"Hourglass"
Part One
"I need an orderly to Room 2-0-6," Elena repeated into the intercom box as her message echoed throughout the hallways of Smallville's retirement center. Volunteers weren't allowed behind the Service Desk but she figured Mrs. Gallagher would cut her some slack since the day had grown to be pretty busy, especially with the incoming wave of clueless teenagers from her school just trying to sign off their community service hours.
Before one of the nurses caught her sitting behind their computers, Elena wrote down on a sticky note the order of Orderly Assistance and attached it to Mrs. Gallagher's monitor for her records later. Turning to the PC behind her, she took her Volunteer ID batch and quickly scanned it along with the book's barcode she checked out of the system, rolling her eyes at the group of cheerleaders sitting too comfortably in the lobby as they exchanged idle gossip.
"Man, I don't know how I let you talk me into this," she heard Pete's familiar voice amidst the late morning's commotion.
Elena lifted her head from behind the desk, watching Clark and him walking down the entrance hallway. The taller boy simply shrugged in explanation, "Every Smallville High student needs to complete 30 hours of community service."
"Yeah, but we could have served our community by life-guarding the girl's swim class at the Y, instead of hanging out with the denture crowd."
She shook her head, an amused smile spreading softly across her lips as she gathered her books and left the Service Desk. "Real sensitive, Military," she greeted them at the lobby.
"What?" The football player scoffed as he directed at her while Clark met her eyes with a bright smile, "You've been volunteering here since the summer. Tell me it doesn't get boring playing bingo and reading to a half-asleep audience all day everyday."
"It does," Elena openly admitted. But she happened to like the peace and quiet that boring entailed. The menial tasks of her volunteer work allowed for her mind to not think, not worry about the consequences of certain impending actions, and just do.
Of course, there was no way for Pete to know why she felt this way, as he shook his head and shot Clark a puzzled look, "Then, what's the attraction?"
"Hi, Clark, Pete," Lana rounded the corner with a rolling cart filled with books and stopped beside Elena.
"Lana," Clark's eyes fluttered and Pete held back a knowing smile as it all became clear, "I didn't know you were volunteering here."
"For a couple of weeks, now," she nodded, looking at Elena with an appreciative smile, "thanks to, Elena. It was her idea. Are you here to volunteer, too?"
Pete turned and raised his eyebrows expectantly at Clark, who stood there awkwardly, almost hypnotized by the ravenhead's beauty, before Elena's voice snapped him out of his lovestruck haze as she said to Lana, "No, they're part of the Companion Program for the month."
"Yeah," Clark managed to get out, "I'm reading with Cassandra."
"Cassandra? Room 1-0-8?" Elena looked at him and he nodded, wondering why she sounded so incredulous.
"She's an interesting woman," Lana explained to Clark and Pete. "Some of the nurses say she can see the future."
The boys turned to each other, sharing perplexed looks as they decided on whether to believe her or not. Elena smiled and shook her head at Lana's teasing, reaching down and pulling a book from the girl's rolling cart.
"Here, if you're gonna read to Mrs. Carver, read this. It's one of her favorites," she handed Clark a copy of The Death of Ivan Ilyich before she followed Lana down the hallway.
After clocking out her volunteer hours at the Retirement Center, Elena joined her friends at the Beanery.
"This is so embarrassing," Lana shook her head in frustration as she took her seat at the booth table next to Elena, watching as Chloe and Clark sat across from them. "I mean, who else loses an entire old person in a wheelchair?"
"It's not you fault, Lana," Elena tried some words of comfort, even though it was kind of her fault she'd fallen for Mr. Bollston's charm and left him unsupervised at the outside grounds of the Center.
"Of course it is." Lana sighed and recalled to her, "Even you warned me to keep an eye on him."
She nodded, not helping the amused scoff that escaped her, seeing Lana so distressed over something she had little to no control over, "Well yeah, because he's known for sneaking a smoke at every chance he gets. Not because he's an escape artist."
Lana shrugged in response, finding some truth in her words, and Clark nodded in agreement while he offered another explanation, "Maybe he was kidnapped."
"Who'd wanna kidnap Harry?" Her doe-eyes widened in concern. "He's just a harmless old man."
