could respond, they heard a rustle of bushes on the other side of the clearing. A dark figure emerged, perched atop a black horse. For a half a second the group stared at the dark spectre, before it reached to its side and pulled something out. A sharp, nearly pristine spadroon reflected the moonlight. The sword glowed softly, in the dark, illuminating the shoulders of the spectre. The truth dawned upon them all the moment they saw…
…he was headless.
Ben was the first to turn and run, Martin followed immediately after. Amanda proceeded to squeeze Mattilius’s hand as she pulled him away. Steve remained just long enough to see the spirit start riding toward him, before following the others. In the hollow, the group lost track of each other as they spread out like ants fleeing from water.
Steve didn’t stick to the path, he ran straight across it into the dense brambles of dead trees and shrubs. The rider followed him across the path, cutting at the bushes and trees and trying to get to Steve. The boy could feel scratches and cuts appearing all over his hands and cheeks, he eventually found a tree whose roots opened into a small crevice. Steve hid for a minute or so, but heard nothing. Stepping out, he realized the spectre had halted his pursuit.
Amanda dragged Mattilius a short way down the gravel road and through a thick bundle of trees before hiding behind a thick trunk. Both of them stood in silence for a moment, catching their breath. Mattilius then looked around, “Where are the others?”
Amanda shuddered, still panting, “I don’t know. But…we need to get out of here.”
“Yes, but the others…we can’t leave them to die!”
“I know…I know, what can we do though?”
Mattilius looks around, unsure. Amanda sighs and runs a hand through her black hair, before Mattilius looks at her with a grim expression on his face, “We have to lure him out.”
Amanda looks at Mattilius in sheer horror, “Are you CRAZY? You know as well as I that he’ll kill us the moment he gets the chance! Listen…few things are actually problematic for me…DECAPITATION IS ONE OF THEM!”
“Shh! Relax…we need to set a trap. He rides a horse, right?”
“How can I relax? For all I know, this could be our last night alive…”
Mattilius covers Amanda’s mouth, and she annoyedly looks at him, but pauses when she sees him peering around the tree. Amanda listened hard, and heard the heavy breathing of the red eyed horse. It sounded raspy, and shallow. Chilling to the bone, even for a creature of the night. Amanda reached up and slowly moved Mattilius’s hand from her mouth, he briefly glanced at her, but kept a look out for the phantom on his steed.
For a moment, neither of them moved, but they quickly realized that they couldn’t stay there for long, as the sounds of hooves creeped closer by the second. Mattilius motioned for Amanda to follow him, and began moving away from the noise. Amanda glanced back before following him deeper into the hollow.
Ben stumbled down the path, running and panting frantically. He didn’t know where he was going, he didn’t even know if the ghost was behind him. All he knew was that he must not stop running. A few moments passed, before he saw a clearing. “Ah sh-”
He skidded to a halt, before taking a better look at the clearing, and realized that he was back at where they started, a small bridge crossed over a brook at the front of the hollow, and on to safety. “Yes! Ha ha! Freedom!” He sprinted across the bridge, stopping only when his feet could feel the soft dirt path beneath him, at which point he started doing a small dance. He then stopped abruptly.
“Wait. No, no no no…oh f-.”
Ben looked back into the darkened embrace of the dead trees, and realized that his friends were still in there. He began to swear and curse and the top of his lungs, which, little did he know, gave the others a beacon to safety.
Hearing Ben’s loud voice, Martin looked up from his hiding place up in a tree. “Ben?” The blonde boy shuddered, looking at the floor beneath him. That was his domain. The Hessian’s territory. But that was the only means of travel. “Oh…oh dear. Ok…ok…you can do this. You can do this Mart…let’s go.”
He jumped down, landing with a soft thud on the soft dirt. Taking one more quick glance around, he began shuffling in the direction he heard Ben’s voice, before taking off in a silent trot.
In the meantime, Steve had to push and shove his way through the dead bushes, adding hundreds more to his already vast multitude of scratches and cuts. The wind howled, and the distant sounds of Ben’s tantrum guided Steve forward, but the soft sound of hooves kept him on edge. He couldn’t tell the distance, nor could he tell the speed, but the sound was there. Soft and haunting.
After a few moments of pushing and pulling through the brambles and bushes, Steve paused to listen for the hooves once more. But they had stopped. The night was silent, save for Steve’s own breath. He looked around in near-panic but froze as he heard a sword being drawn from its sheath. It was distant, but the sounds of a galloping horse that followed soon after sent chills down Steve’s spine. He didn’t know who, but the Hessian had found his next targets. Those targets were Mattilius and Amanda.
