Chloe pressed down on the accelerator and felt her car surge beneath her. She was merging onto the desolate highway, beating the rush hour traffic. As she was changing lanes she felt a vibration shoot through her hip. She took her hand off the wheel to slip her cell phone from her pants pocket. "Hello?"
"Miss Chloe Sullivan?" A nasal voice said on the other line.
"Speaking."
"This is Melissa Conrey from The Daily Planet. I was just checking to see if you had received the message we left for you last night."
Melissa Conrey was The Daily Planet intern program supervisor. "Message? What message?" She briefly pulled the phone from her ear; there in the corner of the display was a blinking icon, below it saying, you have 2 missed calls. "Um no, I must of missed your call. I was out of town last night. Bad cell reception out here."
"Oh. Well I contacted you last night to see if it was possible for you to come in and work this evening. I know it's your day off, but one of the other interns called in sick with the flu, and we are running a little short handed. "
"Oh of course. Whatever you need."
"Great. I'll expect you in around 5. Good day Miss Sullivan."
Chloe hung up and remembered she had a dinner date with Clark. "Well its dinner, not a date". She said to herself. She felt bad that she would have to bail on him, but he knew how important The Planet was to her. And tonight they needed her. Clark had told her there was something important he wanted to share. She had no idea what it could be, but figured whatever it was could wait. "Unless?" Her mind began to go to a dangerous place. A place where Clark was seated across from her, holding her hand and telling her that he loved her. And then he would lean in and..."No!" She reprimanded herself. She knew she had to stop the fantasizing; it could only lead to disappointment when inevitably Clark would tell her how he wanted Lana back. Thinking that his important revelations had to do with her was unwise. There were so many times in the past where she thought he had gotten over Lana. And she was wrong every time.
She couldn't risk another broken heart. No, whatever it was would have to wait. As she went to throw her phone onto the passenger seat, she remembered she had missed two calls. "Two calls? Who is the second?" She hit the menu button and accessed her voice mail. The first message was The Planet, from the night before. The second call was logged it only fifteen minutes prior. It was Lana. She hit listen and held the phone up to her ear. There was nothing for a moment, and the reception sounded crackly. Then she could hear Lana's voice. She sounded distressed.
"Chloe. It's Lana. I need help. I don't know who else to call. It's Lex. He's gone. They've taken him. My God, Chloe."
Then there was silence, followed by dial tone.
