Clark didn't know where he was going to go, so he just ran. He ended up near the caves, and decided to check them out. He walked inside and looked at the symbols for the hundredth time.

He stayed there for a long time, and nearing two hours, his cell phone, that he forgot he had, rang.

Answering it, he said, "Hello?"

Chloe's voice sounded on the other end. "Clark! where are you? We've been looking for you everywhere!" she said.

"I'm...I'll be back in a while. Where are you?" asked Clark.

"Um, I'm at your house," she replied.

"And...Lana?" he asked, the hurt still apparent in his voice.

Chloe hesitated. "Uh...yeah, Lana's here too...Listen, clark, we talked to your parents, and Lana has had a little more time to think. She's- -she's really sorry for blaming her parents death on you," Chloe said.

Clark was silent for a minute. "I...I gotta go, I'll be there soon," Clark said, and hung up. He sighed and headed for the cave exit. He was just inside when he heard young male voices outside. He hid around a corner and used his X-ray vision to watch the boys. He saw them, they were probably no older than thirteen years old.

"Hey, Jake! Check it out! It's a cave!" one boy said. They both walked into the main cavern.

"The other boy said, "Mike, look at these symbols! what do you think they mean?"

Clark couldn't help but smile at their curiosity. Just then, Jake picked up a sharp rock, and proceeded to scratch it against the wall, intending to carve his initials on it. Clark didn't want him to do that, he knew the cave was made by his ancestors, it was very important to him and he didn't want to to be destroyed. He quietly sped outside and speed-dialed the clock tower. He walked in the cave quickly, pretending to talk to someone on the phone.

Mike whispered, "Jake, c'mon! Someone's coming!" the boys ran behind the wall Clark had just been hiding by.

Pretending he had just heard the boys, Clark called, "Hello? anyone here?" Clark walked over to where he saw the boys hide and said, "hello?" He stuck his head around the corner and the boys smiled sheepishly back at him. "Hi," Clark said.

"Hi..." Jake said nervously.

"What are you doing here?" asked Mike.

Clark grinned, "I think I could ask the same of you two!"

Jake, trying to act older said coolly, "We were out walking and saw this cave. We decided to check it out."

"Ah," said Clark. "I was here to look at the symbols," he explained. "My ancest-- I mean, Earths ancestors built it..." Clark trailed off, hoping they didn't catch his mistake.

With a funny look, Jake said, "Uh, yeah...Well, we'd better, uh, get going..."

"Yeah, I guess I should too, a friend is expecting me," Clark said.

Jake and Mike exited a little before Clark, and when he got outside, he saw then walked quickly away from the town and houses. With his hearing, he heard them talking quietly, and almost laughed out loud when he heard it.

"That guy is really weird!" Mike said.

"Tell me about it! Do you think he knows who wrote the symbols in the cave? Cuz he accidentally said 'his ancestors.'" Jake wondered. "Maybe aliens wrote the symbols!"

Clark thought, "You have no idea how right you are" and he smiled, then called, "Where do you guys live?"

Turning around, Jake yelled back, "Just outside Smallville, why?"

"Smallville's the other way!" Clark answered.

The kids looked back and forth a couple times, then at each other, and reluctantly followed. They were already weirded out by this tall dark haired boy, but they did have to go home.

"Okay then, I guess we'll be together for a little while. My name's Clark."

"I'm Jake, this is Mike," he said. He stuck his hand out to Clark, in an effort to be "cool" and they shook hands.

After walking for a couple minutes, Mike spoke up. "Clark? How old are you?" he asked.

"Seventeen. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you're only seventeen, so that means you weren't studying the caves for a job or anything. How come you like them so much? Do you know how to read the symbols?" Mike poured out questions at Clark.

"I don't know. I can't read them, " Clark said, crossing his fingers behind his back, "I guess I just like to try and figure out what they do mean," Clark told him.

They walked the rest of the way in silence, and they eventually said goodbye and went their separate ways. As soon as the boys round the corner, they stopped and turned around, peeking at clark. While they watched, Clark looked around him, not noticing the boys, and sped off as a blur.

Jake turned to Mike, amazed. "Did--did you see that???" he asked.

Mike just nodded, and they headed home, bewildered.