Chapter 4
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"Alexis! I didn't expect to see you at school today," Lana said as she met the green-eyed teen coming through the front doors of the school.
"It's better than sitting in the same room with my parents," she responded, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Things can get really tense in a short amount of time. They'll go home this afternoon, so I'll sit with Jessica then."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be," Alexis smiled bravely, "it's not your fault my family's messed up." Lana gave her a hug.
"If you ever need somewhere to hide out, you can always come to the Talon."
"Thanks. I'll remember that."
"Look, I thought I told you not to talk me anymore. Why can't you get a hint? Just leave me alone!" Chloe's angry tone rose above the early morning racket.
"Chloe!" Clark called in dismay as the blonde stormed down the hall. Lana and Alexis exchanged looks. Alexis had grown pale.
"What happened to Chloe?" she demanded.
"I don't know," Lana answered, "but I'm going to find out." She hurried after her friend as Alexis made her way towards Clark.
"Clark, what's going on?" she asked.
"She's just gone crazy on me!" he answered. "After you called and I found her here last night, it was like I'd committed some unpardonable crime. She's even worse this morning." The girl put a hand on his shoulder. Placing his hand over hers, he looked down into her eyes.
"Clark . . . ." she wore a guilty expression.
"Alexis, what is it?" he inquired anxiously.
"It's my fault. Whatever happened to Jess and Chloe, I did it."
"What do you mean?"
"Promise you won't hate me," tears began to stream down her cheeks.
"Of course," he wiped a tear from her face.
"I had a dream—two of them. The first one was Monday night after I fought with Jessica. I dreamed that I went into her room and began to strangle her. The next morning I went into her room and she wasn't herself," Alexis leaned her head back and blinked away some of the tears and taking a shuddery breath continued. "Yesterday, I had a fight with Chloe, too, before she came to work on the Torch. Then, it was like I had followed her there and . . . I-I had a big knife and I—I . . . ." she looked away, unable to say anymore.
"Ali, they're just a couple of bad dreams," Clark told her. "Whatever is going on has nothing to do with you."
"But last night—I never fell asleep!" she interrupted. "I was doing homework in Jess's hospital room. When I woke up, my pencil was still in my hand, I was in the middle of writing the same word, but forty minutes had passed. That's when I called Chloe, but she never answered."
"And you think you had something to do with this? Alexis, you would never hurt anyone," he insisted.
"Maybe I would!" Alexis cried. "Clark, Chloe has the same thing as Jessica and if we don't figure out how to stop it, she will go into a coma, too. Clark . . . . Where are you going?" He had pushed pass her and was heading for the door.
"I'm going to see what I can find out," he answered. "Stay here at school." Alexis bit her lip as she watched him leave. Then, running to the bathroom, she burst into tears again. Stopping in front of one of the sinks, she looked at herself in the mirror.
"What have I done?" she sobbed. Meanwhile, Lana had caught up to Chloe in the hall.
"Why are you mad at Clark?" she demanded as her friend turned to face her. Chloe blinked in surprise.
"I-I don't know . . . ." she answered confusedly, gazing around as though she was lost.
"Well, he deserves an explanation," Lana pointed out, somewhat angrily.
"Why would I give him an explanation?" Chloe asked suddenly defensive. "I don't even want to talk to him."
"You don't even know why you're mad at him!" Lana erupted. Turning, she rushed off to class leaving Chloe speechless in the middle of the hall.
---
"Mr. Kent," a lady doctor said as she entered Jessica's room, "I was told you were inquiring about Miss Rosenberg's condition. I'm afraid I can't tell you very much, first of all, because patient information is confidential, and secondly, we simply don't know what's wrong."
"Doctor," Clark returned, "I was just wondering if there was any kind of markings or possible symptoms."
"Like I said, I can't share that kind of information with you," the woman replied.
"Please—I think one of my other friends has come with the same illness."
"How can you be sure?" the doctor asked, obviously intrigued.
"Before Jessica fell into a coma, she started acting strangely, and now one of our other friends is behaving differently, too." Clark answered.
"And you're just barely telling me this?"