"Maybe a koi turned into a piranha and ate him," Chloe joked as Elena had told them the nurses only found his wheelchair dropped into their garden's large fish pond.
"No, not possible," Elena shook her head, following her blonde friend's lead before she suggested another absurd possibility. "He must've bathed in the Fountain of Youth and now he's out and about, kicking ass and taking names again, as he likes to say. Or liked. Who's to know?"
"I like your theory." Everyone at the table looked over at the grinning stranger sitting in the booth in front of them.
"You know you might to work on your eavesdropping technique," Chloe didn't miss a beat as she narrowed her eyes at the outsider.
"Sorry," he said softly, shifting in his seat. "I'm new in town and uh, I heard this is where young people congregate."
Quickly glancing at Elena, who shared the same awry feeling towards this man that couldn't have been anymore than a couple of years older than them, Chloe turned back to face him. Her voice treading lightly as she smirked down at his odd choice of vocabulary, "Yeah, we congregate here often."
"Hi, I'm Clark." Clark cleared his throat and broke the awkwardness as he extended a hand towards the young man and properly introduced them. "The rude one's Chloe," she shot the newcomer a friendly smile while he shook Clark's hand and looked over at the dark-haired girls across. "This is Lana and-"
"Magdalena Castro," he said for him and once again the table fell into a disturbing silence. Elena didn't even know what to say, overwhelmed by the crookedness of his smile and the sense of something foul hidden behind the dark blue of his eyes. His gaze fell down to the chest pocket of her uniform shirt and nodded at her Volunteer ID Batch clipped to it, "Name on your ID was a big clue... So, uh, good luck on finding your missing old person."
"Oh, thanks" she remembered, offering a smile that didn't reach her eyes as she never bothered to correct him. Tell him she actually preferred Elena.
The weather outside was nice enough to commend a training session in her backyard. Her parents weren't home, as usual, and while the basement was free for her use, its dark walls seemed to cage her in today. The aura in the training room suffocated her whenever it was only her in there, so she decided to take her sword and standing targets outside. Enjoy the setting sun as her muscles burned with the movement of her body. Too tense, too sharp, her mother would chastise if she were here, Elena couldn't help but think when she caught on to her mistakes.
Grounding both her bare feet on the grass she'd just mowed yesterday, Elena opened her eyes and brought her hands together. The hilt of her sword pressed tightly between her palms as she mimicked a namaste hand pose, the blade tucked neatly under her chin while her heartbeat drummed back into a steady rhythm, and she tried again. With a flick of the wrist, she slashed and pierced through the air. Eyes unblinking, even as sweat painted tears down her cheeks, solely focused on the motion of twisting, spinning, and landing her aerials strong before she ran out of distance and flung her short sword at the target like a dart hitting bullseye.
Problem was she had to do that with her eyes closed, and she couldn't. Not yet, she told herself, determination heaving from her chest as she retrieved the sword and calmed her breath back down to starting position.
Closing her eyes this time, she went through the routine and learned from her past mistakes as she finally opened them to see the sword just a nick away from the center. Closest she'd ever had gotten before, Elena marked that as a victory when she heard someone else behind her "What are you doing?"
"Oh my god- Clark, you scared me!" She widened her eyes at him standing on her backyard. Though she should've sensed he was there, her focus had all been on hitting that stupid target right, rather than making sure no one sneaked up on her.
"Sorry, didn't mean to." A sheepish smile tugged at the corner of his lips, eyes wandering over to the standing target with a small sword impaled almost dead-center.
"It's okay," Elena breathed out and lazily waved her hand at him to forget about it. "I was just finishing up, anyway."
"Is- is this what your mom's teaching you... How you...?" Clark trailed off as he walked closer to the target, brows knotted together as he blinked down at the sword in equal confusion and awe.
"Sometimes, yeah." Hands on her hips as she continued taking deep breaths, she swallowed down the nerves building in the pit of her stomach as she took in the sight of Clark standing between the sword and her. "I-it helps me. Keeps me focused... Tires my mind when it gets too loud, I guess."
