Title: Hope

Author: HuffyTheCampfireSlayer

Rating: G

Feedback: HuffyTheCampfireSlayer@hotmail.com

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in the WBs TV show 'Smallville'. I am simply borrowing them for a bit for my own entertainment. No profit will be made from this story. So please don't sue me.

Summary: Future-fic. The future's not so bright in the eyes of one of our former Smallville resident.

I never thought that leaving Smallville would make me miss it so much. I thought it would be easy to forget and move on, but it's not. I miss it. I miss waking up in my old bed, with the cockerels from Brown's farm. I miss getting into my little VW beetle in the mornings, on my way to open up the Torch office. I miss the peace and quiet of the hallways in school before classes start up. The stillness. The calm before the storm.

I miss the teachers, I miss the classrooms, and I miss the routine. But most of all, I miss my friends. I take a moment to contemplate them. I wonder what they're doing right at this moment. Wherever they are, and whatever they're doing I hope they're not as cold and alone as I am.

I reach into my pocket and pull out some loose change. I carefully count out the coins to pay for the hot chocolate I just treated myself to, before slipping out of the café. Unnoticed by all around me. I'm a typical sight here. There are always people like me here, trying to make a cup of coffee last as long as possible, before having to go and face the harshness of reality once more.

As I glance up into the sky, thunder rumbles high above. I dash across the street, with definite eagerness. I don't want to get caught in the open with this storm. The bitter wind whips through my clothes, cutting me to the bone, like a knife through butter. I shiver. But I barely feel the cold anymore. I have my mind on more important things.

I spot the empty alleyway opposite a globed building of dreams. Home. My haven. I rush towards it, people deliberately dodging my path, but I'm used to it. They open their umbrellas as the first drops of rain start to fall. I'm so used to people avoiding me that it doesn't bother me anymore. But I know in the past it would have. But I simply can't find it in me to care about it anymore. I don't think I know how to care about anything anymore. The only things I know are who I was, and what I did. My past. I have a present. That's existing, getting through this day and onto the next. But I have no future. Just endless days of coping and surviving. There's only one thing left for me to live for. That's why I'm here, cuddled up to my blanket, sheltering under scant sheets of cardboard. My eyes shine with a shimmer of hope. I glance up at the globe on the building opposite. That was my dream once. The thing that kept me going against all odds. Slowly but surely that dream was ripped from me, leaving me an empty soulless shell of a human being. Now I just spend my days drifting from one to another, floating in a sea of meaninglessness. There's only one hope for me. That's why I come here. I watch him and I wonder why he's never come to save me when it's now that I need him most. I wonder why he walks by me everyday and never notices. Never cares. Why has he given up on me? I would never have given up on him.

My one hope is hopeless.

I see him now. He's leaving the building. Living my dream. He pauses for a moment and for a second I'm certain he's seen me, at last. I hope and pray that he has seen me and that he will scoop me into his arms to rescue me. But no, he hasn't. He is just halting to open his umbrella. He doesn't want to get wet. I don't blame him. Neither do I. I can feel the icy cold water tricking down the back of my neck. It chills me to the bone.

I fight against the urge to get up and run over to him. I want to. I need to. But I doubt he would recognise me. So I keep my silent watch over him. Despite the fact he doesn't care about me anymore, I still do. Because I must have hope and he is my one and only. I see him and remain expectant that he will one day see me.

One day he will save me.

Otherwise there is no such thing as hope.