"Clark! We're leaving for the farmers' market in 15 minutes, and you haven't done your chores yet." Mom called. I groaned. If she's going to wake Clark up, the least she can do is not wake me up in the process. I pulled the covers and my pillow over my head and tried to go back to sleep.

"Cynthia, you too!" I groaned again. I crawled out of bed and quickly dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. I was still pulling on my boots as I hurried downstairs.

"Do you chores fast and get in the truck." Mom told me. I went to the barn to fill up all the horses' waters before heading back to the truck. We all squeezed into the small cab and drove to the farmers market. I stayed behind by the back of the truck while mom, dad and Clark talked to Whitney Fordman and Lana Lang. Finally Clark came back to get the boxes of food out of the truck. I grimaced when I realized that Whitney was following him.

"Kent, you realize last night was just a joke, right? Hey... I need that necklace back." Whitney said once they were out of earshot of our parents. Clark had told me about the whole 'scarecrow' thing that happened last night. I shot Whitney a look as I climbed to the back of the truck to hand down the boxes to Clark. He ignored me; like I wasn't even there.

"I don't have it."

"Look, it's Lana's favorite, so..." Whitney started.

"So then you better go out to that cornfield and find it." Clark told him. He took two boxes and headed away from the truck. Whitney gave Clark's back a nasty look and grabbed another box.

"You know, I know what you did." I told him. He looked at me as if just realizing I was there.

"Do you now? You know, I thought you were a mute. You don't talk much, do you?" He asked.

"No… That means I hear everything. Stay away from my brother." I told him. He laughed.

"Was that a threat, little Kent? What are you, eight?" He asked me.

"I'm ten. And as for your first question, if you need it to be, then yes, consider it a threat, Fordman!" I told him. He laughed again and headed off. I glared at his back as he walked away.

I was squeezed in between mom and Clark in the truck as we drove home, zoned out and half asleep.

"Oh, my God. Jonathan! Clark!" Mom said. My eyes opened. We saw Whitney's truck in front of us, the hood covered in flames. We all jumped out of the truck. Clark ran to Whitney and pulled his unconscious body out of the truck. Then there was a blinding explosion of flames that made us stumble black.

"Clark! Clark!" Mom and dad shouted. I blinked a couple times to refocus my eyes. Then the three of us ran over to Clark. The back of his shirt was burned, but he was unharmed and so was Whitney, who'd been protected from the blast by Clark himself. I stared at him.

"Well aren't you just the superman today?"

"What happened?" Mom asked. I looked up from my homework, pulling my headphones off my ears.

"There was someone in the rafters that attacked dad." Clark answered for him. Dad seemed perfectly fine as he sat down on one of the barstools beside me.

"I never saw anybody move like that." Dad said with a shake of his head.

"Did you get a look at his face?" Mom asked.

"It came right off the ceiling at me. It was almost as if he –." Dad started.

"Wasn't entirely human? I saw his face. I think it was Greg Arkin." Clark finished for him.

"That's a name I haven't heard in a long time. You and Pete used to hang out with him in grade school." Mom reminded him. I vaguely remembered him. He always kind of creeped me out with his obsession with bugs. I hated bugs myself and never really talked to him much.

"Why would he want to hurt you?" Dad asked Clark.

"I don't know…"

"Are you still friends?" Mom asked.

"I pass him in the halls, but people change." Clark replied.

"I remember his mother used to keep him on a short leash, but I can't believe he'd hurt a fly." Mom mumbled. Especially since he collects them, I thought to myself. But I didn't say it out loud.

"Maybe that's because he was too busy collecting them and every other bug he could get his hands on." Clark said. Well, it looked like my brother and I were on the same page…

"Clark, kids just don't leap off the ceiling and attack people." Dad reminded him.

"How do you explain that?" I asked.

"I don't know. Seems kind of out there…" Dad agreed.

"This coming from the man who's been hiding a spaceship in his storm cellar for the last 12 years…" Clark said. I gave him a 'you know it's true' look. He nodded slowly.

"It's not that I don't want to believe you, Clark. It's just - I'm having trouble getting my head around this one."

"Dad, you ever wonder why all these weird things happen in Smallville?"

"Every town has its share of tall tales." Dad told him.

"Except here they're all true. Chloe showed me this wall. It's covered with all these articles she collected about all the weird stuff that's happened in Smallville since the meteor shower. It's all my fault…" Clark said. Chloe Sullivan, I hadn't seen her in a while but I still remembered her. Short blonde hair, too curious for her own good, but she had a good sense of humor and she and I got along well enough when we were around each other…

"Look, Clark, if you're talking about 50-pound tomatoes and 2-headed calves, then I got a better explanation for you - Luthor corp. I mean, god only knows what that fertilizer plant's been pumping out over the last 12 years." Dad said.

"LuthorCorp didn't kill Lana's parents." Clark reminded him.

"Neither did you, son. You can't blame yourself for something you had no control over."

"Dad, I know. I still feel responsible…"

"What happened to Lana's parents was a terrible tragedy, but no matter how many extraordinary gifts you have, you will never be able to change that."

"Then how do I make this feeling go away?"

"You can't. But that's what makes you human."

"Any plans on how to stop the bug-boy?" I asked the next morning as Clark and I headed downstairs.

"I'm going to talk to Chloe, see if she's seen him. I think he was a reporter for the Torch, you know that newspaper at our school? Then I can track him down and see why he has…" He trailed off, trying to find the right word.

"Bugged out?" I suggested with a smile. Clark laughed a little as we headed into the kitchen together.

"Yeah, that's it."

That night Clark came home and we all threw questions at him.

"What happened?"

"Did you find Greg?"

"What did you do?" Clark threw his backpack onto the counter and sat down. He told us the whole story from captured and cocooned Lana to how Greg was crushed in an abandoned building.

"How come I never get to see the cool stuff?" I complained.

"Maybe one day you'll get to join in on my excellent adventures." Clark joked. I put my chin in my hands. I hope so…

A/N I know that these chapters haven't been exciting since Cynthia hasn't been there for the fight scenes. However, she will get involved soon enough, so just hang in there.

~Roni Cullen