See Part One for Disclaimer/Notes
Seven minutes, 45 seconds.
That's how long it takes to get from The Beanery to Smallville High at a normal running pace. I've timed it. No particular reason for it...just something you notice when you live in a small town. It takes ten minutes to walk from Chloe's house to mine. It takes thirty minutes to walk to Lex's house from mine. And it takes seven minutes, 45 seconds to get from The Beanery to Smallville High.
It never seemed like an important fact to know. Not until I heard the news anchor say that the police were looking for Sean Kelvin in association with Jenna's murder. Then, without warning, it became very important to know that it takes seven minutes, 45 seconds to get from The Beanery to Smallville High.
Police. Sean. Murder. The words beat through my head in time with the left, right, left, right rhythm of my legs. The town streets are too crowded...too many people lingering about, enjoying the peaceful night in their leafy little hamlet, as Chloe calls is. Too many people around for me to break out into super speed and turn that seven minutes and 45 seconds into the blink of an eye.
Left, right, left, right. I suck in a lungful of air and urge my legs to pump faster as I round a corner and the high school comes into view. Left, right, left, right. I race up the small hill and leap over the pathway's railing, the air rushing out of my lungs with a loud gasp as I catch my foot on the railing, falling and hitting the ground. I pay the slight stinging caused by my palms meeting the pavement no mind as I jump up and throw open the door to the school building. At last...no one is around, and I am just a blur as I zip up the three flights of stairs to the Torch's office.
"Chloe!" I yell as I race at top speed into the office. I skid to a stop and look around. The sight of the empty office greets me. "Chloe?" I call out again, trying to stop my mind from leaping to the conclusion that I'm too late. As I start rifling through papers on the desk looking for a clue, I see Chloe's computer is still online, her e-mail flashing "Messages Waiting". Now I know that Chloe left here in a hurry. She is not one to leave her e-mail just sitting there open and unchecked. I glance around the office, wondering where she is, trying to quell my rising panic.
I look around, and it's then that my eye catches sight of something I'd missed in my rush to get into the office. I see the large red arrow taped to the wall across from the door, pointed downward toward a scattered trail of yellow rose petals. I leave the office and follow the trail...first walking, then jogging, then running, until I'm finally just a blur again.
The trail stops at the door to the school's indoor pool. I angrily rip the piece of paper bearing the words "Please Come In" off the door and crumple it into a tiny ball. I try to turn the knob, but it's locked. I peer in through the tiny window, and see Sean standing at the pools edge, his back to the door. He's kneeling next to the pool, and for a moment I think he's maybe holding Chloe under the water. But then a quick movement in the water catches my eye, and I realize Chloe is in the pool, swimming across it, away from Sean. More importantly, away from me, and I realize I'm of no use standing on this side of the pool.
I turn and start running through the winding halls around the pool, trying to find another way in. I come across the locker room door, and try the knob. Luck is with me, as the door is open. I race through the locker room, and out the door on the other side. It spits me out into a small auxiliary hallway that leads to another entrance to the pool.
I check the doorknob to this entrance, and find it's locked. I frantically turn the knob, trying to break the lock from the inside, but I can't get enough momentum on the lock to break it. I hear a loud cracking noise, followed by a cry of "No!" from Chloe. I look through the window, and see Chloe struggling to get out of the pool, but something is holding her in. My brow furrows in amazement as I realize the entire pool is frozen, and Sean is slowly walking across the ice. 'How did he do that', I ask myself, staring at Sean as he crosses the frozen water.
"Clark!"
Chloe's desperate and fear filled cry as she sees me shakes me out of my trance. I give up trying to break the doorknob, and instead kick the door in with all my might, praying it doesn't fly off the hinges and accidentally hit Chloe. My luck holds, as the door flies open with a bang, but stays on it's hinges.
I gasp as a bracing gust of freezing air nearly knocks me back, but the sight of Chloe next to the pool crying in fear pushes me forward. She cries out for me to help her, and Sean is forgotten as I sprint toward the pool.
"Are you OK?" I shout, trying to keep my fear for her out of my own voice. That wouldn't exactly help calm her down.
