ch
5
Thanks to SVCG.
Martha sat up in bed and looked at the digital clock on the nightstand next to her. Its digital numbers displayed 12:00. Why wasn't Clark home? It wasn't like him to stay out like this. He never stayed out past his curfew, she didn't know why he didn't call if he was going to be late. She looked over at Jonathan who had fallen asleep looking at a Farm Catalogue.
She gently nudged him gently, "Jonathan, wake up. Wake up."
Jonathan groggily opened his eyes. "What … What time is it?"
"Its midnight Jonathan."
"Why aren't you asleep?" Jonathan said slowly waking up.
"I'm worried."
Jonathan, now fully awake, repositioned himself so that he could comfortably talk to Martha. "What's worrying you?"
"Clark's not home yet and my mother's intuition is telling me something is just not right."
Jonathan looked at Martha and saw the worry etched on her face but tried not show any worry in return. "Has he called?"
"No," Martha answered, shaking her head.
"Do you think we should call Gabe and see if Chloe made it home?"
"Not until we know that there is something that we need to worry about."
"Okay, where do you think we should start to look for him?" Jonathan said, beginning to get out of bed.
"He said that he and Chloe were going to see a movie, so I think we should start there."
Jonathan drove the old truck towards town while Martha scanned the road for any sign of Clark. He reached out a hand and gently rubbed Martha's. "I'm sure he's fine and is going to have a very good reason for not coming home." He tried to convince her of that even though he also felt that there was something wrong.
Suddenly Martha screamed, "Jonathan stop!" Jonathan quickly stopped the truck and looked at Martha was looking at. Illuminated by the truck's headlights he saw Clark laying face down on the sidewalk. Jonathan's face paled at the sight. Martha yanked the door open as Jonathan threw the vehicle into park. They ran over to their son's prone form.
"Jonathan, what happened to him? Is he….okay?"
Jonathan leaned down toward Clark. "He's breathing… slowly."
Jonathan tried to see if there was anything around that he would need to move to help his son. The only thing he saw was a dart laying nearby. He looked and saw a small stain on the back of Clark's shirt. He carefully placed the dart in his pocket.
"Come on, Martha. Help me get him in the truck." Jonathan placed one arm around his shoulders and Martha did the same. But, Clark's height made it where he was more being dragged than carried back to the vehicle. As soon as they got him inside the truck Martha began to stroke Clark's hair, "Oh, baby." She couldn't help but notice how clammy he felt to her touch.
After they got Clark inside the house, they gently placed him on the couch. Jonathan tore the shirt to see what kind of wound Clark had. He saw a very inflmmed hole that was rimmed in red with dark green lines extending out from it in every direction.
"Jonathan, what do we do?" Martha asked very worried.
Jonathan laid Clark down flat on the couch. His breathing hadn't changed any yet. "I don't know. We may have to wait it out."
Martha noticed in the light of their house how red Clark's cheeks were. She bent down and felt his forehead. "Jonathan, he's burning up."
"Maybe, that's his body's way of getting rid of the poison." Jonathan said, trying to grasp for answers and someway to comfort his wife and himself. "Go get a cold bath cloth and I'll get some dressing to put over the wound."
Martha came back with the bath cloth and when she placed it on his forehead she realized that Clark was shaking. Small tremors seemed to be running throughout his whole body. Martha wanted to cry at the helpless feeling she felt not knowing what to do to help. So, she began to slowly rub Clark's arms as if to force the tremors away by sure will. After several minutes, the tremors seemed to subside.
She stood up and walked over to Jonathan and he wrapped her up in his arms as she began to cry softly. "Shhh… Martha." Jonathan replied soothingly. "Clark's a fighter. He's going to be just fine."
