CHAPTER 19
Eddy rode home heartbroken over the news that Juliet was planning her own escape. 
“But I’ve shared everything with her,” he whispered. 
Doubts about every part of their friendship festered in his mind. He had shared all of his hopes, fears, dreams, feelings of inadequacy and insecurity with her. When he was a child and got the switch to his rear, Juliet was there with a hug. On nights that his nightmares were too thick to shake off, she was up making him an elixir to help him get some rest. She was the first person he showed his poems. They shared time mourning their mothers together. Eddy shared every dark corner of his heart with her and he thought Juliet shared her heart with him too only to learn she did not. He felt hurt, confused, and completely dejected.
Engrossed in this despondent trance, Eddy didn’t realize how far he’d traveled until the hoot of an owl shook him from his funk. He looked around. With the plantation far behind him and the lights of Richmond still out of view, the moon was surprisingly bright; the surrounding countryside was vividly clear under a star filled sky. Under this indigo dome Eddy drank in the crisp night air until he realized where he was- the haunted spot where the cemetery once was. His spine went rigid and he sat up. The imagine of the dead solder’s corpse eroding before his eyes played over in his brain. He couldn’t shake no matter how hard he tried. 
Eddy stared intently at the horn of the saddle. He was too afraid to look around, petrified of seeing the ghost of a forgotten soldier floating on the breeze in the nearby thicket. His impulse to kick the horse to a gallop was strong, but he thought better of it as the action might make too much noise. He didn’t want to alert any bandits hiding in the woods. 
Convinced of evil in the shadows, Eddy imagined eyes watching him. He could see himself on the little horse walking through the area like an ignorant mark unable to protect himself from trouble on this earth or elsewhere. Fireflies entered his peripheral vision, teasing him to look left or right. To Edgar they might as well be demon sprites toying with him. 
“That’s it,” he said. “Let’s get out of here, girl,” he said to the mare. “Giddy up.”
He kicked the horse to a speed up and just in case he was being followed by anyone or anything, he flicked the horse with the tether of the reign until he was at a full gallop.  He didn’t slow until the lights of Richmond rose in the distance. The gallop became a canter. The canter became a walk. Eddy took one last look back and breathed a sigh of  relief. His nerves subsided.  
He passed simple homes on the outskirts of town, then a string of brownstones, and finally the taverns lit up with activity. Drunken patrons stumbled onto the sidewalk with their pints and mugs. All the way down 14th Street the scene was the same. A boxing match here. The laughter of working girls there. Just another Friday night in Richmond.
On his final stretch home, Eddy’s thoughts returned to Juliet. Her betrayal stung like venom. He had always believed that they were brought together by fate; two outsiders destined to live under the same roof. Both motherless, both lovers of stories, both here against their own free will. Eddy always believed they shared a bond. Now he wasn’t sure about anything.  
A block from Tobacco Alley he spotted the brick colonial townhouse he called home. It was one of Mister Ellis’ many properties, but certainly not the finest. Pa swore they would move to a nicer house just as soon at his debts were cleared. Inside the parlor window, Eddy spotted two lanterns twinkling side by side. The coast was clear. The astronomy story worked.  
Eddy let himself into the little stable in the back of the house.
“Good girl,” he said petting the mare’s nose. 
He removed the bridle and led the mare to her stall for the night. Then he silently made his way across the yard, but instead of entering through the kitchen as he often did, he took the added measure to walk all the way around the house to the front to avoid any chance of seeing Juliet. It was the opposite of what he usually did. A flickering light emanating from the cellar window confirmed she was waiting for him, but Juliet was the last person Eddy wanted to see right now. At the front door, he slipped off his boots, blew out the lanterns, and made his way to his room in the pitch dark. That night, the nightmares ran deep.
——-
The first nightmare was crisp and realistic. He was transported back to the same road he had been on just a few hours before. He dreamed the night sky was oddly crystal clear. An owl hooted in the distant. Then he heard the other horse snort. Eddy looked around in the dream light, but there was nothing there. He carried on. A putrid stench crossed his nose. He knew that smell. Decay. 
Looking ahead, he eyed the winding country road leading into the imagined forest of gnarled trees seemingly motioning for him to come forward. Eddy looked around, realizing he wasn’t in the Virginian countryside at all. Instead, he had somehow been transported onto a cold, and lonely road— the kind that he only read about in books. He had read this story so many times as a child [1]. He knew the scene. He knew it didn’t end well for him. 
Like the character in Irving’s book [1], Eddy, sensing danger, kicked the horse into a full run, making for the bridge that he predicted was just up ahead. He recalled the story- get to the bridge and you will be safe. 
The sound of hooves came faster, and more furious. The  steam from the beast’s nostrils rose on the hair-raised flesh of his neck. And then in an instant it was gone. Eddy looked back, but saw only an empty road. He slowed the horse, and looked around. Nothing. He stopped the mare and listened to the song in the night. A million crickets played in concert. Nothing else. Eddy breathed deeply. His heartbeat returned to normal. He laughed at himself and turned the little mare back in the direction towards the bridge that led the way home and then he froze. There, on the road just in front of him, was a massive black steed snorting, his blood red eyes bore through him as he violently pawed at the ground. The little mare whinnied and Eddy steadied her reigns. He swallowed hard. It took everything for him to look up at the intimidating rider of Irving’s tale. But instead of a Headless Horseman, Eddy found himself staring directly at a ghostly visage of Juliet. Her hair wild and flowing like flames, she smiled ear to ear with deceitful pride.