Sleepy Hollow
KATRINA What?
ICHABOD She is not your birth mother, is she?
KATRINA No, but… why do you ask that?
ICHABOD What happened to your mother? Is she still alive?
KATRINA She died. Her lungs were diseased… two years ago. What is this about?
ICHABOD Memories have come back. I had them forgotten, and wish I could forget them again… but they are here now. (pause) Lord, how I hate this place.
KATRINA If you want me to go, I will. Do you want me to leave?
ICHABOD I… I do not know. I no longer know what I think or what I feel.
Katrina walks to him. She touches his back.
KATRINA Why are you so afraid of that? Is there truly such harm in uncertainty?
She kneels, smiles a little for him. She reaches to touch his face, holds his head in her hands. Leans to kiss him.
He rests his head against hers, weary, putting his arms around her. They kiss passionately.
EXT. THE HOLLOW-EARLY MORNING
Dawn light, is visible over forests pounded by rain.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, SECOND FLOOR HALL-MORNING
Ichabod exits his room, satchel in hand. He looks down the hall, then steps back in to take a white rose from a vase.
AROUND A CORNER, Ichabod comes to the last door. He bends, slipping the white rose under the crack of the door.
EXT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, FRONT PORCH-MORNING
Rain. Ichabod comes out. Across the lawn, Young Masbath is bringing the horses.
LADY VAN TASSEL (o.s.) Good morrow, Constable.
Ichabod turns to see Lady Van Tassel in a chair, sewing.
LADY VAN TASSEL Returning to the Western Woods?
ICHABOD Yes, actually.
LADY VAN TASSEL Use caution.
ICHABOD (nods, studies her) Do you know… I think those are the first words I have heard from you my entire time here.
LADY VAN TASSEL As my husband says, a wife should be always like an echo, and at the same time, quite unlike an echo. (off Ichabod’s confusion) Like an echo, she should speak only when spoken to, and unlike an echo, should never try to have the last word, or, at least that is what he believes.
Baltus comes out the door, irritable, skillet in hand.
BALTUS Constable… did you notice anything out of the ordinary during the night?
Ichabod eyes the skillet, ill at ease, trying not to be.
ICHABOD Um… I… I did not… no. Why?
BALTUS Sarah has gone missing… my servant girl. Her things are gone. Damn it. She has joined the migration out of town. (to Lady Van Tassel) What about breakfast, woman? Or, am I to starve to death?
Lady Van Tassel gets up and goes in, taking the skillet.
ICHABOD I should be going… good day to you.
Ichabod heads towards Young Masbath. Baltus watches from the porch, disgruntled. He goes in.
EXT. WESTERN WOODS-DAY
Heavy rain. Ichabod and Young Masbath ride side by side.
YOUNG MASBATH If the Crone’s wound bled hard, that means she was not killed by the Hessian. Someone only tried to make it look that way.
ICHABOD You grow sharper by the minute, little man. It boggles my mind, but I begin to prefer your company over all others.
YOUNG MASBATH Well… I’m one of the few people who likes you.
ICHABOD (laughs) True enough.
YOUNG MASBATH Then, who murdered the Old Crone? And why?
ICHABOD Good questions, deserving answers, of which we are in short supply.
A SOUND is HEARD. Ichabod looks back, then to Masbath.
ICHABOD Quicken pace.
Ichabod rides faster. Young Masbath keeps up.
FURTHER ON, they charge over a hill. Ichabod halts Gunpowder and climbs clumsily off.
ICHABOD Ride on.
Young Masbath obeys. Ichabod takes out his pistol and wades into forest growth, backtracking.
INSIDE THE FOREST, Ichabod bounds through underbrush, low. A HORSE is HEARD SNORTING. He pushes through branches…
Moving behind a FIGURE IN A GREY CLOAK on horseback.
ICHABOD Halt and turn. I have a pistol aimed at your head.
The figure stops, pushes off the cloak hood. Katrina.
KATRINA It is only me.
ICHABOD Katrina. Why do you follow?
KATRINA I apologize if I worried you.
ICHABOD A woman should not be out alone in these woods.
KATRINA But, I am not alone, am I? I only wished to see what you were up to, and… (takes out WHITE ROSE) To thank you.
Ichabod softens, but doesn’t want to.
ICHABOD Come along.
EXT. WESTERN WOODS, TREE OF THE DEAD-DAY
Raining still. Ichabod, Masbath and Katrina come into a clearing, mouths falling open at the sight of…
A monstrously huge TREE OF THE DEAD, at the clearing’s center, with branches reaching far and wide, knotted and gross, like agony captured in wood sculpture.
Ichabod dismounts, crossing a line beyond which grass and weeds will not grow. Young Masbath and Katrina dismount.
YOUNG MASBATH You were right… it does draw attention to itself.
Ichabod stares up into the endless, dead canopy of branches. He circles the incredibly wide trunk.
There’s a VERTICAL WOUND in the bark, as if the tree once had a terrible vertical in it, now partially healed and disgustingly scarred. Ichabod approaches.
He feels the mushy scar, picking at its scabs till much sap begins to trickle. It is red and Ichabod fingers it.
ICHABOD Blood.
KATRINA What did you say?
Ichabod goes to where Katrina and Masbath wait with the horses, digs in a saddle bag for a hand axe.
YOUNG MASBATH What is it?
ICHABOD Stay back.
At the trunk, Ichabod thumps the flat end of the axe against the suture. It sounds hollow. Ichabod begins to chop.
He pulls away loose bark. The tree drips more blood and a clear goo. Ichabod uses both hands on the axe to hack at the festering suture.
KATRINA What are you doing?
ICHABOD Just… keep where you are.
Ignoring, Young Masbath moves closer. Ichabod keeps chopping, then grips a large, loose flap of wood, trying to bend it. It’s not easy. Ichabod struggles.
Katrina follows Masbath’s slow advance.
Ichabod’s pulling… the flap suddenly gives, revealing a blood-soaked, wide-eyed, gap-mouthed HUMAN HEAD.
Ichabod recoils. Behind him, Katrina stifles a scream, taking Young Masbath in her arms to keep him from looking.
It is Philipse’s head, hanging off the trunk flap, held by roots grown around and into the flesh.
Ichabod reapproaches, back of his hand to his mouth.
FOUR other SEVERED, DECAYING HEADS are held by ingrown roots within the dewy innards.
KATRINA My God… what has happened?
ICHABOD He… he tries to take the heads… they will not pass.
He looks to the branches towering above.
ICHABOD Must be some sort of gateway. But, why this place… ?
YOUNG MASBATH We should go.
ICHABOD Why this tree?
Ichabod begins looking at the ground, moving around the tree. He gets to his knees, pushing mud away.