"My foot's stuck," she cries, looking back toward the pool. I see that her foot is, in fact, encased in a thick sheet of ice. I ball my bare hand into a fist and break through the sheet, my concern for Chloe overriding any fear that she might wonder how I was able to punch through 6 inches of ice like it was nothing. I reach down and grasp her ankle, which is icy to the touch, and pull it out of the water.
I'm so focused on helping Chloe, that I've forgotten Sean is still very much a threat. He grabs my arm, and I grimace in pain as the freezing pain shoots through my arm. I whirl around and jerk my arm from his grasp, then do something I've been waiting to do since the moment he sidled up to me at the party and insinuated that he'd have no problem adding Chloe to the Kelvin Scale. I pull back my fist and punch Sean squarely in the jaw, sending him skidding across the ice.
I pause for a moment, wanting to relish the feeling of giving Sean what he deserves, but the sound of Chloe quietly sobbing at my feet jerks me back to reality. I kneel down and help her up. "You OK?" I ask, more gently this time. She nods, still sobbing quietly, and winces in pain as she tries to put weight on her injured foot. I slide my arm around her waist, and she grasps my shoulders. We hobble toward the door that I just kicked in, and I release her, giving her a gentle push into the hall. "Go," I tell her firmly. "Run." She nods and limps toward the locker room door, while I turn and prepare to finish Sean off. Only he's not there. I glance around the pool, but Sean is no where to be seen.
Not wanting to leave Chloe alone with Sean on the loose, I head back in the direction I came from. I open the locker room door, to find Chloe standing in the center of the room, shivering, arms wrapped around herself.
"I thought I told you to go," I say as I lock the door behind me.
"I...I wasn't g-going to just leave you," Chloe said, her teeth chattering. "W-what if he tried to hurt you?"
"Don't worry about me," I tell her. "You're the one we should be worried about. Can you walk?" I ask.
"I think," Chloe says, wincing as she again tried to put weight on her foot.
I just shake my head, and grab a few towels to dry Chloe off with from the shelf next to the door. "Here," I say, handing them to her. "Hold these." I then reach down and scoop Chloe up into my arms, not caring that she's dripping water all over me. "Come on...we need to get you somewhere safe."
"Upstairs," Chloe tells me. "Back to my office."
"That's not exactly safe" I tell her, as I kick the locker room door shut behind me.
"We have to figure out what's wrong with Sean," she says, and I know she's right. Judging from what he did to the pool, we're not dealing with a run of the mill murderer. We're definitely in Wall of Weird territory.
------
I take off my jacket and wrap it around Chloe's shivering shoulders as she huddles in her seat behind her desk. "Here...I'll fix you something warm," I offer, heading over toward the old coffee maker Chloe keeps in the office, while she busies herself behind her computer.
I scoop the coffee grounds into the filter, trying to ignore the fact that my hand is trembling as I lift the scoop. If I take notice of the fact that my hands are trembling, then I'd also have to take notice of the fact that this was a call that was little too close for comfort...for the second time. Sure, the time Chloe was trapped in the fire was scary, but nobody saw that coming. Then again, no one saw this coming, not even me. Sure, I knew Sean was bad news, but I thought he was bad news in the sense that he'd take advantage of Chloe and use her, not that he'd try to kill her. No...I didn't see that one coming, not by a long shot.
I'm not necessarily religious...I mean, I go to church with my parents and all, but I've never really classified myself as exceptionally religious. Still, I look up toward the heavens and breathe a silent prayer of thanks to whatever God was watching over Chloe tonight. So many things could have gone wrong...this night could have ended so differently. What if Lana hadn't switched on that TV in the limo at the precise time that the news report was coming over the airwaves? What if the limo had been even ten miles more outside of Smallville? What if Sean had picked any other time of day to call Chloe, other than when she was with me? Would I have even known where Chloe was or who she was with? I had made my anti-Sean feelings very clear to her, so I doubt she would have told me.
I pour the coffee into a mug and let my mind focus on fixing it the way Chloe likes it...two sugars, three creamers. I take a deep breath and turn back toward Chloe, willing my hands to remain steady as I carry the mug to her. I need to play the strong, supportive friend--now's not the time to upset Chloe by letting her see that I start to fall apart inside every time I think of what a close call tonight was.
Seven minutes, 45 seconds. Most people would tell you that's not very much time at all...that not much can change in such a small window of time. Running towards the school tonight, I realized....seven minutes and 45 seconds can feel like a lifetime.
