CHAPTER 4
LOCATION: CLARK'S BARN
TIME: 12:07
WARNING: SOME THEMATIC ISSUES AND MILD LANGUAGE

Clark sighed heavily and sat down. His barn was filled with so many memories of him and Lana, both good and bad. He thought back to the first time that Lana came up to his loft. She had just returned from an event with her first boyfriend, Whitney Fordman. She looked beautiful. Her long, black hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail. Her makeup was subtle and light, but just enough to make her glow. Her cheeks had a rosy pink tint, and her lips were lined with a soft red lip-gloss. Clark just wanted to spill his heart to her at that very moment. But her boyfriend was an all-star at the high school, and he was also Clark's friend, so he couldn't just do that to him. So Clark continued to keep his feelings for Lana inside of him. And it KILLED him. Clark remembered when Lana saw the telescope in Clark's loft. She noticed it was turned towards her house. Clark smiled at the memory. When he was younger, he used to just stare at Lana while she sat down on her porch at night while looking at the stars. She looked so beautiful, that Clark would watch her for hours, until her Aunt Nell called her in, or whenever she got too tired. The thought of her gave Clark tingles down his spine. He had always loved Lana Lang, and he always would. However, it was too hard to let anyone in when his secret was such a huge burden.

Clark was afraid that if Lana knew the truth--that he was an alien, she would see him differently. I mean, how could she not? There were only three 5 people in the world that knew Clark's secret: His mom, his dad, Kyla, Alicia and Chloe. His father had died of a heart attack not too long ago. Even his mom was struggling with the burden of Clark's secret. Now that she had no one to share with it about, she had to keep it locked up inside of her. Clark felt terrible about that; I mean his mom already had enough to worry about with his fathers' death. She didn't need something else bothering her! Kyla had died due to her own problems. It killed Clark, because Kyla was one of the ones that really made Clark feel comfortable when around them. Alicia had exploited Clark and his secret, and had been murdered. Now, Chloe and his mom were the only people alive with his secret. His mom and Chloe had had enough brushes with death though. Clark was constantly worrying about them and it was hard. A tear came down Clark's cheek. He cared for Lana way too much. If anything were to happen to her, he would never, EVER be able to forgive himself. Clark was so frustrated; he didn't know what to do anymore. He screamed into his pillow, and then lied down on his couch.

Just then, Chloe walked up the steps and into the loft. "Hey, Stranger," she said with a small smile. Clark sat up. "Hey Chloe." He said. Suddenly, Clark burst into tears. Chloe rushed over to Clark and cradled his head in her lap as he cried. "Clark, what's wrong?" she asked. "Chloe, I can't take this anymore." Said Clark between sobs. "It's too much for me to handle! My father died, Lana and I are barely talking, I am always worrying about something, I don't know what the hell happened to Professor Fine and I had to quit school!" Clark covered his mouth trying to keep himself from crying, but he couldn't. Clark continued crying. Chloe gave him a long hug. "Listen Clark," Chloe told him. "I know right now it's really hard. You have faced SO much in the past few weeks! With your father's death, adjustment to being more in charge on the farm, worrying and growing apart from Lana…it's a lot to handle! Even for a superhero." Chloe leaned out of the hug but held Clark's hand. "Clark, I still know you are going to make it through. You are the strongest man I know." Clark sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah right, I am sure other people have done WAY more than I have." Chloe sighed. "Clark, that's not the point! Remember in third grade when Tina Greer got her foot stuck in the rims of the staircase at my house? My dad wasn't home at the time, and everyone was panicking! But you Clark…you were the only one who was in total control. In fact, you were the one telling everyone it was going to be okay! You are a true hero Clark, and you always have been!" Clark smiled slightly. "Still, I have this feeling that if I reveal to Lana who I really am, it will put her in horrible danger! Either that, or she will just avoid me." Chloe breathed in deeply. "But Clark, if you let her go to Lex, who in my experience is the Dark Side—you are already losing her!" Clark bit his lip. "I guess I never thought of it that way." Chloe smiled. "Yeah. Sometimes you just need a journalist's point of view, right?" Clark smiled and Chloe gave him another hug. Clark smiled. "Right. Thanks, Chloe. You're the best." Chloe smiled a toothed grin. "I know." Clark gave Chloe a kiss on the cheek. He then grabbed his axe and supersped into the woods to go chop some more firewood. Chloe rolled her eyes jokingly. "God, I wish I could do that." Chloe smiled and got into her car. She then drove away towards Metropolis.