"I didn't think there was any connection," he told her. "Please, doctor, is there anything that might indicate that someone else has come down with this?" Hesitating a moment, the doctor approached the bed. Gently, she pulled back the shoulder of Jessica's hospital gown, and then motioned to Clark to come closer.
"We found these markings on both of her shoulders," she explained. "They're as unexplainable as her condition. If your friend has come down with the same illness, it's a pretty good bet that she has the same marks." The markings that she spoke of looked like bruises, only they had vein-like strands and they were green.
"Thank you, doctor."
"I wouldn't stay much longer if I were you. Her parents should be showing up in about twenty minutes and her mom is a bit over-protective." With that, the woman left the room. Clark sat down in a chair close to the bed, trying to make some connection between the markings and strange behavior and what Alexis had told him at school.
"It doesn't make any sense," he muttered. He stood to leave when Jessica gave a sudden gasp. Her eyelids flew open as she sat bolt-right up in the bed. She grabbed his hand and took it in both of hers.
"Clark!" her eyes were wide with fear and she spoke hysterically. "She's after you—she wants you all for herself. She'll stop at nothing. Clark, everyone you care about is in danger."
"Jess, slow down—who are you talking about?" Clark asked.
"I don't know. She came into my room and told me to stay away from you," she gulped in a deep breath, "and she said the only reason I was attracted to you was because you reminded me of Donnie. Then she told me that I should be afraid of you . . . ."
"Do you remember what she looked like?"
"She was green—all of her—her hair, her skin, her eyes . . . I never saw eyes like hers before. They glowed, Clark. They looked like the meteor rocks you have here in Smallville. Clark, you gotta warn everyone, and you should all hide. Clark, she's . . . ." she stopped suddenly and put a hand to her temple, wincing in pain.
"Jess, what's wrong?" Clark inquired anxiously. She looked at him almost blankly.
"Clark, get help," she said faintly. She lay back on her pillow and her grasp on his hand grew limp. Her eyes rolled back into her head as her body suddenly went into a convulsion.
"Jessica!" he exclaimed, then ran to the door. "I need help in here!" he shouted. Suddenly, the room became a flurry of activity.
"Kid, you need to leave," a nurse told him.
"What's happening?" he demanded.
"Get him out of here," the doctor ordered, "she's seizing!" Someone pushed him out of the room and closed the door. For a moment, he watched the scene through the window before retreating to the waiting room. After a few moments, Jessica's parents came in.
"What's going on?" Mr. Rosenberg asked worriedly when they were refused admittance to their daughter's room.
"Sir, apparently your daughter came out of the coma for a few minutes before suddenly going to a massive seizure. Whatever she was exposed to has begun to affect her nervous system," the doctor informed them. Clark listened a short distance away.
"What happens now?" Mrs. Rosenberg wanted to know.
"We must do our best to keep her stabilized."
"Stabilized?"
"Mr. and Mrs. Rosenberg, if your daughter has another seizure, she will die." Kathryn let out a cry of dismay.
"Chloe!" Clark gasped.
---
"Lana, I need your help," Clark said, catching his friend between classes.
"Clark, Alexis said she thought you went to the hospital. How's Jess?" the dark-haired girl asked, a look of concern on her face.
"She came out of the coma," he began.
"That's great!" Lana exclaimed.
"Except, she had a seizure and fell back into it. The doctor said if she has another one, she'll die."
"Oh, my word . . . . What do you need my help for?"
"Alexis thinks she's the one causing all this and Chloe's the only one who can access the medical records, but she's not exactly talking to me."
"So you want me to work as a mediator?"
"Right."
---
"Clark, I thought I told you to stay away," Chloe growled as he and Lana entered the Torch.
"Chloe, he's not going to talk to you, I am." Lana told her.
"Then, why is he here?"
"We think you came down with the same illness that put Jessica into a coma. The doctors found markings on Jessica's shoulders, almost like bruises, but they're green with vein-like strands." Chloe looked at her two friends. Hesitating a moment, she stretched the collar of her shirt to expose her shoulder.
