I'm on vacation from tomorrow, so there won't be an update for a few days, folks. Sorry for the delay!
I watched as Lois brushed away loose earth from the top of the white casket and felt my heart rate double. It wasn't easy to try and push away the images we might see next, but I tried. Whatever lay within the coffin had once been my dearest friend.
I took one last deep breath and nodded to Lois to help me break open the casket with the help of the shovel. It took longer than I expected, but once I knew the lid was free to open, I stood back slightly in the hole we had dug.
"This is it…" My words seemed to echo throughout the graveyard, and I suddenly felt more alone than I ever had, even though Lois was at my side.
I grabbed the edges of the lid and closed my eyes as I tugged the full weight of it back. The hinges creaked like something from a horror movie, but still I forced myself to look what lay within.
I gasped and put my hand to my mouth at exactly the same time as Lois. Not only was Clark not dead- the casket was empty. I stumbled backwards until my back hit the earthy walls and Lois had to steady me. She too was beyond shocked. The best I had hoped for was to find Clark somehow buried alive because his gifts had saved him, but this was something else.
"Okay…" Lois looked freaked. "You really have my attention now. THIS, I was not expecting!" She edged forward and peered inside the coffin to convince herself, then glanced back to me. "Two fake deaths among friends is definitely pushing reality here…"
I nodded, but had no explanation. All my mind kept screaming was, not dead! Not dead! But that still left the question of what on earth was going on? I had witnessed the explosions. Could Clark really have lived through them? And what about his powers? He's too strong for anyone to be keeping against his will, so where the heck is he?
I turned to Lois. "We should go tell the Kents!" Before she could answer I began scrambling from the hole we had made until I was covered in dirt.
"Maybe there is an explanation, Chloe. We should tread carefully until we know. What if you upset the Kents and Clark really is dead?"
I wouldn't hear of it. "Mrs. Kent would want to know! I have to find him somehow…" My mind was racing like a NASCAR winner and I was coming up with an abundance of wild and totally over the top scenarios that even Mulder and Scully would have scoffed at.
Still, Lois knew it was no good trying to dissuade me, and instead she clambered from the re-dug grave as fast as I did.
We reached my VW in double quick time and my tires squealed as I left the cemetery far behind in favor of the Kent farm.
Speeding down Hickory Lane as fast as my Bug would travel, I never once considered the time of night, or the people I was about to intrude upon. I had known Jonathan and Martha Kent almost as long as I'd lived in Smallville, and I was sure they'd be receptive to the news I had to bear.
"There are no lights on, Chloe. Maybe we should come back in the morning?" Lois held on to the dashboard as I hit the brakes a little too fast and the car skidded to a halt on the coarse gravel outside the farmhouse.
I scowled. "Would you want to wait until morning to be told your son isn't dead after all?" At Lois' unsure expression I climbed out and grabbed my slightly soiled purse. It had gotten covered in mud at the cemetery, but I didn't care.
Once up the steps and onto the porch, I began rapping hard with my knuckles on the screen door until a light finally illuminated in the kitchen. Seconds later, Jonathan Kent appeared looking dishevelled and extremely tired.
The farmer cocked a brow when he saw me, and he rubbed a hand over his stubbled chin. "Chloe?" he finally asked.
I couldn't hide my excitement. "Mr. Kent, Clark's alive!" I barrelled inside and Lois followed me looking pretty uneasy. Clark's dad closed the door and I'm sure from the look on his face he thought I'd gone nuts.
"Chloe, Clark's dead. You were there yourself!" Jonathan took a seat and I guessed things were getting too much for him. I have to calm down. I shouldn't work Mr. Kent up this way because of his heart.
"I don't know how to tell you this," I offered, "But Lois and I just dug up Clark's casket and it was empty!" It was strange, but the farmer didn't show any reaction to my words. "He has to be alive!" I concluded.
Jonathan ran a hand through his hair and I thought for a moment he was going to get up and call down Martha. Instead, he looked at me with weary, bloodshot eyes, and a sadness came over his face I will never forget. "Chloe, Clark is dead. There were just no remains left to bury. The explosions were so intense…something to do with the concentration of meteor rocks Luthor was using…" His voice quivered. "The young man who was with Clark, I think his name was Mitchell?"
I nodded, thinking of the second grave I had seen.
"There is no body in his casket either. There was just nothing left…" Tears formed in Jonathan's eyes, and I felt my own euphoria sink faster than the Titanic. "Please don't tell Martha about this. I know you meant well, but I don't think she could stand to hear…"
Suddenly I felt stupid, selfish even, and I couldn't face the distraught father any longer. I turned and ran from the house in shame at the hurt I had just caused. Behind me, I could hear Lois trying to apologize for my behavior.