"With real swords?" He turned to her with raised eyebrows, incredulous, and she scoffed at his reaction.
An amused smirk spread across her face as she explained with a soft nod, "It's called swordsmanship, Clark."
"But you can get seriously hurt, Elena!"
"Come on, give me some credit," she chuckled, not making anything of his raised voice. Figured it was only worry that made him say that, which she tried to dissipate with a little satire, "I'm not that stupid."
"I'm not joking." The look on his face changed then. He was no longer slack with disbelief or alarmed, clenched jaw holding back anger as he directed at her firmly, "You can't keep doing this-!"
It was her now who blinked in confusion and took a step back as she snapped, "Why not?!"
"Because it's not safe! What if something happens to you? What if you get hurt? You're gonna get hurt, Elena! I can't believe you parents are making you-"
"Hey!" She narrowed her eyes up at him, driven by frustration just as he was. "No one's making me do anything; this is my choice. I've been doing this ever since Evan died- that's years, Clark. I've been handling myself for years, I know what I'm capable of."
"And what about what you are not?" He searched her eyes closely, his anger gone as he realized it would only make things worse.
"Wait, no, I told you all this before. You understood..." Elena tilted her head to the side, ignoring the question altogether when she caught something else in his demeanor. "Clark, what's really going on?"
Clark lowered his head and dropped his gaze as he sighed, "Cassandra."
"The old lady at the Retirement Center?"
He nodded, meeting her eyes again, "She can see the future, Elena. And she told me that someone really close to me will die soon."
"Clark, everyone dies," her gaze softened and she couldn't help the jest in her smile, "it's the law of the universe. The cycle of Life. God's Will and all that... Besides, I think she just does that to scare the nurses anyways."
"Yeah, I know everyone dies, eventually," he agreed before adding, "but she meant soon."
"Okay, then I'll promise you to be extra careful from now on," she told him, stepping around him to retrieve the sword from where it remained stuck. "Or better yet," she huffed lightly at the bout of strength it took to pull out the weapon, Clark turning to face her as she promised, "I'll have her read my future, see if I'm on the Grim Reaper's hit-list anytime soon."
He shook his head with a smirk, crossing his arms over his chest as they finally worked it out, "You're such a smartass."
She feigned a deep gasp that brought on his cheeky laugh, and her bright smile settled with a dig of her own. "And you're stupidly cute worrying about me all because of some cooky old lady."
"Shut up," he warned, harmlessly so as the tip of his ears began to flush red.
Before she put her sword away, Elena allowed herself a second to study him. For as good-looking and well-deserved as he was, Clark could never take a compliment, and so she enjoyed herself teasing him with coquettish remarks. Because she was sure it would always amount to nothing more than good fun between two people who knew each other inside and out. Or at least, she hoped they would. That in some future, he would know everything there was to know about her, and still care about her as much as he did now. If Cassandra Carver was to see into her future, Elena hoped it would be something of this sort and not the thing she most feared.
"Hey, you're going to have to face your future at some point," Lana shot her a look when Elena turned to look down the 100s Hallway with dread.
"Well, you know me..." The brunette held out her hand for another photo to hang on the Retirement Center's most recent wall project: 'Young at Heart.' She stapled the picture of a young Cassandra Carver next to a current one of her in a wheelchair, cataract eyes staring back at Elena as if taunting her. "I like to keep my future waiting in suspense," Elena let out, smoothing out the edges of the photo before turning to Lana with a smirk.
The girl chuckled softly while shaking her head at her, "You can't seriously believe she actually sees the future."
"It's not me, it's Clark," she explained and grabbed a picture of another senior resident. "That old lady has him convinced someone close to him is gonna die very soon."
"That's horrible," Lana let out as she finished taping the decorative trim around the poster wall.
"Yeah, he won't stop worrying," Elena nodded in agreement, "so I have no choice but to see her now."
"You've been coming here since summer and you haven't gone to see her, yet?" She looked at her in surprise and Elena understood where it came from. Mrs. Carver had become infamous for her true psychic abilities, it was almost impossible for anyone at the nursing home to not succumb to curiosity with that kind of reputation.
"I mean, yeah, I had to care for her on occasion," Elena shrugged, "but haven't asked her to see my future. Have you?"
