So, I'm writing this 'novel' for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). Because November is well- that. So every new chapter I post, I'll be keeping record of the word count. I hope to have the story done by the end of November (Or at least at 50,000 words. If I go over the word count, even if it's after November, then great!) But I need at least 50,000 words by the end of the month. So read and I hope you'll enjoy
NaNoWriMo
Word goal: 50,000
Word count for this chapter: 1,401
Total words so far: 1,401
Total words left: 48,599
The call had come in at about eleven o'clock at night. ""Hmph. Darn kids." The police chief, Douglas Parker, grumbled as he stepped back into his office. It was eleven thirty, the barn fire had been put out. Lots of money in damages, though. He gave the boy, that was sat infront of his desk, a long hard stare.
The boy looked nervous. It was obvious this was his first offense, and would probably be his last. He pushed his over-sized glasses back up his nose and folded his hands in his lap. He never looked up, though. He was too nervous. "What's your name, son." Parker walked past the boy and over to his desk. He made himself comfortable and took a sip from his coffee as he waited for his answer.
"Uhm. Clark." Clark lifted his head and made eye-contact with the officer in front of him. Brief, though. He was far too nervous to keep that eye-contact, but his father had always told him it was polite to make eye-contact when you were talking with someone. "Clark Kent." The boy finished.
"Kent? Jon's son, Kent?" Parker sat up straighter, now and set his coffee back down on his desk
"Yes, sir." Clark replied, lifted his head again to make slight eye-contact. Parker didn't look quite so upset now, to Clark's surprise. "I-I'm not-. I mean, I-I didn't-."
"It was an accident." Parker finished for Clark. Clark nodded and smiled slightly- though it quickly faded.
"A-am I in trouble, sir? I'm not gonna be, like, put in jail or anything, am I?" Clark stuttered over his words and pushed his glasses up his nose, again
"Well, you're not in any legal trouble. So, no, you're not going to jail. But you do need to make up for the damages. And I can't say what kind of punishment you'll get from your Pa."
"Of course." Clark nodded. "I'll re-build the barn myself if they want. I'll buy all the stuff and everything." He assured the police chief.
Parker nodded and stood from his desk. "Sounds like a plan to me, son. Come on, I'll give you a ride to your place" He nodded as he made his way out of his office. Clark stood and followed after him.
The ride wasn't too long. It may have been long for someone that lived in Metropolis, where everything was much closer together. But here, in Smallville, twenty minutes wasn't very long at all.
So it was about midnight when Jonathan and Martha were woken up by the chief's car pulling into their driveway. Clark was met at the door by his parents. He waved a thank you to Parker as he drove off and waited until he was out of site.
"I am so sorry." Clark turned to his parents the second Parker was gone. "I didn't mean it, I swear. It just happened."
"What were you even doing out this late, Clark?" Jonathan asked as he moved from the door to let Clark in.
"I wanted to run a bit." Clark answered, reluctantly honest. "Just a little bit and we know I can't run during the day. Not like how I want to."
"I'll... make some tea." Martha chimed in and left towards the kitchen. There would be a bit of a talk tonight and Jonathan's temper wasn't the best. Martha figured tea might help him keep calm. Maybe.
"And what exactly happened for you to get Parker to bring you home?" Jonathan kept his cool, for now. He took a seat on the edge of his chair, Clark took one on the couch.
"I might have... started a fire." Clark mumbled. You didn't need super vision to tell that Jonathan tensed at them. "I didn't mean to, though. It just.. happened."
"How does a fire 'just happen'?" Jonathan gave Clark an unbelieving look.
"I don't-. I just-. Clark stumbled with his words. "It- with my eyes."
"With your eyes?" Martha chimed in, walking back into the living room, two mugs of tea in her hands. She handed one off to Jonathan before taking a seat on the arm of Jon's chair. "How do you start a fire with your eyes?"
Clark stood and took off his glasses. He glanced around the room for something he could burn, that didn't have a lot of value. His eyes settled on a tissue box. Clark stood straighter and stared at the tissues. A good minute or so before he finally gave up. "I can't do it now, but that's what happened. I just- I didn't do it on purpose."
"That was uh- pretty much how I found out about all my powers. I normally caused some kind of destruction. I have to tell you though, the heat vision was probably the most dangerous. And I'm so sorry, Lois. I should have told you all of this so much sooner." Clark sat on Lois's desk in the, now empty, Daily Planet. "Lois? Are you alright? Or.. mad?" Clark spoke up after a moment's silence.
Lois just kind of blinked and focused her eyes back onto her co-worker. "So wait. Lemme get this straight. You're trying to tell me that you're-." Clark slowly nodded. "And every time you disappeared to get a better view-."
"I was actually changing into Superman, yes." Clark finished for her.
Lois's looked turned rather dark for a moment, before she semi-playfully hit Clark with a stack of papers. "I have the story of a lifetime, Clark!" She exclaimed, grinning, now. "I can see the headlines now! 'Clark Kent is Superman!' Or, or 'Smalltown from Smallville; Big time hero!' No, sounds dumb."
"Lois." Clark stood and grabbed Lois's arm as she started pacing and rambling to herself about her new big-hit story. "Lois, you can't write this."
"I can't?" Lois turned to face Clark, her brows knitted together in confusion. "Why? Why cant I? This is a big story, Clark! This could be my big story."
"I know, Lois. But it's called a secret identity for a reason." Clark turned and grabbed one of the papers from the day, off another worker's desk. "This guy." Clark pointed to the front page picture of Lex Luthor. "He wants me dead. He wants anyone I have ever cared about dead. And I'm sure he isn't the only one."
"Oh." Lois frowned a bit, but she could understand, she guessed. "I guess. I mean, why else would you go around n those dorky glasses all day." She laughed a bit.
"You think they're dorky?" Clark blinked. Lois just laughed.
"Okay, but really. Why did you tell me, then? I'm not exactly 'world champion secret keeper' or anything."
"Because I needed someone to know. And I trust you." Clark answered truthfully. "And besides, this mean you'll get all of the exclusives. Starting with him." Clark held the paper up again. "Luthor's bad news, Lois. I just need someone to help me expose him. And I wanted that person to be you."
"Everyone knows Luthor is bad news, but no one can prove it. He's paid off anyone, who's opinion on him would matter. And I guess our/ opinion wouldn't matter, because the general public will belive anything the politics say. Clark, you're gonna look like the bad guy going after Luthor like this. And I'll look lke the crazy fangirl for following after you on this."
"And what will you look like when Luthor is behind bars? Lois, this, is your big break. Not the Superman story. The 'Superman sends Luthor to jail' story
Lois turned and started pacing again, thinking all of this through. Clark was right, after all. If he did send Luthor to jail, not only would she be the first one to be on the story, she'd have and exclusive interview with Clark about it! "Alright." She finally decided, after she finished mumbling to herself. She sat back down at her desk and started up her computer. "Alright. What do you want me to write?"