June 1st, 1925, 19 Years Ago
Smallville, Kansas
Chapter One: The Heat of the Night
"Calvin! Get away from the window right now!"
Pa pulled Calvin away from the window and sat him down on the living room couch. Calvin saw angry men standing outside the house. They were holding flaming sticks and pitchforks, and they were yelling loudly. One man, he thought it was Mr. Tate, was standing on their porch, yelling things at the crowd. "Martha!" Pa called out. "Come get Cal!" Ma hurried in the room and grabbed Calvin's hand. She pulled him out of his seat and she guided him into the kitchen.
"You have to stay in here, alright Cal?" Martha sat him in a chair and hurried back into the other room. She tried to keep her voice down, but Calvin heard her loud and clear. He always did.
"What on Earth are we gonna do, Jon?"
"Keep quiet Martha, you know the boy can hear you!"
"I know, but they're gonna hurt us Jon! We can't just sit around and wait for them to- to..." Calvin stood up and moved into the other room.
"Honey, we'll be fi-" He noticed Calvin. "Calvin! Ma told you to stay in the other roo-"
As Pa spoke, the window shattered with a loud CRASH! Calvin and Ma screamed, and Pa grabbed them and moved into the next room. The yelling from outside grew deafening, even that far from the door. "I need you two to stay right here, alright? I'm gonna talk to those folks."
Ma grabbed Pa's hand as he turned to leave. "Jon! Don't!"
"Martha," Pa knelt down in front of them. "I'll be right back." He leaned in and kissed her. He turned to Cal. "Take care of her."
As he turned to get up, Calvin called out. "Let me go with you! I can handle them!" Pa stopped, turned around, and kneeled again. He looked at Cal, and he let out a deep breath through his nose.
"I know, son. And that's exactly why you can't go with me."
Pa stood up and turned around and walked out of the room. "I'll be right back!" He called back to them. Ma pulled Calvin over to her and brought him close.
"Honey, I need you to listen closely." Tears were beginning to well up in her eyes. "I need you to listen for Pa, do you understand?" Calvin understood her, and he closed his eyes. He heard them, outside the door. They were angry.
"Tate!" Cal heard Pa yell. "What in the Hell do you think you're doing here?"
"Well, Mr. Kent, it's about time you showed your face around here." Calvin thought this was Mr. Tate. "We, the people of Smallville, have just about had it with you and that k-... That... Thing you insist on harboring in your home. We have demands, Kent. And we will be heard."
"Look Sheriff, folks, I-"
"The time for talking and the time for excuses is long past us, Mr. Kent." Mr. Tate cut Pa off very abruptly. "We demand you bring out the Hell-spawn itself out here, to us, and we will deal with it!" The crowd around burst out in excited yelling. They were starting to chant something. Bring it out. Bring it out.
"Now Sheriff, you listen to me, you are damn mistaken if you think I'mana let you steal my boy from me!"
"Don't you dare insult us by calling that thing a boy! You know damn well, Kent, that thing ain't of this world! It does things no boy should do. You say it's eight, but you remember Mrs. Lang's car, and the water tower, and the various fires set to our very own crops and fields." Calvin felt his face get red-hot, and he stood up. Ma tried pulling him back, but he shrugged her off. She called to him, but he could not hear her. He moved toward the door, his eyes starting to see red. The voices were getting louder around him. He heard the people yelling, and he heard Mr. Tate talking… about him.
Then he heard something very clearly. Pa's voice was angry, it was loud. It was like nothing Calvin had heard, and it scared him. Very clearly, Calvin heard Pa say:
"You wanna get into my home; hurt my family, my wife, my son? You're gonna have to put a bullet in my head first."
The voices stopped, and so did Cal. The red dissipated, and Cal lost the air from his lungs. There was silence. Cal stopped listening, and he started seeing. Everyone's face was shocked, even Mr. Tate's. Nobody moved, nobody made a sound. The flicker of the flames even seemed to die out.
It was a long and tense silence. Pa stared into Mr. Tate's eyes, and Mr. Tate stared right back. Finally, after an eternity where no one moved, Mr. Tate said:
"All right, Kent, fine. You win." Calvin could sense Pa tense up. "Have it your way." Mr. Tate reached into his jacket, but Pa saw it coming. He threw open the door, startled Calvin and Ma, and slammed it shut. Mr. Tate let out a "God dammit!" and a loud BANG! tore through the night. Pa tackled Calvin to the floor as a bullet ripped clean through the door. A cacophony of screaming and yelling rose to a tremendous volume outside, and Pa screamed to Ma to get up and move. Ma scrambled up and headed for the kitchen door. A second later, she let out a great scream, and Pa yelled:
"Martha! What's wrong?" He pulled himself and Calvin up onto their feet and they rushed to the kitchen entrance, where Ma was standing, shrieking.
"Jonathon!" she cried, rushing over to them. "They went around, there by the back!" Pa went over the side walls and looked out the windows. Cal heard him say "Shit!" and he rushed back into the room.
"They're all around the house!" he yelled. "We gotta go up!" Pa grabbed Ma and Calvin's hands and led them up the stairs. Not a moment after they began ascending, CRASH! after CRASH! rang out downstairs. "Hurry," Pa yelled. "They're getting in!" They made it up the stairs, and they threw themselves into Ma and Pa's bedroom. Ma fell to the floor, and Pa knelt beside her. "Honey, we're gonna be fine!"
Just then, they heard someone call out to them from below. It was Mr. Tate. He yelled up to them: "That's alright Kent. If you're gonna barricade yourself in your room and hide, we'll bring you down to us." He moved closer to the house, and Pa rushed to the window and threw it open. He stuck his head out and yelled down.
"Tate! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Tate moved back from the house. He whistled over to a man, and he ran over. He was holding onto a torch.
"We brought torches for a reason, Mr. Kent." Mr. Tate grabbed the torch from the man's hand, and moved back toward the house. Pa left the window, and grabbed Ma and Calvin again. They flew down the stairs, and to the kitchen door. There was no sign of anyone, there, and they flung open the door, and threw themselves outside. As they ran out, men jumped out of nowhere. One grabbed Pa; another threw Ma to the ground, and two lifted Calvin. Panicking, he flailed his legs, and they got the men in the stomachs. He fell to the ground, when he heard Pa yell for him to stop. He stopped moving, and he turned around, but it was Mr. Tate standing there, and he grabbed Calvin. He brought Calvin up, and he pushed the barrel of his gun against his head.
"No, Tate, no!" Pa screamed. He dragged himself to his feet, and Ma cried:
"Jonathon, help me!" Pa turned his head and yelled back:
"I'll be right there, Martha!" He turned back to Mr. Tate. "Tate, take me, not the boy!" Mr. Tate was silent for a second, and he dropped Calvin, but he kept the gun trained on Pa.
Before Mr. Tate could move, Calvin heard Pa yell "RUN!" and Calvin took off, away from the house. When he heard a bullet let loose from Mr. Tate's gun, he kept moving. When he heard Ma scream, he kept moving, He hit the edge of the forest outside the property when he heard the second gunshot, and he kept moving. He flew up the first tree on the very outskirts of the forest, and he climbed toward the top. After a time, he stopped, and he looked out toward the house. He just caught the last lantern break against the side of the house, and he watched the last of the flames engulf his home. He sat and watched, as the roof collapsed, and the walls fell in, and the floor gave way to the basement. He watched the black smoke turn white, and he watched his home burn until the last ember burned out. He listened until there was no sounding from the house or from the forest, and then he climbed down. He turned away from the house again and, tears streaming down his face, Calvin Kent kept moving.