p class="MsoNormal"Bowling wasn't typically a sport that many fourth graders excelled at so whilst Clark and Jackson were focusing intently on their competition for first place, the rest of their friends were battling it out for third place with point totals far below that of the two competitive friends. Jackson, with a turn in hand, was nine points ahead of him so as Clark collected his ball he was determined to get a strike, or at least a spare./p
p class="MsoNormal"After a quick run up and a determined bowl, Clark's ball was headed straight down the centre of the alley. Clark was ready to start celebrating prematurely, that confident that he was about to get a strike. Within the flash of the disco lights, a dark figure of an older teenage boy appeared out of nowhere at the end of the alley, stopping the ball with his foot before it could reach the pins./p
p class="MsoNormal"Another flash of the lights and the figure was suddenly right in front of Clark, using his height advantage to tower over the younger boy. One of the flashing disco lights froze on a bright white light, creating a spotlight onto the two boys and lighting up the older boy's face for the first time; Derek./p
p class="MsoNormal""What the hell are you doing here?" The older boy growled, "You were supposed to go straight emhome-/em"/p
p class="MsoNormal"With that word, the whole bowling alley around them descended into darkness. Jackson and the other friends had gone, replaced by the new presence of Clark's older sister Laura. In the darkness around their maintained bright white spotlight, Clark could make out the shape of trees. Suddenly, a hot orange light eradicated the darkness and instead highlighted their burning house./p
p class="MsoNormal"Loud, pained screams reached Clark's ears and pushed him into action. Clark was through the front door of the house in a heartbeat and was greeted, not by flames, but by a graveyard. As badly burned hands emerged from the earth and began pulling bodies free from their graves Clark stumbled around to return through the door. Instead of a door, Clark was met by the sight of the graveyard expanding as far as he could see. Turning back once again, Clark stumbled backwards when he saw his ten badly scarred family members fast approaching him, led by his twin sister./p
p class="MsoNormal""You should have been there," the ten spoke in unison as Clark backed himself up against a huge gravestone. "You could have saved us."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I-I-I," Clark spluttered as his dry throat refused to let him speak./p
div style="mso-element: para-border-div; border: none; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"The pack of ten continued their approach, teeth sharp, claws at the ready and eyes glowing bright. "Now there's no one to save emyou/em," They growled in unison before Clark was lost under a sea of style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /!-[endif]-/p
/div
p class="MsoNormal"Clark awoke suddenly, sweating, screaming and thrashing in his bed. It took him a minute, during which he regained control of his movements and began to slow his panicked breathing, to register Derek's presence beside him and the protective arm over his shoulder as he calmed himself./p
p class="MsoNormal""Nightmare?" Derek questioned, breaking the silence after giving Clark another couple of minutes to calm himself. Clark met his older brother's concerned green eyes and gave a short nod. "You were saying her name."/p
p class="MsoNormal"The fact that he was talking in his sleep was somewhat surprising for Clark considering his voice had betrayed him in his dreams. "Cora's?" He questioned and received a nod of confirmation from Derek in response./p
p class="MsoNormal""Was it about the house?" Derek asked, the question resulting in Clark breaking their eye contact, dropping his gaze down to his bedroom floor. It was his turn, once again, to respond with a nod. "You haven't had that nightmare for years."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I know," Clark responded with a frustrated sigh before lifting his head up to look at Derek once more. "Have you heard from Laura?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Derek's answer was exactly what Clark was expecting as much as he was hoping otherwise, "Still nothing."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Let's go then," Clark said decisively, springing into action as he got out of bed and grabbed a white t-shirt from his chest of drawers./p
p class="MsoNormal""You don't have to come, you know," Derek pointed out./p
p class="MsoNormal""You're not going without me," Clark responded instantly. "We both know that Laura wouldn't go days without contacting us if nothing was wrong. Something has happened and you're going to need all the help you can get."/p
p class="MsoNormal""But how much help are you going to be?" Derek challenged causing Clark, who had started packing a bag of essentials, to stop in his tracks and turn to face his brother. "We had one conversation about the possibility of going back yesterday afternoon and that alone caused you to freak out. I can't find Laura and deal with a frantic teenager at the same time."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm not a kid anymore, Derek. I can deal with my own shit and the best way to overcome your fears is to face them. I can't do that from the other side of the country," Clark argued, turning back to the bag he was packing and forcibly placing his things inside. "And we're not going to help Laura standing here and arguing about this. So let's get packed up, get to the airport and get on the first plane out of here."/p
p class="MsoNormal"The only response Clark got was the sound of his bedroom door shutting as Derek left, appearing to finally realise that Clark wasn't about to let him leave him behind for any reason. Clark finished off his packing by collecting his electronic devices and relevant chargers and placing them into his bag. He threw the bag over his shoulder before crossing his room to open the door, step through it and then hesitate as he looked back into the room, a wave of uncertainty hitting him as to how long it would be before they would return. And who would return. He chuckled nervously to himself. "Beacon Hills, here we come," he muttered as he closed the door behind him./p