"Did they look like this?" she asked. Lana looked to Clark who nodded wordlessly before gazing back into their friend's eyes.
"Chloe," she inquired suddenly, taken back in surprise, "What happened to your eyes?"
"What do you mean?" the blond questioned.
"Your eyes—they're green."
"Like Jess's," she uttered in surprise. "Jessica's eyes turned a dark green the night after she started acting strangely. You guys, what's happening to me?"
"We were hoping you could help us figure that out." Clark answered.
"Clark—"
"Chloe, Clark's trying to help you," Lana interjected before Chloe could say something rude. "We need you to look up Alexis's medical records and see if there's anything unusual."
"Why Alexis?" the blonde asked as she sat down and began to type away at her computer.
"Because she claims that she has something to do with your illness. We think that she may some meteor rock-induced ability from being trapped in the cave." Lana explained. After several minutes, Chloe had accessed the information they were looking for.
"I think you're right," she said as they crowded around the computer screen. "The doctors found high-levels of some unknown substance in Alexis's system."
"It must be meteor rock," Clark commented. "But, why did they release her? Jessica told them she was allergic to everything."
"Since she wasn't having any reaction to it, they probably thought it wasn't a big deal. They planned on keeping an eye on her for a few days."
"Well, now she's going around infecting people," Lana asserted. "Hey, check Jessica's records."
"O-kay . . ." Chloe assented, pulling up the document. "Oh, my word, you guys, they found some unknown 'toxin' flowing through Jessica's bloodstream—it appears to be the same substance. That doesn't make any sense, though. I mean, if the meteor rock put Jess in a coma, why is Alexis still walking around? And how did it get transmitted from one sister to the other?"
"Chloe, do you remember anything from last night?" Clark asked. Chloe allowed herself a long-suffering sigh before answering.
"No, and even if I did, why would I tell you?"
"Chloe, we need you to try to remember," Lana insisted. "Jessica woke for a couple minutes and told Clark that someone attacked her. If she doesn't get better, she'll die, Chloe, and so will you."
"I was working on my computer when I heard the door open. Then Clark came." Chloe said.
"Are you sure that's all? You don't remember anything else?" Lana asked again.
"Where were you before you came here?" Clark added.
"Clark," Chloe snapped, then took a deep breath before continuing. "I visited Jessica in the hospital, and then I came straight here."
"You had an argument with Alexis, didn't you?" Chloe looked at him strangely.
"Yes . . . I was still mad at her when I got here."
"Then, the next thing you knew, you were mad at me for no reason. Chloe, are you sure you don't remember anything else?" the boy persisted.
"No, Clark!" the blonde spoke angrily. "Only that you came in and I'm mad at you because she pointed out that you don't treat me fairly!" They fell silent for a moment.
"Chloe, who pointed that out?" Lana inquired. Chloe blinked in surprise.
"I-I don't know. I was sitting at my desk, and then I got up and walked over here," Chloe retraced her steps from the previous night. "Then the door opened and I stepped out of the room to see if anyone was there. There was a noise . . . I—I just can't remember ."
"Was someone here?" Clark prodded.
"Y-es," she answered slowly. "She—her eyes were like . . . the meteor rocks."
"Alexis," Clark said. "There's got to be a way to figure out who she'll attack next."
"That's easy, Clark," Chloe said, somewhat sarcastically, "Who else does she think has a crush on you?"
---
"Alexis, we need to talk." The raven-haired girl turned to face her friend.
"What did you find, Clark?" Alexis asked.
"You have sort of toxin in your bloodstream and when you're in those dreams you told me about, you do something to infect the person you're attacking. Jessica is infected with the same toxin," he answered.
"But how, Clark?" she demanded. "It doesn't make any sense. Maybe you're right—maybe they are just a couple of bad dreams."
"I don't think so," Clark disagreed. "There's more than just coincidence involved here."
"So now you think I'm attacking people on purpose? Earlier, when you reminded me that I wouldn't hurt anyone, I felt that you had confidence in me, that you knew who I really was. Now that you're accusing me of actually hurting my sister and the closest friend that I ever had, I'm starting to wonder what I ever saw in you." Alexis turned and started down the hall again.