"She said I should keep my friends close and my enemies closer," Lana brought her eyebrows together, trying to decipher the ambiguous warning.
"Okay, that doesn't make me feel any better," Elena scoffed, poking fun at the ridiculousness of the situation, though a tiny part of her couldn't help but feed the anxious butterflies fluttering in her chest.
Lana rummaged through the last few photographs in the photo album, noticing something strange before looking up at Elena. "What happened to Harry's younger picture?"
"I noticed, too, but Mrs. Gallagher said she couldn't find any when I asked her," she said and stepped off the stepping stool to stare at the blank rectangular frame next to Mr. Bollston's senior resident picture. "Is something wrong?" she eyed the ravenhead, who remained silent for a second before she sighed with a nod.
"I met with the administrator... you know, to tell them what I knew about Harry. The police were there."
"So they officially declared him as Missing?"
"Yes and no." Sensing Elena's growing confusion, Lana looked away from Harry's picture and faced her as she stated, "Harry's Bollston's real name is Harry Volk-"
"Harry Volk?" Elena repeated, trying to remember why that name sounded so familiar, until Lana told her he was a murderer. "Wait, you're talking about Mr. Bollston being the Harry Volk, the kid who got convicted for murder in the 40's?"
Lana nodded, hazel eyes slightly taken aback with surprise as she asked, "How did you know?"
"I found an old newspaper clipping about it in Mr. Bollston's room a while back..." Elena glanced at the picture wall and recalled, "It said he was the most promising concert pianist Smallville had to offer. At 17, he was up for a for a full-ride scholarship to the Metropolis Conservatory, but his teacher recommended somebody else and that's why he killed the teacher's son."
"Said the teacher killed his dream, so he killed the teacher's dream," Lana thought back to what the police had told the administrator before she came in and interrupted their conversation.
Maybe someone did kidnap Mr. Bollston, Elena wondered. A family member, close relative, someone that cared about the teacher and his son and was now looking for revenge after what he'd done to them 60 years ago. And maybe... Maybe he deserved it, she couldn't help the dark thought cross her mind for a second before she shook her head and looked away from Harry's photo.
Elena walked into Room 108, the door always opened for anyone to come in, and looked over to the blind woman reading in the far corner of the room, "Hi, Mrs. Carver."
"Oh, goodness sake," Cassandra let out a soft gasp, retreating her fingers from the Braille pages and turning her head up at the door. "Such light footsteps you have, Elena." If it weren't for the girl's familiar voice, she wouldn't have the slightest clue of a visitor in her room. The old woman chuckled as it was very hard for someone to take her by surprise, waving Elena inside to take a seat on the small couch next to her. "Please, make yourself comfortable. Tell me, what's brought you to me this evening, dear?"
"Yesterday," Elena began, taking a seat and folding her arms on top of the small table between them as she looked at Mrs. Carver's glassy white eyes, "you told Clark someone close to him was going to die soon. And now he's paranoid that I'm going to die."
"No, no," the woman denied and Elena leaned back in confusion before Cassandra's mouth curled upwards. The wrinkles on the corner of her lips deepened further while she clarified with a smirk, "I said, someone he loves will die soon. There's a difference."
Elena rolled her eyes, annoyed, and it wasn't because she had something against her or anything. Mrs. Carver was a very kind lady, but she tended to speak in riddles and how she took this psychic fortune-teller ability of hers too seriously irked her in a way she just couldn't hold back. Mostly because she didn't believe in fate or destiny, it was never really her thing to expect that the stars had already aligned and mapped out a life for her. She had to believe it was her choices and the decisions she made that would set her future in motion. The consequences to her actions and all that...
"Look, I just need you to tell me I will keep on living my life and not be found dead in a ditch tomorrow or the week after." Cassandra gave her another one of her knowing smiles in return.
Funny, how she had seen Clark's future and after telling him, his first concern had been for this one girl. It could've been his family, a pet, or that forgetful friend of his- Pete- but it was her who he worried about most. And it was her now, sitting across the table and willing to bury her beliefs just to appease him.