Seven minutes, 45 seconds.
That's how long it takes to get from The Beanery to Smallville High at a normal running pace. I've timed it. No particular reason for it...just something you notice when you live in a small town. It takes ten minutes to walk from Chloe's house to mine. It takes thirty minutes to walk to Lex's house from mine. And it takes seven minutes, 45 seconds to get from The Beanery to Smallville High.
It never seemed like an important fact to know. Not until I heard the news anchor say that the police were looking for Sean Kelvin in association with Jenna's murder. Then, without warning, it became very important to know that it takes seven minutes, 45 seconds to get from The Beanery to Smallville High.
Police. Sean. Murder. The words beat through my head in time with the left, right, left, right rhythm of my legs. The town streets are too crowded...too many people lingering about, enjoying the peaceful night in their leafy little hamlet, as Chloe calls is. Too many people around for me to break out into super speed and turn that seven minutes and 45 seconds into the blink of an eye.
Left, right, left, right. I suck in a lungful of air and urge my legs to pump faster as I round a corner and the high school comes into view. Left, right, left, right. I race up the small hill and leap over the pathway's railing, the air rushing out of my lungs with a loud gasp as I catch my foot on the railing, falling and hitting the ground. I pay the slight stinging caused by my palms meeting the pavement no mind as I jump up and throw open the door to the school building. At last...no one is around, and I am just a blur as I zip up the three flights of stairs to the Torch's office.
"Chloe!" I yell as I race at top speed into the office. I skid to a stop and look around. The sight of the empty office greets me. "Chloe?" I call out again, trying to stop my mind from leaping to the conclusion that I'm too late. As I start rifling through papers on the desk looking for a clue, I see Chloe's computer is still online, her e-mail flashing "Messages Waiting". Now I know that Chloe left here in a hurry. She is not one to leave her e-mail just sitting there open and unchecked. I glance around the office, wondering where she is, trying to quell my rising panic.
I look around, and it's then that my eye catches sight of something I'd missed in my rush to get into the office. I see the large red arrow taped to the wall across from the door, pointed downward toward a scattered trail of yellow rose petals. I leave the office and follow the trail...first walking, then jogging, then running, until I'm finally just a blur again.
The trail stops at the door to the school's indoor pool. I angrily rip the piece of paper bearing the words "Please Come In" off the door and crumple it into a tiny ball. I try to turn the knob, but it's locked. I peer in through the tiny window, and see Sean standing at the pools edge, his back to the door. He's kneeling next to the pool, and for a moment I think he's maybe holding Chloe under the water. But then a quick movement in the water catches my eye, and I realize Chloe is in the pool, swimming across it, away from Sean. More importantly, away from me, and I realize I'm of no use standing on this side of the pool.
I turn and start running through the winding halls around the pool, trying to find another way in. I come across the locker room door, and try the knob. Luck is with me, as the door is open. I race through the locker room, and out the door on the other side. It spits me out into a small auxiliary hallway that leads to another entrance to the pool.
I check the doorknob to this entrance, and find it's locked. I frantically turn the knob, trying to break the lock from the inside, but I can't get enough momentum on the lock to break it. I hear a loud cracking noise, followed by a cry of "No!" from Chloe. I look through the window, and see Chloe struggling to get out of the pool, but something is holding her in. My brow furrows in amazement as I realize the entire pool is frozen, and Sean is slowly walking across the ice. 'How did he do that', I ask myself, staring at Sean as he crosses the frozen water.
"Clark!"
Chloe's desperate and fear filled cry as she sees me shakes me out of my trance. I give up trying to break the doorknob, and instead kick the door in with all my might, praying it doesn't fly off the hinges and accidentally hit Chloe. My luck holds, as the door flies open with a bang, but stays on it's hinges.
I gasp as a bracing gust of freezing air nearly knocks me back, but the sight of Chloe next to the pool crying in fear pushes me forward. She cries out for me to help her, and Sean is forgotten as I sprint toward the pool.
"Are you OK?" I shout, trying to keep my fear for her out of my own voice. That wouldn't exactly help calm her down.
"My foot's stuck," she cries, looking back toward the pool. I see that her foot is, in fact, encased in a thick sheet of ice. I ball my bare hand into a fist and break through the sheet, my concern for Chloe overriding any fear that she might wonder how I was able to punch through 6 inches of ice like it was nothing. I reach down and grasp her ankle, which is icy to the touch, and pull it out of the water.
