Author's Note: Well I'm glad everyone was able to sit through the first chapter. I hate writing first chapters. They never come out quite right. The second one's are always better; I hope the same is true for this one. Thanks for the reviews; I really love hearing what other people think of my writing. Please remember that FLAMES ARE WELCOME. Critiques as well as praise are welcome, I mean after all my writing can't be perfect. Can it?
Chapter 2: Settling Down
Chris now sat in what was the office of his Uncle's lawyer. He needed a shower more than ever and was hoping to get out of here quickly. The events of the last hour were re-running themselves through his mind over and over again. He had gotten hit with a car. Yet he had survived. Or had he? There was a moment there when he blacked out. But this wasn't a dream; he could sense everything going on with all five senses. This was still life. He hadn't bled either. That had been strange. Now come to think of it he couldn't think of a single incident where he actually did bleed other than when he went into full transformation. That was the only time he remembered seeing his own blood. Ever.
His Uncle had been his only remaining biological family. His father and mother had both been raised in orphanages for the greater part of their lives. Neither had or knew their biological parents. But his dad had something his mom didn't, a brother. His dad died three months before Chris was even born. Exactly how he didn't know because his mother died just after he turned five. They had lived in London then, and Chris still went to visit sometimes when he could. After his mother's death Chris was forced to move in and live with his Uncle out in Oklahoma.
Chris had always had his wings. He remembered pulling them out as early as he was six. His Uncle told him that he could fly before he could walk. But Chris usually just took that as a joke, he wasn't sure if it was actually true or not. Of course now he would never know, his Uncle was dead.
When Chris had turned fifteen he began messing around, and experimented with the idea of being a superhero. A vigilante. His debut gathered a lot of attention. His true identity remained a secret, but the life of a hero wasn't what he thought it would be, the people feared him because of how he looked in 'demon form' as he had named it, and the cops and authorities hated him.
However one good thing came out of all of that, a man and a girl who claimed to be from New York City later approached him at his home. They claimed to work for a man in the city, and wanted Chris to move there to live in an underground community of people like himself.
The girl and he had hit it off quite well; at first she wore a hood and baggy clothes so that no one could actually see her. But eventually she removed them and Chris saw that her skin was covered in fur. Her teeth were fangs. It was because of her that he had joined a club, or a community, known as the 'warriors.' The group's goal was to do things for the greater good, without revealing their powers. He had been about the fifth person to join this 'club' but over the years it grew and grew.
Then one Christmas it had changed; someone from an underground school for people like them came, and offered to take in all the highschoolers so that they could receive a normal education. To many of them this sounded good. The girl that had first convinced Chris to join could never have gone to a regular school. A few others too couldn't have handled it. So they signed up. Even those who could go to regular school, people like Chris, because they were a community, and the younger members had all grown strong bonds of friendship.
But recently some of those bonds had been broken; the girl that had first convinced him to join that underground community had been killed. Murdered. And though Chris had tried to stop it, he had failed.
Just after that a letter came from this law office. His Uncle had apparently moved to a place called, "Smallville" out in Kansas, bought a house, and had recently died. Apparently they needed Chris to sign something or whatever, so that's what he was here for.
As he waited for the lawyer to come in he was debating mentally whether or not to go back to that school. Sure it was a decent school. But every time he looked that girl's brother in the eye he couldn't help but think that he could've prevented her death.
"Christian Hart I presume?" A woman's voice coming in through the door behind him interrupted his train of thought. "I'm Miss Kelner, your Uncle's lawyer." She said introducing herself as she went behind her desk.
"Hi there." Chris said with a nod.
"I'm sure your wondering why we sent you that letter. We tried to call you as well but there had been no answer." She said with a slight smile as she sat down and started getting her papers together.
"I figured it was cause you needed me to sign something for my Uncle or something." He said looking up. "Or to arrange the funeral or something."
"Well the funeral has been arranged according to the specifications your Uncle left in his will." She explained. "It'll be taking place tomorrow, I'll give you the exact location…" She said pulling out a card and handing it to him.
Chris stared at the card for a second and then looked back up at miss Kelner with a brow slightly raised. "Bob's funeral parlor and motel?"
"I'm afraid so." She said with a nod.
"That's just wrong." Chris said shaking his head.
"Apparently your Uncle knew this Bob, and knew he could use the business, his will clearly states that's where he wanted to have the funeral service." The lawyer explained.
"So he left a will then?" Chris asked, wondering what his Uncle could have possibly wrote in a will.
"Yes he did." She said with a nod. "Would you like me to read it to you? It is rather short."
"Sure." Chris said with a nod. "But skip over the arrangements for the funeral." He said as he sat back in his chair.
"Well let me just paraphrase. According to his will he named you as his sole heir. 'I, Frank Hart, being of sound mind and body here do by declare this my last and final testament, that all of my estate should be given to my nephew, Christian Van Hart, on the event of my death." She read aloud from the paper before her. "In other words, his house and barn, and everything in them, is now yours."
