*
I'm alright
I'm alright
It only hurts when I breathe
-"Breathe" by Greenwheel
By late afternoon, crowds were gathering at the train station, homeward bound. Chloe sat there with her ticket in hand and a small suitcase by her feet, watching the various trains travel back and forth. After a while, her attention focused to people watching. They all had families to return home to tonight, probably with dinner already on the table. She resented them, and it made her sick to think what kind of person she was becoming. The tears had long been wiped away and now she just felt empty. Empty and cold. She shivered and instinctively pulled her sweater tighter around her body, despite the summer weather.
Closing her eyes briefly, she let her mind replay the events of the past week. She became an orphan, sold the house, sold most of the belongings in it, bought a train ticket to Metropolis, and planned to room with Lana while attending Metropolis University. She desperately needed to get away and begin her life over, starting with today. Today, she had decided on the walk here, would be the beginning of the rest of her life. She wasn't sure she still wanted to be a reporter for the Daily Planet, but it didn't really matter anymore. As long as she was away from Smallville, she'd manage.
Her thoughts drifted to the man she'd be leaving behind. They had never really been together, but had grown close over the past year after the accident. They considered themselves' more than friends, but something short of lovers. It was frustrating not knowing where they stood. She always had to be careful of saying too much, or not saying enough. She reminded herself that it didn't matter anymore; he was out of her life with one letter. Now there was nowhere to move but forward, and she wouldn't have it any other way.
*
Lex dialed Chloe's cell phone number for what seemed like the hundredth time today. It just kept on ringing, and long after he hung up, he still heard the shrill sound of it echoing. He had called her at her house many times, but he was informed by new residents today that the previous owner had moved away with no forwarding address. He had no idea where to even begin thinking where she could have ran off to, and it was causing him loss of sleep. Clark was just as much in the dark about Chloe's whereabouts as he, and Pete didn't even know her father had died. Lana, although a long shot, wasn't reachable for she had moved to Metropolis after graduating early. There was no one else to call except for her mother, but Lex knew her mother was as dead to Chloe as her father was.
It was then a thought occurred to him. She could be where he found her a week ago during the storm; the night she read about her father's death. He had been the one who found Gabe dead, having taken sleeping pills with a bottle of Russian vodka. If that won't kill you, he doesn't know what will. Gabe had done it at the factory at his desk, and Lex presumed it was so his daughter wouldn't find him like that. Instead it had been Lex, who had entered the building early the next morning to meet some officials. At the desk, Lex found two letters: one addressed to his daughter, and one to his estranged wife. He had passed along the letter to Chloe through one of his assistants along with a note of his own, for he couldn't bear to face her. He felt it was partially his fault, what with the accident that occurred a few months back, and he didn't want her to blame him as well. He didn't even know what he'd say to her if he did see her. He reasoned that she'd come to him when she wanted to.
He didn't have to wait long, for he got an anonymous call in the middle of the night telling him to go to the train station immediately. He didn't recognize the voice through all the static, but that wasn't important. Lex didn't bother to say thank you or even hang up. He was already outside by the time the phone hit the floor.
Drifting back to the present, Lex finds himself in broad daylight at the station. The usual afternoon crowds were now gone, making it easier to find who he was looking for. Hurrying past nameless faces, he searched for Chloe. Then, as if an answered prayer, she appeared on the platform across the tracks in front of him. He called out her name, but the train whistle drowned out his voice. While desperately pushing and shoving to get to her, the train started to move slowly. He peered in the high windows to find her, but all he saw was a blur of other people. The train then picked up momentum and left the little town behind. Lex watched it long after it disappeared into the fading horizon, but he knew it would not be coming back. He knew she was never coming back.