p class="MsoNormal"After a quick run up and a determined bowl, Clark's ball was headed straight down the centre of the alley. Clark was ready to start celebrating prematurely, that confident that he was about to get a strike. Within the flash of the disco lights, a dark figure of an older teenage boy appeared out of nowhere at the end of the alley, stopping the ball with his foot before it could reach the pins./p
p class="MsoNormal"Another flash of the lights and the figure was suddenly right in front of Clark, using his height advantage to tower over the younger boy. One of the flashing disco lights froze on a bright white light, creating a spotlight onto the two boys and lighting up the older boy's face for the first time; Derek./p
p class="MsoNormal""What the hell are you doing here?" The older boy growled, "You were supposed to go straight emhome-/em"/p
p class="MsoNormal"With that word, the whole bowling alley around them descended into darkness. Jackson and the other friends had gone, replaced by the new presence of Clark's older sister Laura. In the darkness around their maintained bright white spotlight, Clark could make out the shape of trees. Suddenly, a hot orange light eradicated the darkness and instead highlighted their burning house./p
p class="MsoNormal"Loud, pained screams reached Clark's ears and pushed him into action. Clark was through the front door of the house in a heartbeat and was greeted, not by flames, but by a graveyard. As badly burned hands emerged from the earth and began pulling bodies free from their graves Clark stumbled around to return through the door. Instead of a door, Clark was met by the sight of the graveyard expanding as far as he could see. Turning back once again, Clark stumbled backwards when he saw his ten badly scarred family members fast approaching him, led by his twin sister./p
p class="MsoNormal""You should have been there," the ten spoke in unison as Clark backed himself up against a huge gravestone. "You could have saved us."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I-I-I," Clark spluttered as his dry throat refused to let him speak./p
div style="mso-element: para-border-div; border: none; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"The pack of ten continued their approach, teeth sharp, claws at the ready and eyes glowing bright. "Now there's no one to save emyou/em," They growled in unison before Clark was lost under a sea of style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /!-[endif]-/p
/div
p class="MsoNormal"Clark awoke suddenly, sweating, screaming and thrashing in his bed. It took him a minute, during which he regained control of his movements and began to slow his panicked breathing, to register Derek's presence beside him and the protective arm over his shoulder as he calmed himself./p
p class="MsoNormal""Nightmare?" Derek questioned, breaking the silence after giving Clark another couple of minutes to calm himself. Clark met his older brother's concerned green eyes and gave a short nod. "You were saying her name."/p
p class="MsoNormal"The fact that he was talking in his sleep was somewhat surprising for Clark considering his voice had betrayed him in his dreams. "Cora's?" He questioned and received a nod of confirmation from Derek in response./p
p class="MsoNormal""Was it about the house?" Derek asked, the question resulting in Clark breaking their eye contact, dropping his gaze down to his bedroom floor. It was his turn, once again, to respond with a nod. "You haven't had that nightmare for years."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I know," Clark responded with a frustrated sigh before lifting his head up to look at Derek once more. "Have you heard from Laura?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Derek's answer was exactly what Clark was expecting as much as he was hoping otherwise, "Still nothing."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Let's go then," Clark said decisively, springing into action as he got out of bed and grabbed a white t-shirt from his chest of drawers./p
p class="MsoNormal""You don't have to come, you know," Derek pointed out./p
p class="MsoNormal""You're not going without me," Clark responded instantly. "We both know that Laura wouldn't go days without contacting us if nothing was wrong. Something has happened and you're going to need all the help you can get."/p
p class="MsoNormal""But how much help are you going to be?" Derek challenged causing Clark, who had started packing a bag of essentials, to stop in his tracks and turn to face his brother. "We had one conversation about the possibility of going back yesterday afternoon and that alone caused you to freak out. I can't find Laura and deal with a frantic teenager at the same time."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm not a kid anymore, Derek. I can deal with my own shit and the best way to overcome your fears is to face them. I can't do that from the other side of the country," Clark argued, turning back to the bag he was packing and forcibly placing his things inside. "And we're not going to help Laura standing here and arguing about this. So let's get packed up, get to the airport and get on the first plane out of here."/p
p class="MsoNormal"The only response Clark got was the sound of his bedroom door shutting as Derek left, appearing to finally realise that Clark wasn't about to let him leave him behind for any reason. Clark finished off his packing by collecting his electronic devices and relevant chargers and placing them into his bag. He threw the bag over his shoulder before crossing his room to open the door, step through it and then hesitate as he looked back into the room, a wave of uncertainty hitting him as to how long it would be before they would return. And who would return. He chuckled nervously to himself. "Beacon Hills, here we come," he muttered as he closed the door behind him./p