Dullahan Boyfriends: Ichabod & Iscariot (special preview)

Small yet somehow endless, a world all of its own, a world created and formed to bring joy to those who enter it. A small dream that has become something more than hope. I was brought here when I thought everything else had ended for me. Everything I knew, everything I loved, was gone. This place that is endless and is more than hope reached out to me in my grief. It called to me and invited me to stay.

I had been alone for so long now. I had stayed in my home, letting it rot around me as the world went by. Life went on, but not the life of those who made it worth living for me. Then, one day, I heard voices near me. They whispered away, their voices carrying on the wind. There was no one in the house, I would have known that. 

I got up from my spot of rest and followed the voices. I trailed my hands along the wall, then slowly and ever so carefully went down the stairs. The voices both followed and led me, taking me down into what had once been his room. There was a presence there, a something. I stepped gently, feeling around as I could not see. I knelt down on the floor as the voices grew louder and louder. 

I reached under his bed and, instead of the cold wood floor, I felt nothing. My hand extended into a nothingness, a void. I moved under the bed to see if I was losing my mind, and instead I found myself somewhere else. I rose into this void, no longer in my home, no longer really anywhere. The whispers touched against me here and guided me.

I then fell through a doorway, toppling over and falling through clothes. I clattered to the ground, hung up in clothing hangers and soft fabric.

“Look, Coraline, a visitor!” A man announced brightly.

“Where did they come from?” A woman came forward and helped me untangle myself. The gasp that left her voice said it all, she saw me, she knew what I was. “Oh, you poor thing. Here, Bram, help me with her.”

“Where am I?” I asked dully. “Where did I go?”

“You’re safe now, no need to worry.” The man helped me up and eased me back into a chair. “You’re exactly where you need to be.”

“All these burns, they’re old,” Coraline whispered. Her hand gently touched my arm and face. “And her eyes.”

“We’ll get her taken care of. She’s here for a reason.” Bram’s voice was kind and gentle. “We’ll take care of you. What’s your name?”

It had been so long since I had spoken it, I had nearly forgotten. But then I remember how they used to speak to me, his voice was bright, her’s was excited. “Nessarose,” I murmured. 

“How lovely.” Coraline held my hand. “You’re in the right place. Here in Scarebrooke, you’re with your own kind.”

“Scarebrooke?” I lifted my chin slightly. “What’s that?”

Bram and Coraline took me in like I was one of their own. Like me, they were living dolls. Coraline was made of porcelain while Bram claimed to be carved from the gallows and guillotines of history. In any case, they gave me a home, they reminded me about love, and they helped me.

A great deal of my body was covered in horrible burns, one of my arms was replaced and then the rest of the burns were filled in with some sort of acrylic. They tried to fix me with new eyes, but I rejected them. I had removed my own eyes for a reason, I no longer wished to see this world when the ones I loved couldn’t.

Scarebrooke, I learned, was more than a small town, it was a destination, one that could move. It was part of a carnival, a small yet somehow endless world on its own. Bram and Coraline ran Scarebrooke and they offered me a job. 

Back when the ones I loved were still alive, I used to perform all sorts of tricks. I could juggle, play the violin, I even did puppet shows. Bram took me under his wing, he was master of ceremonies for Scarebrooke and he told me he saw potential in me.

“I always wanted a daughter,” he chuckled. “My son is wonderful, and I am proud of what he’s accomplished. But he is more like his mother. I see myself in you, my dear.”

“What is there to look at?” I asked.

Bram gently held my hands. “I know your heart is broken, and unlike the rest of you, the heart and mind are the hardest to mend.” He taps his finger in the center of my forehead. “But I see in you something extremely special, Nessarose. Something that you and I share.” He squeezed his hand around mine. “One of these days, I might want to retire. I’ll need something like you to make sure Scarebrooke is in good hands.”

My hands could do nothing to protect the people I loved, how could it manage a whole wonderful place like Scarebrooke?

“Not to worry, it won’t be for a long while. I don’t plan to stop anytime now. But until then, you and I will be like peas in a pod.” Bram clapped his hand on my back. 

Bram and Coraline did become my family, I saw them as my parents eventually, I even called them as such. They got me a brand new violin to play and, for a while, I performed music in the graveyard. I made friends with the people there, some of the ghosts, the bats.