SUPERMAN FAMILY ALBUM

"This is Lance Snyder," Pete said as he stood over the grave with Clark. "Why was it so important that you find a kid who died years ago?"

"The history of the Snyder house got me curious," Clark told him. In reality, he'd been visited in a dream by the ghost of the boy who told Clark to find him. "I just wanted to know the history."

"Most guys our age are into playing sports and getting rejected by girls," Pete said.

Clark just stared at the grave, using his x-ray vision to peer down into the casket, which he had been shocked to discover was empty.

"I'm going back to the Snyder house tonight, want to come?"

Pete just started laughing, before stopping to stare at Clark.

"No."

# # # # # # # # # #

Later that night, Clark returned to the Snyder place, climbing in through the window. He walked into the parlor and looked around. "Lance?"

A loud thumping was heard from far away, which sounded like it was getting closer.

"GO AWAY!" a booming voice shouted, knocking Clark across the room. He hit the wall and quickly got back to his feet.

"I take it there's more than one ghost here," Clark said. "Come on, tough guy, I'm not your normal visitor. I came to see Lance, and I'm not leaving until I do."

Furniture started flying at Clark, who just punched his way through it.

"It's going to take a lot more than that to-"

Clark was cut off as a grand piano slammed into him, knocking him through the wall He fell onto his back as he saw a white light hovering over him. "Lance?"

"The basement," the ghost whispered as the light faded. Clark stood up and looked around, finally seeing the basement entrance. Just as he opened the door, it slammed shut before he could get in.

"Uh, yeah, I can do this," Clark said as he simply ripped the door off of its hinges and tossed it to the side. Grabbing his flashlight, he slowly walked down the stairs, not knowing what to expect. The basement was dark and dusty, filled with all manner of old items, ranging from tools to toys. "Why would a ghost kid be hanging out in the basement?"

As he shined the light around, he saw an ominous dark cloud forming that slammed into him, knocking him to the ground.

"You will die here!" the booming voice said as it grabbed Clark by the foot and started dragging him. Clark used his heat vision on the cloud, having no effect. Instead, the heat blast hit the wall behind the cloud, which caused the cloud to scream in pain.

"Okay, let's go with that," Clark said as he pulled his foot out of his sneaker and jumped to his feet, aiming for the wall with his heat vision. The blast caused the wall to break apart, revealing the skeleton of a young boy behind it as a flash of white light engulfed the room.

# # # # # # # # # #

"What do you mean he's not my son!" Rick Snyder demanded from his wife.

"I had a fling with the neighbor," his wife said as she was leaving him. "We're going far away from you!"

"Mama, don't leave!" Lance pleaded as he watched the car drive away.

"This... this is your fault!" Rick shouted as he dragged Lance downstairs.

"Daddy, no!"

"I am not your father!" Rick shouted as he started building a wall around his bound son. "You will die for your sins!"

After the wall had been finished, Rick lived for years in the house, finally dying in his sleep one night, then finding that because of what he had done, he was now bound to this house as long as Lance was. No one had lived in the house since then, and it was only Clark, Pete, and Whitney's intrusion that had stirred up the ghosts again.

# # # # # # # # # #

The light faded as Clark saw the ghost of Lance standing between him and his father.

"No," Rick's ghost said as Lance angrily charged at him. "NO!"

The two ghosts collided, destroying Rick in a fiery ball of ghostly anger. Lance turned around and smiled at Clark as he started fading away.

"Thank you."

Clark just stood there, holding his flashlight as he searched for his lost shoe before finally giving up and going home.

# # # # # # # # # #

"And that's how I lost my shoe, Ma," Clark said as his parents just stared at each other.

"That's... that's quite a story, Clark," Jonathan said. "We'll go shopping for a new pair tomorrow. Now go to bed and we'll talk about this more in the morning."

As Clark rushed upstairs, Jonathan looked at Martha. "The old Snyder place. I remember me and my friends thinking about visiting that place."

"Clark doesn't lie," Martha said. "You don't think-"

The couple stared outside into the night sky, wondering if there were really were ghosts out there. But with a son that had come from an alien world, anything could be possible...