"That is not how it works," she told the young girl, sensing her impatience as she shifted in her seat. Still, she remained seated. "I'm not some radio you can switch the station to and listen. What I have is what get, I don't choose what I see. The one choice here is all yours. Do you want to know your future, Elena?"
Elena frowned at the frail and withered hand extended out to her on the table, an odd fear stirring in her stomach while she hesitated. Did she want to know?... Would she find justice for her brother?... Was she ready to know if she'd actually kill for it? Or would she die trying?... Did she want to face how she would lose Clark when the inevitable finally happened? Would she ever recover from that?
Elena gulped, a tight knot forming in her throat but before she got a chance to stand up and leave, Cassandra smiled sweetly and spoke, "Clark, would you mind giving us a moment, dear?"
"Hey," he glanced at Elena and started to turn back into the hallway, "uh, yeah, sorry."
"No, it's fine," she stopped him with a look, "you can stay, Clark." A small relief lessened the rising panic in her chest as he listened and sat down at the edge of the bed. "I'm ready," she turned to Cassandra and placed her hand in the palm of the old woman.
Yes, funny, indeed, how much these two blindly relied on one another and somehow were absolutely oblivious to it. However, time was of the essence and she knew this deliberately, having no need for special powers to see the inescapable connection here... Almost predestined if she dared describe.
From the foot of the bed, Clark crossed his hands over his chest and stared intently as the woman clutched her bony fingers around Elena's hand. They waited in silence, eyes focused while the psychic furrowed her brow in deep concentration as she muttered, "Dark.. very dark... too many shadows.. hard to breathe..."
"What is it?" Elena felt Cassandra's hand go cold as it tightened its hold, struggling to shake off the vision unfolding into a hopeless descent. "Stop, it's okay," a shiver run down her spine while she tried to break the connection but Mrs. Carver wouldn't let go. She was completely consumed and Elena was able to feel it. Whatever she was seeing, it emitted a dreadful energy, heavy enough to snuff out the air in her lungs. "Please, stop," Elena breathed out shakily, brown eyes widening as she turned to Clark for help.
"Cassandra," Clark eyed the sudden paleness of her face worryingly and stood up.
"It's over." The woman drew in a beep breath and let go of Elena, slowly coming back to her senses.
Unseeing eyes studied Elena for a second as she took her hand back and tried to bring back some warmth to it by sticking it safely in her jacket's pocket. "What the hell just happened?"
"You will be alone and lost and it'll change you. Have trust in yourself, Elena, and you're going to survive what's coming."
It took a moment for the prophetic words to hit, but she was sure now. Elena swallowed back the distaste in her mouth at what she knew with certainty. That dark anger she kept bound in the shadows of her heart, it would come a time where she would unleash it. And it wasn't going to be pretty. Elena felt it when she touched Cassandra and it kept haunting her as she stood up from the small couch.
"Okay, then," she cleared her throat, fighting back the sarcastic bite in her tone, though she was too shaken up to hide its entirety, "I'll keep that in mind, thanks."
Alone. You will be alone. The possibility of that being true hurt and she couldn't bear it, eyes trained down on her shoes while she stood and turned to leave.
"Hey, Elena," Clark stopped her before she rushed out. The grip he had on her arm softened as he stared at her, attentive, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine." She looked at him and nodded, stepping back towards the door as she tried her best to smile earnestly, "Don't worry about me, Clark. I'll see you tomorrow."
A/N: Hello guys, I'm back! And allow me to gush here for a second because I just missed writing this story so much! *cries in hallelujah* Clark and Elena are my babies- like I'm so excited for this ship to sail and I literally have so much planned for them but stupid writer's block got in the way for such a long time, and I'm so happy that my inspiration finally came back! I was actually going to write the full episode in this chapter but as usual, I underestimated the length it could be, and I didn't want to keep you guys waiting longer. So, part 2 of Hourglass will be up next week as I try to work on it over the weekend and finish it :)
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Thank you so much for reading, and as always, I would love to hear I would love to know your thoughts, feedback, or any constructive criticism you may have! Reviews are great for a boost of writing motivation and do encourage me to update faster, so don't be afraid to leave even the simplest of words in the review box! :D