Amanda guided the way, clenching on to Mattilius’ hand as the two sprinted for their lives. The spectre rode in pursuit just a few yards behind them, and gaining quickly.
“We have to split up!” Mattilus yelled at his friend.
“Are you crazy? I’m not leaving you alone!” she yelled back.
“He can’t chase both of us at once!”
“No!”
They were unable to argue any further as Amanda tripped on a root sticking out of the ground, collapsing into a shallow pile of mud. Mattilius quickly pulled her up to keep going, but they heard a low cackle. The laughter of a damaged throat. The laughter of a headless man.
The pair looked back to see the massive black horse rearing its front legs kicking in the air. Its ghostly rider raised his sharpened sword above his shoulders, ready to strike. Mattilius pushed Amanda forward to resume their escape, and expected the swing of a blade any second. But it didn’t come. He briefly looked back to see Ben standing a few yards away with a group of rocks in his arms, throwing them one at a time at the horse. The steed reared and jumped in freight and anger, but was quickly subdued by its phantom rider, who returned his sword to his side and reached under its tattered cloak.
“What! Ya ‘fraid of a couple of rocks boy?” Ben laughed, mocking the phantom. But his face shifted from that of mockery to pure fright in less than a second as the Hessian drew a new weapon out of his cloak. A flintlock pistol.
Ben screamed and dropped the rocks he had, fleeing back the way he came as the bullets flew past, one of them scratching his right shoulder. He quickly hid behind a tree, muttering, “I wish I brought Tommy…then I would’ve been able to show this fool some real firepower.” But as he looked around the tree, the Hessian was not chasing him. In fact, the ghost had resumed his pursuit of Mattilius and Amanda.
“Oh Come on! Was my distraction worthless?” Ben yelled again.
As Ben yelled in frustration, Mattilius had successfully managed to hide himself and Amanda behind a thick tree once more.
“Why do we always end up hiding behind a tree?” Amanda whispered to Mattilius as he scanned the first around them.
“Well where else we would hide? A bush?”
“Fair point.” Amanda whispered back, before her head snapped to the left, “Go…GO!” She yelped as Mattilius briefly glanced back at what she saw, only to see a pair of glowing red eyes and a moonlight reflecting sword approaching rapidly. As the chase resumed, their undead pursuer cackled once more.
Steve had finally made it back to the path and approached the bridge, only to find Martin sitting on the floor just on the other side. “Martin!” Steve yelled as he sprinted over, “Martin! You ok?”
The teenager in the blue hoodie looked up, tears streaming down his face, “Where…a-are the others?” His voice cracked, panic shivering through his voice.
Steve put an arm around his friend, “They’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”
“I heard gunfire.”
“I heard it too.”
“We have to help them!”
“I know…I know…but what can we do against the ghost of a soldier?”
The two remained silent, waiting for their friends while brainstorming what they could do to help. Then Martin remembered how he found his way out, and proceeded to stand up and begin yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs.
“Hey! Guys! Over here! We’re over here!”
The guy in the green jacket stood up, “What’re you doing?”
“We can’t fight the ghost, but we can act as a beacon for the others. I had heard Ben crashing out in this direction and that’s how I found my way out. Why shouldn’t they be able to?”
Steve nodded, he and Martin had both found the exit by going in the direction of Ben’s voice. It made sense. So he joined Martin and the two began to yell and scream, acting as an audio beacon.
Mattilius and Amanda fled for their lives, and heads. The Hessian followed behind them, closing the distance every second. Much to both of their surprise though, Mattilius and Amanda suddenly went flying into a thick bundle of bushes. Not a soft landing, but somewhere the hessian would have a hard time following with his red-eyed steed.
Ben had in fact launched himself into the pair, shoving them into the bushes.
“What the heck?” Amanda yelled at Ben.
“Shh! I just saved you bum’s lives! Now get up, we’ve got to get, before the psycho hacks his way through these bushes.
Mattilius was already two steps ahead of Ben, scrambling up and yanking his friends with him. Not a word was said as Mattilius scouted out the other side of the group of bushes and began sprinting, leading the group out. Soon after they escaped the bushes, however, Mattilius paused.
“Wait, you guys hear? That?”
“Hear what? My lungs screaming for a break?” Ben muttered.
“No…no, that screaming, Amanda do you hear it?”
Amanda nodded, “Yeah, it’s coming from over there.”
Mattilius looked in the direction Amanda pointed in and the trio proceeded to pivot their direction.
A few more moments of running and they found the path again. They thought they were in the clear since they hadn't seen the Hessian for a good while by this point, but their temporary reprieve was all too short.
The specter emerged right in front of their path, the horse rearing once more. The trio split up and Mattilius yelled to the others, “Escape! I’ll catch you at the bridge!”