How could I have been so stupid? Just because my coffin and funeral were fakes I had thought I could find a way to bring Clark back. I had been kidding myself and had caused untold upset with my actions.
Tears streamed down my face and I could feel my cheeks reddening. I ran blindly to the only place I could find solace. I ran to Clark's loft, a refuge he had once loved and would now give me sanctuary in my grief.
My hasty footsteps reverberated on the wooden steps as I climbed up to the loft, and I had the urge to pause and listen. There was no sound, and yet I sensed I was not alone in the barn. Are you sure Clark isn't a ghost? My mind screamed.
I swallowed hard and continued on my journey to where Clark spent most of his nights gazing at the stars. The loft itself appeared just as my favourite farmboy had left it. Books scattered his desk as if he could come back to finish the task he had been working on.
A plaid shirt lay strewn across the couch where he had obviously tossed it in haste. I smiled, recalling how untidy he could sometimes be.
A gentle but cool breeze blew across my back from the over-large shutter and I turned to walk over and close it- except the shutter wasn't even open. As I searched for the source of the draft, it became even colder in the room until my fingertips felt like ice. I began to shake a little, but not just from the temperature, but from my own fears. I had desecrated his grave. Was Clark angry with me?
"Clark?" I spoke to nothing, wondering what I would actually do if I received some kind of answer. "Clark, if that's somehow you, make yourself known…" I trembled and waited for any sound.
Nothing. The loft simply got colder and colder until I thought perhaps Sean Kelvin was back. I'm not imagining this! I looked around and my gaze stopped dead at Clark's desk. The books on it were flipping pages as if some invisible person was standing over them, searching for something specific.
I stared for the longest time, my heart racing at the idea that Clark's spirit might actually be right before me. Then, the flicking pages came to rest and the room began to warm up. My feet felt like they had diving weights attached and I was walking below the ocean. I was so scared to move, but I somehow forced my muscles to work.
How long it took to walk over to the desk I don't know, but when I arrived I was surprised to see the top book was in fact an Atlas. Curiosity overcoming fear, I leaned over, scanning the open pages for a reason for what I had just witnessed. Does Clark want me to see something here?
I ran a finger over the maps that had been singled out. They were of Colorado, not Kansas. "Weird," I voiced out loud. "What's so special about Colorado?"
As if in answer a tumbler filled with pens, pencils and various other desk items tumbled over on to the page. I jumped back, startled, and then shakily started to put the items back when I realized a marker's top had come loose. Somehow, ink from the blue pen had leaked on the page- or was it more than an innocent leak? "Clark?"
It was strange, but suddenly the idea that he was in the room with me gave me strength instead of fear. I looked back where the blue ink spot had stained the map and then quickly grabbed a notebook and pencil, jotting down anything that might be important. What I was looking at was a mystery, but then mysteries were something I had always been good at solving.
Two minutes later, I heard footsteps approaching and wondered if Jonathan had come out to personally scold me for my earlier behavior. Now what do I tell him? Sorry, Mr. Kent, but your son is haunting me for unknown reasons?
As it happened I was safe. The newcomer was Lois. "I've finally convinced Clark's dad that you're not certifiable, but it was a close call. I told you there would be an explanation for the empty coffin…" She raised a brow and then realized I had been making notes about something. "Now what?"
"I know this sounds nuts, but while you were in the house with Mr. Kent something happened out here…" I gathered my thoughts before continuing, "The room went so cold, and the pages in that Atlas started flipping all on their own. They stopped on Colorado and then this…" Instead of telling Lois, I showed her the distinct mark on the map. It almost formed a circle around one small area.
Lois didn't know what to make of it. "Coincidence, Chloe. It has to be! I don't believe in ghosts!"
I raised a brow. "Yeah, right, and you don't believe in witches either, but it didn't stop…"
"Okay," Lois cut me off. "I get the picture, but even if this is some spooky message from beyond, what the heck does it mean? We should take our next vacation in the Rockies?"
I bit my lip and looked at the place name I had jotted down. Platoro. It meant nothing to me, but I was a reporter after all, so discovering just what was there shouldn't be too difficult. Could Clark's gifts still be manifesting themselves and allowing him to communicate from the grave? If so, why would he send me there?
I stuffed the notebook in my purse and shot Lois a determined look. "I'm going to check this place out, in person if I have to. Coming?" I knew my cousin wouldn't let me down. She'd had a quirky relationship with the Kents, but deep down I suspected she hadn't hated Clark half as much as she'd professed. Besides, she loved getting in on the action.
"I'll come," she gestured as if I were insane. "But just to keep you out of trouble!"
We had no idea then, but trouble would soon find us.