"Alexis, wait," Clark hurried after her, "I don't think you're doing this intentionally. Something in the cave affected you and in order to figure out how, I need to know who you might attack next. Alexis, who else are you jealous of?" She stopped abruptly to face him, angry tears stinging her green eyes.
"I'm not jealous of anyone, Clark," she told him. "I don't even like you anymore!" She shoved him, causing him to lose his balance and fall, and then fled the scene.
"Alexis!" he called, but it was too late.
---
"I tried talking to her, but she wouldn't listen," Clark told Pete, Lana, and Chloe later that afternoon at the Talon. Chloe had resorted to a stony silence, since she couldn't say anything to Clark that wasn't vehement or rude.
"What if we can't stop her?" Pete queried.
"We have to try," Clark insisted.
"Perhaps we'd be more effective if we split up," Chloe suggested more to Lana and Pete than to Clark. "Pete and I can check out the hospital and do some more research at the Torch and you . . . can keep an eye out for Alexis."
"Good idea," Lana agreed. "I get off in a few minutes, so Clark and I can go to the Rosenberg's and see if Alexis is there."
"Alright, we'll see you later," Pete said as he and Chloe left the shop. Clark turned to face Lana.
"Look, I don't want you to go anywhere alone, alright?"
"Why?" she asked.
"Because so far Alexis has attacked people that she thinks have a crush on me, and she believes that you are attracted to me," he explained. Lana turned to fill a mug at the coffee machine.
"What? Doesn't she know about me and Whitney?" she questioned.
"I don't know, but promise you won't go anywhere by yourself." Lana leaned against the counter and looked up into his eyes.
"I promise," she consented with a smile, thinking for moment that her friend was quite charming. Clark blinked as the room suddenly began to twist about him. He sat down on a stool as dizziness overcame him.
"Clark, are you alright?" Lana asked anxiously.
"Yeah, I-I'm . . . ." he began, but instead of subsiding, his sickness intensified. Suddenly, everything went black.
"Clark!" Lana cried as he fell off the stool to the floor, taking a tray of cookies with him. She ran around the counter and knelt beside him. "Clark, can you hear me?" she asked as his eyelids fluttered open. The crowd that was in the Talon had gathered about them, gazing down at him with worry and curiosity.
"Yeah—what happened?" he muttered, sitting up and looking around him.
"You passed out and fell off the stool," Lana told him. "I'm going to take you home."
"No, Lana," he insisted as she and someone else helped him to his feet. "I'm fine." The room was still hazy and he staggered slightly to the right.
"Clark, you're in no condition to drive," she spoke firmly. "I'm going get my coat and then I'm driving you home."
"Okay," he finally agreed. He couldn't figure out what was causing his vision to be so unfocused and his balance to be so off. It couldn't possibly be meteor rock—Lana wasn't wearing her necklace and there wasn't any in the shop. Lana wrapped his arm around her shoulder to steady him as they left the shop. As the door closed behind them, Alexis lowered the paper she'd been hiding behind and gazed after them with glowing, meteor rock green eyes.
---
"I felt the way I do around the meteor rocks," Clark told his parents later that evening while Lana had went over her house to get her homework. Nell wasn't home and Clark insisted that she didn't stay alone.
"Are you sure there was none in there?" Jonathan asked.
"Yes. It's strange—I've been getting that feeling off and on all week, but it was always brief."
"Clark, why haven't you told us?" Martha admonished.
"When has it happened, son?" his father inquired.
"Well, once, a little, when I was walking down the hall at school with Jess, at the hospital when I was with Chloe, and twice at the Talon . . ." a sudden realization struck him. "Once I was with Chloe and this last time with Lana. Every time happened before they were attacked—Lana's next!" He stood to his feet and hurried to the door. "Why isn't she back, yet?" Throwing open the door, he was gone in an instant.
Meanwhile . . . Lana glanced up as she heard the door open and shut.
"Nell?" she called. There was no answer. Slowly, she made her way through the house, glancing around cautiously as she did so. "Who's there?"