"The government didn't seize anything?" Chris asked curiously, he remembered growing up with his Uncle; there couldn't possibly have been that much to leave behind.
"They seized what they could, but your Uncle didn't believe that much in banking, so I'm afraid all Uncle Sam was able to receive was the two dollars and eighteen cents in your Uncles bank accounts." Miss Kelner said with a slight smile. "Would you like to see your new property?"
"Do I actually own it? I mean I'm only seventeen." Chris said as he sat forward a bit.
"Yes but you're an emancipated minor. You have the full rights as a legal adult other than those of driving or drinking. Which means you get your inheritance, instead of Uncle Sam taking it from you." The lawyer explained. "So you actually own it once you sign a few papers."
"Okay then. Well I guess I have a place to stay while I'm in town. Takes care of that problem." Chris said with a shrug.
"Would you like for me to show you the estate? I have to work but if you'd like to hang around town I could show you after I meet with a few other clients." Miss Kelner offered.
"No. That's okay." Chris said shaking his head. "Just give me the address and I'll find it."
"I can do better than that. You sign these forms and I'll give you the keys." She said with a nod and a smile as she handed him a clipboard with several forms attached to it over her desk.
He spent the next several minutes going through the documents, reading them, and then signing them. It seemed to take forever, and he could've signed them blindfolded by the time he was done. "Is that all of them?" He asked as he handed the clipboard back to her.
"That'll be all Mr. Hart." She said with a smile as she got up to see him to the door.
She gave him the keys to the house, as well as directions and the street address. Though he valued the directions more than the street address because he didn't have any knowledge of the geography of this small town.
And just like that he was back on the streets. Looking around he noticed that a lot more people were out and about than were earlier this morning. And everything seemed normal. He was almost tempted to make another stop at the coffee house, but he didn't. He followed the directions that Miss Kelner had given him.
Finally he came across it. It took an hour and a half of walking to and fro and getting lost four times before he did it, but he did it. There was the mailbox with numbers, and the only thing next to it, a large dirt path, or a driveway, whatever it was.
"Well Uncle Frank, where have you been living recently? You raised me in a trailer park, am I going to come across a tent and a bicycle up ahead?" He asked the air around him as he began walking the dirt path.
Trees lined everywhere else, a forest really. So many were around him that you couldn't see very far in any direction. Suddenly the road bent and the trees stopped. There before him sat a large, and I do mean large house. But it was still a little ways off. What stood between him and the house was more impressive. Rolling fields with fences around them, corrals almost. "Whoa… Uncle Frank…" He said as he started towards the house. "Is that? It is." He said turning a bit and seeing a large red barn to his left, behind him almost, in a cloven area of the trees.
Suddenly, a stench caught his nose, looking down he saw something ever so slightly familiar. "Horse poop? What the… Oh you've got to be kidding me." He ran as quickly as he could to the barn.
And sure enough, the stench reached him as soon as he opened the door. "It's a horse farm." He said looking around. "Track horses knowing Uncle Frank." He looked to and fro a bit. There were twelve stalls in this place. Each had a horse in it. One had a horse and a baby horse. He'd have to learn their proper terms later. The loft held what lofts always held. Hay for the horses. It looked like they'd been taken care of while he was gone. Most of it was clean except for a little bit.
"This'll keep me busy enough. I'll have to hire some farm hands." He said looking around a bit. "What'd he do? Win it big or something?" He asked one of the horses. The horse just looked at him and bobbed his head up and down, almost as if in answer. "Now that's just creepy."
He shook his head a bit and got out of the barn. "A horse farm…" He said thoughtfully as he headed towards the house. "I don't know if I want to go in that house now. I'm afraid of what I'll find." He said as he came up the stairs to the house/mansion and put the key in the lock.
"Why am I talking to myself so much? I don't know. Will you stop that? You're the one that's doing it! Shut up!" Chris laughed at himself as he came into the house. "I've got to cut that out or people will think I'm nuts."
The house itself was impressive. The downstairs had an entrance hall/foyer, a living room, what looked like a den or an office, a bathroom, an eat in kitchen, a rear porch that over looked the fields, a dining room, a library, and one empty room that hadn't been furnished yet. "Almost creepy." He said to himself as he walked around a bit.
There on the wall of the main foyer hung a picture that made Chris smile. It was of himself, when he was little. He noticed it out of the corner of his eye as he was going up the steps. He didn't believe that his Uncle had kept it. It was a picture that Chris had taken in the mirror, and all you could see in the picture was a seven-year-old Chris holding up a camera that blocked his face.
He laughed as he admired it for a bit, and then continued on his way. Upstairs held three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a library, another office, and what looked like a room that his Uncle was trying to make a game room.
