Chapter 2 Just in my head

Riya stood for a while after closing the door and scanned her apartment, it wasn't really big like a luxurious apartment, but it was okay and cozy with just two rooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, a small living room, a lawn outside and a small garden behind the house, she loved flowers growing up so she decided to use the small space behind the house for a flower garden.

Kicking off her boots, she walked towards the kitchen to have some whiskey to clear her head. Entering the kitchen, she opened one of the cupboards and brought out a bottle of whiskey and poured some in a glass and drank it in a go.

She felt so stressed and mentally scarred, she just couldn't shake the image of that man lying dead in that manner in the alley and those red eyes of the man in the cloak.

The sergeant and his company did believe that she saw the man in the Cloak but they just didn't buy into her statement of the man having a glowing red eyes.

It's probably your mind playing tricky games on you because u were scared and the reek of death and the suspect's choice of wardrobe Miss Riya, the sergeant had said.

"Maybe" she muttered coming back to the present

She drank another glass of whiskey before heading to her room to sleep. She changed into panty shorts and crop top before crawling into bed. She drew the covers over her head and checked her phone for any possible messages, then she saw her mum's message

{ hey Riya, how are u doing?}

{ I'm fine mum} she replied.

Soon her phone beeped and vibrated again.

{I've missed u my baby girl, how is sleepy hollow so far?}

{it's beautiful mum like I always tell you, the people are nice, Mr Andrew still sends his regards, I'm okay mum, the past six months has been pleasant}

{ you sure u don't want to come back to Canada?, we miss u sweetie}

{ I'm good here for now Mum, I gotta go, I Love you}

{okay, Love you too sweetie}

She locked her phone and dropped it on the side table. Looking up at the ceiling, she remembered how things was and used to be back in Canada.

Growing up, she used to be daddy's girl, her father Mason Sindell was a strikingly good-looking man, he was a neurosurgeon, a very intelligent one at that. He wasn't always around but the few times she spent with him was always one to remember. While her mum on the other end never worked, she was always around for Riya and she loved her a lot , she could still remember how dad would get back from work and they would eat together and laugh the whole evening.

But everything changed during her senior year in highschool when dad went to work one day and never came back. Her and her mother later got the news that there was a fire accident in the hospital and dad died in the fire. Riya was so devastated, she never fully recovered because he had promised to take them on a family picnic when he got back, she didn't expect to be hearing his death. Her mum since then had tried her best to fill up the gap for her dad, she tried all her best even though she was also in pain. Her dad and mum had really been in love, Riya sometimes caught her mum crying all by herself in the balcony or the garden after giving her a hug and saying they'll be fine, Riya knew her mum was barely holding up but she still gave her hope and she loved her for that.

Before her last year in college, her mum started seeing this man Justin Mark, he was kind and also very jovial, they got married after her graduation, and since Riya was already Twenty two, she decided to move out of the house to give them their space and to also have hers. And that's how she ended up in Sleepy Hollow.

She had always seen this town in most of the post cards dad picked up for her while returning from work, so when moving out came into the equation, she picked the place and so far she has loved it

Back to the present, she turned off the bed lamp and closed her eyes as sleep finally took her and she drifted into dreamland.