Sorry for the delay on Tangled Webs, peeps. I'll try to get back to it asap. I just couldn't resist this story idea. It called to me! Damn Tom Welling's irresistable grin for getting me hooked on Smallville!

WARNING: Dark, mentions of suicidal thoughts, proceed with caution, and BTW I did NOT mean to make this so dark.

DISCLAIMER: Why, whyyyy? Oh the cruelty of this world! .... Watching Smallville season 2 on DVD might make up for it... Too bad I don't own that either. Cliffhangers suck when you're not the one writing them lol.

Numb

All that alerted Clark to the tears in his eyes was the feeling that something had welled up behind his eyelids. He didn't even feel the salt-sting that had accompanied tears when he was younger. He slammed his fist into the granite. He was slumped on top a granite outcropping half a mile out of town.

I can't feel anything. Not a damned thing. WHY? WHY ME? This isn't fair! Clark hadn't felt any pain when his fist hit the rock, though he'd hit it so hard it shattered a 6-inch deep crater. He had known he wouldn't feel it, but figured it was fate's way of mocking him. If he could feel physical pain maybe it would take his mind off the pain in his heart. Events from only a few minutes earlier replayed in his mind.

Flashback

"Chloe, thanks for the gift. I love it," Clark said, smiling down at his tenacious girlfriend. He was referring to the beautiful silver necklace with a dolphin pendant on it, which she'd given him a few moments before. She had said he was like a dolphin; friendly and heroic, and gentle as could be.

She grinned. "You're welcome, and I'm glad you like it, but that's not your main gift."

Clark's brow furrowed in a look of innocent confusion. "Then what-" Chloe cut him off with a soft kiss, and murmured, "I love you, Clark Kent."

For a moment, he was too delighted with her long-waited confession to notice that he hadn't felt anything more than the weight of her lips on his when she kissed him. "Chloe, I-" again the blonde cut him off with a smiling, "Happy seventeenth birthday, Clark." Then she took off, and the stunned feeling wore away to leave him with harsh realization.

Not only did he no longer feel heat or cold or pain at all, but he could no longer feel physical pleasure either. He had felt the weight of Chloe's lips, and happiness at her confession to be sure, but nothing more. It had been that way for weeks but Clark had found ways to avoid thinking about it. Admitting it now gave it the finality he had been trying to escape.

End Flashback

Clark stared over the edge of the rock outcropping. It was a long way down. Hundreds of feet. He knew. Would the fall be enough to kill him? He hoped so. He was numb in all the ways that counted.

Clark Kent was truly alone.