"Funny you should ask," an unfamiliar voice answered as Lana entered the parlor. She turned about in a full circle until she found herself face to face with the speaker. The green-skinned girl blocked her only exit.
"Who are you?" Lana demanded.
"Honestly, Lana," the girl ignored her question, "you're a nice girl. I never thought I had to worry about you. You're the most popular girl in school. You're pretty and have a wonderful personality, but you already have a boyfriend—why do you need Clark?" The whole time, she had been taking step after step towards Lana, and Lana had just as slowly backed away.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she declared.
"Ever heard of the green-eyed monster? Jealousy is a powerful thing Lana. All I have ever wanted was true friends and a guy who likes me and me alone. But some of us don't like to share, do we, Lana?"
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean, is that you already have a boyfriend and just because you're pretty, doesn't mean you deserve to have another guy wrapped around you're finger, too. Don't play stupid with me, Lana—I know you have feelings for Clark!"
---
"Lana!" Clark called as he neared her house. Someone stood on the front walk, gazing at the house in the darkness, but they didn't move. Clark jogged over to see who it was. "Alexis!" he gasped as he recognized her face. The girl didn't respond. It was although she were asleep or somehow absent from her own body. "When I woke up, my pencil was still in my hand, I was in the middle of writing the same word, but forty minutes had passed,"Alexis's voice echoed through his mind. "Lana!" He sped inside the house.
"Lana!" he called.
"Help me!" he heard her shout. He burst into the parlor where Lana had managed to move a chair between her and her attacker. "Clark!" At Lana's relieved cry, the intruder turned to face him.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded. As she approached him, he doubled over and fell to his knees.
"Lana, run!" he told his friend. Taking the open opportunity, Lana obeyed. The green girl grabbed Clark by the collar and raised him to his feet.
"Don't you understand?" she demanded. "I'm doing this for us. With all others out of way, we can be happy. We're perfect for each other."
"Alexis, you gotta stop," he gasped. "This isn't like you." She threw him against the wall.
"I love you, Clark," she cried, her eyes glowing an even brighter green. "But apparently, I'm not good enough for anyone to love me back. So you all must die." Crossing the space between them, Alexis's "evil twin" took Clark by the shoulders. Clark let out a cry of pain as meteor rock suddenly began to be injected into his system.
"I'm sorry, Clark," the girl said, "but I don—" Her sentence was cut short as her breathing suddenly began to come in short, raspy gasps. Releasing Clark, she staggered backwards. Crumbling to the ground, she disappeared.
"Clark!" Jonathan called as he, Martha, and Lana piled out of his truck and rushed towards Lana's house. The figure that had previously stood frozen on the walk now writhed on the ground. Martha went to assist the girl as the other two entered the house.
"Alexis?" the woman assumed, having never met the girl before. Alexis took her hand and managed to move into a sitting position.
"I . . . can't . . . b-reathe . . . ." she gasped, tears flowing from her terror-filled eyes. Her body heaved repetitively, as though she were about to vomit and her forehead was hot to the touch.
"Just—try to relax," Martha soothed. "We're going to get you some help." Inside the house, Jonathan Kent knelt over his son.
"Is he alright?" Lana finally asked.
"He's unconscious. He must've been infected by whatever Alexis was carrying around," the man answered, knowing that it had to be the meteor rock.
"We should get him to the hospital," Lana stated. "The doctor said that Jess—"
"Actually, I think he'll be better off at home. The police will be here any minute to take Alexis there." Jonathan told her. "Will you help me get him to our truck?"
"Yes, of course," the girl agreed in bewilderment. Jonathan half-dragged and half-carried Clark outside while Lana got the doors and helped as much she could. He pulled up in front of his own farmhouse as the police and ambulance arrived.
"Lana," Alexis spoke faintly as she was loaded onto the ambulance and hooked up to a respirator. "I'm sorry."
---
Clark stretched as he opened his eyes. Finding himself on the living room sofa, he blinked in surprise.
"Mom," he called, sitting up and standing to his feet. "Dad?" The teenager shuffled into the kitchen.
"Good morning, son," Jonathan greeted.