I'm so focused on helping Chloe, that I've forgotten Sean is still very much a threat. He grabs my arm, and I grimace in pain as the freezing pain shoots through my arm. I whirl around and jerk my arm from his grasp, then do something I've been waiting to do since the moment he sidled up to me at the party and insinuated that he'd have no problem adding Chloe to the Kelvin Scale. I pull back my fist and punch Sean squarely in the jaw, sending him skidding across the ice.
I pause for a moment, wanting to relish the feeling of giving Sean what he deserves, but the sound of Chloe quietly sobbing at my feet jerks me back to reality. I kneel down and help her up. "You OK?" I ask, more gently this time. She nods, still sobbing quietly, and winces in pain as she tries to put weight on her injured foot. I slide my arm around her waist, and she grasps my shoulders. We hobble toward the door that I just kicked in, and I release her, giving her a gentle push into the hall. "Go," I tell her firmly. "Run." She nods and limps toward the locker room door, while I turn and prepare to finish Sean off. Only he's not there. I glance around the pool, but Sean is no where to be seen.
Not wanting to leave Chloe alone with Sean on the loose, I head back in the direction I came from. I open the locker room door, to find Chloe standing in the center of the room, shivering, arms wrapped around herself.
"I thought I told you to go," I say as I lock the door behind me.
"I...I wasn't g-going to just leave you," Chloe said, her teeth chattering. "W-what if he tried to hurt you?"
"Don't worry about me," I tell her. "You're the one we should be worried about. Can you walk?" I ask.
"I think," Chloe says, wincing as she again tried to put weight on her foot.
I just shake my head, and grab a few towels to dry Chloe off with from the shelf next to the door. "Here," I say, handing them to her. "Hold these." I then reach down and scoop Chloe up into my arms, not caring that she's dripping water all over me. "Come on...we need to get you somewhere safe."
"Upstairs," Chloe tells me. "Back to my office."
"That's not exactly safe" I tell her, as I kick the locker room door shut behind me.
"We have to figure out what's wrong with Sean," she says, and I know she's right. Judging from what he did to the pool, we're not dealing with a run of the mill murderer. We're definitely in Wall of Weird territory.
------
I take off my jacket and wrap it around Chloe's shivering shoulders as she huddles in her seat behind her desk. "Here...I'll fix you something warm," I offer, heading over toward the old coffee maker Chloe keeps in the office, while she busies herself behind her computer.
I scoop the coffee grounds into the filter, trying to ignore the fact that my hand is trembling as I lift the scoop. If I take notice of the fact that my hands are trembling, then I'd also have to take notice of the fact that this was a call that was little too close for comfort...for the second time. Sure, the time Chloe was trapped in the fire was scary, but nobody saw that coming. Then again, no one saw this coming, not even me. Sure, I knew Sean was bad news, but I thought he was bad news in the sense that he'd take advantage of Chloe and use her, not that he'd try to kill her. No...I didn't see that one coming, not by a long shot.
I'm not necessarily religious...I mean, I go to church with my parents and all, but I've never really classified myself as exceptionally religious. Still, I look up toward the heavens and breathe a silent prayer of thanks to whatever God was watching over Chloe tonight. So many things could have gone wrong...this night could have ended so differently. What if Lana hadn't switched on that TV in the limo at the precise time that the news report was coming over the airwaves? What if the limo had been even ten miles more outside of Smallville? What if Sean had picked any other time of day to call Chloe, other than when she was with me? Would I have even known where Chloe was or who she was with? I had made my anti-Sean feelings very clear to her, so I doubt she would have told me.
I pour the coffee into a mug and let my mind focus on fixing it the way Chloe likes it...two sugars, three creamers. I take a deep breath and turn back toward Chloe, willing my hands to remain steady as I carry the mug to her. I need to play the strong, supportive friend--now's not the time to upset Chloe by letting her see that I start to fall apart inside every time I think of what a close call tonight was.
Seven minutes, 45 seconds. Most people would tell you that's not very much time at all...that not much can change in such a small window of time. Running towards the school tonight, I realized....seven minutes and 45 seconds can feel like a lifetime.
