" REVENGE "

CHAPTER 1: Goodbyes

Three months had gone by since Clark's disappearance from Smallville; five minutes since her confrontation with him in Metropolis and the realisation that their relationship was definitely over.

Lana left Clark and, distraught, took a taxi to Nell's where she was staying to attend Lex's funeral. Her aunt heard the front door open and made her way out of the kitchen to see Lana enter the house in tears, her mascara running down her cheeks.

" What's wrong, Lana ? " asked Nell in a worried voice.

" Don't worry, Nell. I should have known all along that he didn't deserve my trust, that he'd disappoint me again. How stupid of me to believe this time would be any different ! " exclaimed Lana wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, smudging her face with her make-up.

" Are you talking about Clark ? " asked Nell seriously." You're both too young to know what you want, Lana. I know it hurts but, believe me, it's not the end of the world," she added.

" You're happy, aren't you ? You've never liked him in the first place. Maybe you're right and I've just been kidding myself. Everyone I care about ends up leaving me so it shouldn't have come as a surprise to see Clark shut the door on me.But I can tell you this, Nell: I may be young and naïve and not know what I want, yet I know what I don't want. I don't want to be with someone who's constantly hiding things from me and who's not there when I need him to share something that's important to me. Note my words: Never again, " cried Lana and rushed up the stairs to the guestroom, leaving a speechless Nell standing at the bottom of the stairs.

Lana stormed into her bedroom and, locking the door so as not to be disturbed, collapsed on her bed. Nell could hear her sobbing from downstairs and was in two-minds about what to do. She thought of calling Chloe but then, she remembered the two girls had been distant of late and she knew better than to interfere with Lana when she was in one of her moods. By one o'clock her crying had ebbed away and Nell ventured up the stairs to knock gently on her door.

" Lana ? Lana, are you awake ? It's one o'clock. You should get ready for the funeral, remember ? " she said quietly.

The funeral. Another goodbye. Lana scarcely felt the strength to sit up and muttered an answer. " I'll be down in ten minutes, Nell. " The tears threatened to fall again, this time for Lex, and they did. She locked herself up in the bathroom and slid down to the floor. She cried silently and rocked her body for comfort, aware now that she was truly alone. The one person to whom she could have turned to was also gone.

The feeling of numbness accompanied her throughout the funeral and there were a couple of times when she felt like howling.The hypocrisy of it all was almost unbearable- starting with Lionel and the seemimgly bereaved widow. Scanning the crowd Lana saw Martha Kent and realised that Clark's mum was perhaps the only person, apart from her, who was actually there because she cared about Lex. Love in his life had been as scarce as in hers and when he thought he had found it- like she did- it had slipped through his fingers.

There was a moment at the funeral when she believed she saw Clark watching the ceremony from a distance but then she told herself it must have been her ache playing tricks on her mind. It was high time she got over him, there was no turning back.