"Clark, you're awake!" Martha exclaimed with a smile.
"What happened?" he asked dazedly.
"You've been unconscious for almost thirty-six hours," his mother replied. "Alexis infected you somehow."
"And I think I know she did it," Chloe added, entering from the other room.
"Chloe, what are you doing here?" the boy questioned in surprise. "You're talking to me." Her blue eyes sparkled with amusement.
"I stopped by to see how you were doing and your mom invited me to stay for breakfast," she responded. They each took a seat at the table.
"So what's your theory?"
"You know how Alexis was trapped in the cave awhile ago? Well, that particular cave was made by the meteor shower—it never existed before then—so it was full of meteor rock. While she in there groping around, she managed to get enough into her bloodstream to have made even a person without allergies horribly sick."
"But Alexis is allergic to the meteor rock?"
"Right, but for some strange reason, instead of reacting to the allergen, Alexis became two different persons."
"Wait a minute, you mean the green Alexis was made out of meteor rock?" Clark asked incredulously.
"As well as all the negative feelings she's been harboring her entire life," Chloe asserted. "Think about it—meteor rock plus allergies plus a lifetime of insecurity and jealousy equals your green-eyed monster with the ability to get others out of her way."
"You were infected—why aren't you . . ?" he trailed off.
"In a coma?" she finished. "Apparently by the time she had injected you with a dose of her jealous wrath, there was no longer enough meteor rock in her system to maintain the two of her and her allergies immediately kicked in—she almost died. When her evil twin ceased to exist so did her ability to make Jess and me sick."
"So Jess is alright?"
"Yeah, as soon as Alexis returned to being one person, we both snapped out of it. She can go back to school in couple of days. Though we'll still have bruises for a few days." With her last statement, Clark unconsciously rubbed his shoulder.
"Ouch!" he exclaimed, pulling back his sleeve to reveal and black and blue reminder of his confrontation with Alexis. "Me, too."
"So, how is Alexis?" Martha asked as she put a platter of pancakes on the table.
"Alexis is still in pretty bad shape," Chloe answered. "The worst of it is behind her, but she'll probably stay in the hospital until the end of the week."
---
Clark knocked softly before opening the door to Alexis's hospital room. The girl put down the book she was reading as he entered.
"Clark," she spoke softly. "You were the last person I expected to see." She took off her glasses to rub her eyes.
"I see you're wearing glasses again," he said as he took the seat beside her bed.
"Yeah, I guess my vision was fixed only temporarily," she laughed a little. "Clark, I'm very sorry." He took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"It's okay, it wasn't you." She pulled her hand away and folded her arms across her chest.
"My green-eyed twin may have been separate from me when she attacked my sister, Chloe, and Lana," Alexis told him in her ever quiet tone, "but it was still me who wanted to hurt them—to get them out of the way so I could have you all for myself. It was me who did it, meteor rock or not. I have a lot of issues, Clark. My parents have already scheduled appointments for me with a counselor. I've always been jealous of Jessica; always hidden all my hurt within myself . . . after awhile, it eats away at a person."
"Everyone makes mistakes," Clark said, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "Everyone has a dark side—that doesn't make people stop caring about you." Catching his hand in her own, Alexis pressed it against her heart, turning her face away as tears began to stream down her face.
"I know," she replied. "But there was one thing that the jealous part of me didn't fail to notice, Clark: you're in love with Lana—have been for a long time—and as much as she tries to hide it because of Whitney, I think you're the one she truly cares about."
"Lana and I are just friends," he told her.
"Either way, Clark," Alexis pushed his hand away as she looked into his eyes. "I'm not the right girl for you. Goodbye, Clark."
"Ali . . . ." The girl held up a silencing finger.
"No!" she mouthed the word more than she said it. "Goodbye." After bending over to kiss her forehead, Clark stood and walked to the door. Opening it, he paused to look back. She was still watching him, tears filling her pretty gray eyes.
"Goodbye, Alexis."
---
END
Let me know what you think of my new story ideas (and what you thought of Krypton-Eyes)! Hope you enjoyed the story! Until next time,
--DreamPainter