"This is unbelievable. He must've won the lottery or something. How am I going to afford all of this?" He asked as he sat himself down on the bed in one of the bedrooms. "This is amazing, but I'll never be able to live here for long, I don't have money to pay for this stuff. I mean be realistic." He looked around a bit, and noticed a small book on the desk in the room.
Slowly Chris walked over to it, and picked it up. Flipping it open his eyes grew slightly wide. "No way. He kept a diary?" Chris nearly shouted as he laughed. "Oh man. That is just sad." He said shaking his head. He set it down at first, but then something hit him, an idea.
"I wonder…" He picked it back up again. He wanted to know what his Uncle was like, if he wrote anything about Chris or not, stuff like that. And besides, maybe this had something in there that might help him, like who took care of the horses or whatever.
Thankfully, it did. The house was bought and paid for. According to this journal his Uncle had become a real shark After Chris had left a lot of things had changed. And at first for the worst, in his Uncle's life, it hadn't taken him long to hit rock bottom. But eventually he bounced up. He got a job, invested in the stock market, things of that nature. And then one day, bam, he just sold some stocks and went out and bought this farm. Paid for in full. So were the horses. He even had staff.
Chris would later have to call them to see what could be done. But by reading this he found out the most important thing he ever could. His Uncle didn't believe in using the banks that much, and so had kept most of his money here in his estate. Two safes were in the house. One in the library, and one in the dining room, both were picture safes.
However, the combination wasn't written, his Uncle had memorized it for safety reasons. "A lot of good that does me." He said with a smirk as he set the book down. "I still can't believe it." Chris said shaking his head. "Uncle Frank did all this through good honest hard work? Maybe I didn't know him at all really."
Suddenly Chris looked over at the clock. He had spent more time reading than he had thought. It was now roughly three o'clock in the afternoon. "Ugh." He said standing up and stretching.
He took a quick shower, and then headed back to town, this time taking only about half an hour by walking to get there. "Note to future self. Buy car. Cars are good." He muttered to himself as he walked.
His hair was now nicely combed, and his clothes fresh. After the shower he felt a lot better. But after half an hour of walking he wondered whether or not he had even taken one. "Curse these small towns and their lack of public transportation. What I wouldn't do for a New York City taxi."
Through all the whining and moping he finally made it to his destination. The Talon. Unfortunately the person he was looking for wasn't there, but Mrs. Kent remembered him.
"Coffee please." He said with a nod.
"Hey Chris, sure thing." She said with a nod from the other side of the counter.
"Sure are a lot more people in here then there were this morning." Chris commented looking around at the nearly packed coffee house.
"Well this place is sort of everyone's hangout after school." She said as she worked. "You should stick around, it's karaoke night."
"Well apparently I'm going to be around for a while. I've decided to stay at least for a few weeks. Turns out my Uncle did a whole lot better in life than I would've given him credit for, he left me a good chunk of stuff to try and fiddle with." Chris said as she gave him his coffee and he paid for it.
"Well that's nice." She said with a supportive smile.
"Yeah, I suppose." Chris said with a slight nod. To be honest he wasn't really interested in the wealth. He just wanted a break, and he was taking one.
"Hey Mom, have you seen Chloe?" A boy, slightly taller than Chris, asked Mrs. Kent as he came up to the counter.
"No Clark I haven't. Why? Is something up?" Martha asked looking to him from over her shoulder.
"No, I was just hoping to talk to her." Clark said as he nodded to the guy next to him, a young man who was just staring at him.
"Oh. Clark, I'd like you to meet Chris, Chris Hart. He's new in town." Martha said nodding to the boy who was staring at Clark. "Chris, this is my son, Clark."
"Nice to meet you." Chris said with a nod as he shook Clark's hand.
"Same here." Clark said with a slight smile. "I'm uh… going to go help dad at the farm, I'll see you tonight mom?"
"Bye Clark." Martha said with a smile as he left.
"Oh, Mrs. Kent, I have a favor to ask you." Chris said after Clark had left.
"What?" She asked slightly confused.
"Well you see, I own this land, and these… horses. Only I don't know the first thing owning a horse, let alone horses." He said with a smile. "I was wondering if you knew anyone lookin' for work? Possibly with some background with horses?"
"I'll spread the word around." She said with a nod. "But I wouldn't put up much hope, I'm not sure if anyone's actually lookin' for a job."
"Well I'd appreciate anything you could do to help." Chris said as he drank some of his coffee.
He sat there at the bar counter and observed for a bit the scene before him. This was indeed a popular hang out for the teens of Smallville High it seemed. Lots of people were sitting around, some with books, some without, some with boyfriends or girlfriends, and others without.
Chris smiled. For a brief moment, he almost forgot where he was and who he was and all the things that had happened. "Karaoke huh?"
END
Author's note: Please review! Remember, FLAMES ARE WELCOME! So… REVIEW!