Amanda screamed back, “I’m not leaving you!”
Mattilius didn’t respond and instead waved and yelled, “Hey! Free head! Over here!” Hey then turned on his heel to run, luring the Hessian away.
“Mattilius, you idiot!” Amanda yelled as she began to chase them, but Ben grabbed her hand and began yanking her down the path.
“Let go of me!” Amanda yelled, resisting every step, “I’m not abandoning him!”
“Yeah, but I don’t think he’d want you to die for his sake.”
“Let go of me!”
Mattilius’ heart raced in his chest, the Hessian’s malicious cackle and the horse’s raspy breath echoing in his ears as the phantom followed him through the dark. He didn’t dare look back. It was unnecessary for him to do so to realize that the ghost was approaching and every step was only prolonging the inevitable swift cut of a sword straight through the air.
He chanced a glance, the ghost was far closer than he had hoped. The sharpened blade was no more than a yard from his neck, he could almost taste the death coming from the sword.
Pushing himself harder, Mattilius ignored the growing soreness in his legs.
Then he slipped.
Skidding through a large puddle of mud, Mattilius almost face planted. The horse and its rider followed in, slipping as well. The spectre’s sword swung violently as he tried to regain control of his flailing horse. In the panic, Mattilius took the opportunity to find his footing and leave. However, as he did so, he felt a searing pain at the top of the right side of his neck, just below his cheek and ear.
He didn’t have time to check the wound, all he knew was that he was still alive and needed to keep it that way. Leaving the puddle of mud behind, Mattilius was able to escape the phantom rider, running back down the trail.
The others were waiting at the other side of the bridge. Amanda was watching impatiently. Steve was pacing back and forth, constantly glancing down the bridge, meanwhile Ben and Martin were taking turns providing Mattilius with an audio compass. A few moments passed before Steve rubbed the sides of his head and began walking across the bridge, stating, “I’m going in, he’s taking too long.”
As Steve walked along, Amanda caught up with him, “I’m coming with you.”
They weren’t even halfway across, when the sound of rapid footsteps on gravel began approaching from the other side. Steve and Amanda paused, looking across the bridge, when quite abruptly, Mattilius emerged from the dark abyss of the Hollow. Amanda almost ran to greet him, but stopped dead in her tracks when they saw the phantom tailing just behind Mattilius.
Both of them were covered in mud, Mattilius had a small trail of blood trickling down the side of his neck, and the ghost was violently swinging his sword, narrowly missing Mattilius’ neck.
The four on the other side began yelling and screaming for Mattilius to hurry over the bridge and not look back.
The next few moments happened in a flash. Mattilius ran across the bridge jumping when he was about three fourths of the way. Amanda and Steve grabbed Mattilius’ arms as he was mid jump and yanked him over as the ghost stopped on just the other side of the bridge, his steed rearing in pure anger.
Mattilius quickly scrambled up and pulled his two friends up and off the bridge, Martin and Ben watched in horror.
The ghost had pulled a flaming pumpkin from the Ethereal Plane and hurled it at them. The five friends had luckily cleared the bridge as it was set ablaze. The flames cast eerie shadows upon the land around them, as the horse and its rider paced back and forth on the other side, vanishing from sight as the flames dissipated into nothing, leaving the wooden bridge seemingly untouched.
The five stood there, panting for almost a whole minute. They looked at each other, catching their breath before Ben laughed, almost hysterically.
“Take that you ghost! Ha!” Ben yelled at the now empty, unscathed bridge.
Mattilius dusted off his muddy clothes before noticing the pain on his neck as the adrenaline died down, “Ah!” he winced, placing a hand on the cut. He was lucky it hadn’t spliced through any major veins or muscles, but it still hurt.
Amanda noticed the wound and inspected, “Matt…you ok?”
“Y-yeah…I’m fine. It’s just a cut.”
Ben quickly interjected, “Just a cut? Just a cut? Bro, for all we know, that could be a cut from a cursed sword that’ll slowly turn you into some sort of undead wraith!”
Martin sighed, “Ben, why…please…just. Not right now.”
Ben started yapping about the most outrageous possibilities, while Steve patted Mattilius on the back, “Matt, you might as well let the blood expert take a look at the bloody wound.”
Mattilius shook his head, “No, no…I’m fine. We just…need to get home.”
Amanda smiled gently, “Yes, we do, and we need to clean up that cut before your mother freaks out about it.”
Despite his protests, Mattilius eventually had to relent and agreed to let Amanda take a look at his wound, before the group began walking down the path away from the dark trees once more. Dirty, cut, and exhausted, none of them ever intended to return to the Hollow.
None of them ever intended to return to the domain of the Headless Horseman.