ShatteredLegacy
A novel by
Steven W. Eden
Superman and all related characters are the copyrighted property of DC Comics
7
Feb. 11
No matter how much I pleaded with Lori, she insisted that she could not go to Smallville with me. I am very disappointed ! I so wanted her to meet my folks - I think Lori may be the one ! But she said she had too much studying to do. I told her a little break would do us both a world of good, but it was to no avail. I hope maybe at Spring break I can get her to go, and maybe that would be a good time to pop the question...?
Despite my disappointment, it was great to see Ma and Pa again. Ma made my favorite dish for dinner tonight (which is also, coincidentally, Pa's favorite dish, too!). We both ate ourselves silly and Ma seemed very self-satisfied that we did! Tomorrow I will see just what is left of the farm, and do some of the chores for Pa. Of course, I could do all of the chores in a matter of minutes, but Pa hates for me to do that! He says he needs the work to keep in shape, plus it keeps him "focused". I'm looking forward to getting out in the corn field again and smelling the good air. Metropolis is a wonderful city and I hope to live there some day, but I'll always enjoy the quiet and clean atmosphere of home.
Looks like Pa was serious about buying the general store in town. He already turned around the money he made on the sale of part of the farm and bought it from Allen Jeffers. He's pretty sure he can make it work out. I hope so! It seems like an awfully big investment.
Ma says Lana Lang is in town for awhile, too. I think Ma's hoping Lana and I will hook up while we're here and maybe get some kind of romance thing going. I do love Lana, but like a sister, and I think she sees me as the brother she never had, too ! Something tells me I should tell everyone about Lori as soon as possible so there's no misunderstanding. I would hate for anyone that I care for to get hurt in some way like that.
But it would be great to see Lana again. I think I'll look up Pete Ross, too. Maybe a good night out with all three of us down at the Talon would be fun. But that will have to wait until tomorrow. I think a good night's sleep is in order right now...
3:24 am
I thought I wasn't supposed to sweat! But I awoke from a sound sleep with a cold one ! - and all I could think about was the crystal in the barn, I felt it speaking to me once again and this time, I could no longer resist the urge to go to it. I've gone through much of my life learning that there wasn't much on earth that I have to fear, but this definitely had my hair standing on end ! I was not in total control of my myself ! I went to the barn to get the crystal and I had no choice !
It was so very surreal - as if I were dreaming, yet I was not! After awakening, I tried to go back to sleep, but the voices grew louder in my head. they were beckoning me - no ! - summoning me to the hiding place in the barn where rested the strange green crystal that my parents kept ever since the crash that brought me to them years ago. Finally giving in, I decided it was no longer an option to fight the urge. Fear is an emotion that I am not too familiar with - oh, not fear that the girl you ask to the dance will turn you down or fear that you might have angered your parents - but actual fear that bodily harm or that your life is in danger. The closest I've ever come to that kind of doubt was the first time I was exposed to one of the green rocks. But this was different from anything else. I was walking into the unknown with little control over my own actions and mind. Although of a single - minded purpose, I did my best to temper the obsession with caution. Arising from my bed, I ignored the robe by the door as I exited my bedroom and eased my way quietly, carefully down the stairs, into the kitchen, and out the back door. Once outside, I found myself picking up the pace until I was almost at a full gallop.
The barn, of course, was deserted at this hour with the exception of Daisy, our "milk" cow. At this point in Daisy's life, however, she is more of a very big pet. Pa always said sentimentality for the livestock had no place on a farm, but when it became obvious that Daisy was milked out and it was time to "put her out to pasture", Pa was the one who couldn't part with her and found a new excuse to keep her daily. I could tell now that she was glad to see a familiar face when I came in. Evidently, whatever was drawing me here had her on edge, too.
Even with the lights turned on, the barn seemed to ooze with an eerie strangeness I have never encountered before. I made my way through the dreary agricultural accoutrements to the thresher. It was resting upon the trap door to the pit which housed the remains of the means of my arrival to this world. Pa was always careful to keep something very heavy on this spot so as to discourage any discovery of the pit's existence - accidental or otherwise.
I dispatched the thresher with speed and ease and there was the door to the cause of my obsession. I paused only for a moment, but many questions wormed through my mind - Am I really being manipulated by some force or am I simply obsessed with putting an end to a childhood ghost story ? What would happen when I hold the crystal in my hands ? Will it augment the strange powers I possess or destroy them - or perhaps destroy me ? And finally, is this really the right thing to do or am I simply going mad ?
Of course, it didn't matter if it was right or wrong, I was compelled to get the crystal now and nothing would sway me from whatever fate would result from that act. Resolving within myself that all my trepidations were moot, I steeled myself for the worst and opened the heavily armored door.
Within the hideaway niche lay the vessel that bore me from wherever I came from - still intact and seemingly fit for flight if necessary. Next to it, the baby blankets that protected me during the flight cushioned the strange green crystal which apparently was the source of my madness. With nothing to hold it prisoner, the emerald light which emanated from within the extra-terrestrial jewel painted a lustrous sheen to everything in the barn transforming it into something at the same time both beautiful... and frightening. Daisy was now more agitated than ever and lowed her displeasure for the intrusion to her peace of mind, but I could not let that delay me any longer. Unhesitatingly, I reached in and scooped up the crystal.
For a moment nothing - absolutely nothing happened ! I began to think that these "voices" were figments of my imagination - a childhood fancy borne from my curiosity about my origin. I chuckled at the thought of this and how it molded itself into such an obsession. I began to put it back into the hidden chamber, but then something compelled me to stare into the crystal and a world that no longer existed came to life within me ! A city long destroyed towered over me once again and though I had no previous memory of ever having been there, I could feel its kinship to me !A dead language I had never heard before echoed in my brain and somehow - somehow I understood all its intricacies. Within myself, pieces of long forgotten memories - now awakened - began to make sense as the missing patches filled in the gaps as if a mason were filling the cracks in a broken sidewalk. I watched ! I listened ! I learned !
And now...I know !