THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY
Prologue: It's a Mad World
All around me are familiar faces And I find it kind of funny
Worn out places
Worn-out faces
Bright and early for the daily races
Going nowhere
Going nowhere
The tears are filling up their glasses
No expressions
No expressions
Hide my head
I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow
No tomorrow
I find it kind of sad
The dreams of which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very very
Mad world
Mad world
"So tell me Miss Lane how long have you felt this way?"
"Too long, what's with the twenty questions? Can't you do something?"
"Are you always so sarcastic?"
She looked down at her lap and resisted the urge to cry. "Not so much lately."
"How are you with your friends?"
"Quiet" unbelievable to her even. But it was true. Lois Lane had never been quieter.
"How about your family?"
"Family was Mr. and Mrs. Kent and Clark…not Lucy, not the General."Words didn't make it to her mouth. She looked away and out the window.
The doctor looked right through her and wrote something down.
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
She almost laughed. "No, I have a problem with keeping them…I usually crash and burn."
"Why is that?"
"I keeping picking the same kind of men I guess."
"And what kind of men do you pick?"
"Weekend warriors, men with the world to compete with" and then she thought "never the nice guy…."
"When was your last breakup?"
"Let me save you some time, that's not why I'm here."
The doctor looked over at her and took off his glasses and said,
"Tell me Miss Lane, why are you here?"
She sucked in her lips, and started to cry…she felt weak. She hated it.
"Look lets just say I not very happy right now…can't you just give me something?"
He handed her a box of tissues. She took them.
"Do you find it difficult to speak about what has brought about this change in you?"
She just gave him a sarcastic look.
"You haven't lost a job, or had a breakup…have you experienced some other kind of loss? The death of a friend perhaps? A loved one?"
Hand over her mouth, she lost it, she gushed big tears right there in front of a virtual stranger.
"I see, I'm going to prescribe something for depression, and something to help you to sleep."
She shook her head, and whispered a thanks. She walked out no better than she was than when she walked in.
Oliver was at his apartment pacing. It had been two months. Two months since he had went to save his friend only to be the one who killed him. He felt sick all the time. And as bad as Lois felt, he felt worse, guilt did incredible things to you. It tore the very inside out of him. Another call from Chloe, she was leaving a message on his machine he ignored it.
"Come on Ollie…pick up… I need your help….you're not alone….we all miss him…call me…you know-you're not alone."
He was drinking. He drank a lot lately. His friends had left him, he had angrily ran them all away. A.C. hoped all he needed was space. No one knew what to do.
Maybe he was the bad guy, maybe he was worst than Lex after all. It was what he felt.
Chloe was the Rock of Gibraltar. She would not give up. As many times as Clark had been able to come back from death, she couldn't believe that he was gone for good. He would come back. She would find a way to make him come back, if she had to spin the world on its axis to do so. In the meantime, everyone around her was falling apart.
Lois came in their apartment, and quietly sat down in front of the computer.
Chloe hung up the phone and looked over at Lois.
"Where have you been?"
"Working." She didn't look at her. She never looked at anyone anymore. Chloe wasn't sure who was worse…Oliver or Lois.
She sat down beside her, not pushing for any explanation not pushing Lois to look back at her.
"I'm worried about Oliver."
Lois kept typing. She didn't want to think about anyone there that day. Especially Oliver.
If she had let him walk out the door that day long ago, when she first meet him, instead of trying to make things right for Martha's sake-then Clark would have never….
"He's drinking, pushing away all his friends…he blames himself."
"What do you want me to do? I can't even stand to look at him. I can't help him Chloe."
"It's not his fault…."
"Isn't it?"
"He was drugged!"
Lois put her hand on her head and then stood up. She took her purse, stood up, and walked away…
"I'm sorry, I can't do this right now."
She walked out slamming the door behind her and ran down the stairs. Straight to the bar, she grabbed a bottle water from behind the counter, and took the pills out of her purse. "No relieve…" she thought and then she took the pills.
Behind her, Jimmy was watching.
When she turned and saw him, she said with tears in her eyes "Don't tell Chloe…"
He shook his head no and then grabbed her and hugged her. Then he whispered "What that you loved him? It's okay…no one will ever know."