Chapter Two

Marcy Gale hated that she had been dragged to Smallville's Middle School Fair. She had begged and pleaded for an entire week to no avail. Her Father was the Fifth Grade teacher and her little brother had just started third grade. As a "treat", Marcy's Mother had allowed Marcy to wander off and spend time with her friends. None of them were there; they had just started at Smallville High and high schoolers found this fair lame.

In a town called Smallville, that was saying something.

Still, Marcy took the ticket and five dollars for a caramel apple her Mom gave her. She munched her tasty snack by the Haunted House, if you could call it that. It was just an abandoned shack that was now a safety hazard the committee in charge of this organization filled with cheap Halloween decorations. It was just one room with the back door leading to a "corn maze". No one could get lost if they tried; it was a one path road that would lead straight to the exit after you followed it. Occasionally through the maze was some sort of cheap prop.

Dumb? Yes. But it was the only reputable thing for a teenager to do being here against their will.

But something was different this year. Marcy was hearing actual screams coming from the cornfield. And those that exited were laughing and paying to enter again?

Marcy skeptically handed over her ticket to enter the Haunted House.

Sure enough, the inside of the shack was decorated cheaply and free of terror. The walls were completely covered in black tablecloths, with painted glow in the dark messages of "Turn Back" and "No Escape" that barely glowed. A cartoon scene of witches around a cauldron was off to the left. Pretty pathetic. There wasn't even smoke from the cauldron.

But in the right corner was a standing scarecrow. It almost looked real; not like the lumpy scarecrows locals made out of stuffed plastic bags and put on their front porches. She could believe this scarecrow had a person inside it.

The scarecrow wore the traditional flannel shirt and jeans, with straw sticking out of the sleeves and around the neck. The head was made from a burlap sack tied off at the neck with a piece of rope. Black paint had been used to draw on dots for eyes and a crooked D that served as a mouth. A straw hat on the head finished the look.

Marcy was about to move on when two other girls came running in.

"There it is! There it is!" They said pointing to the scarecrow.

Marcy threw them a confused look.

"Marcy! Watch it! Keep watching." They grabbed her arms excitedly and kept their eyes glued to the scarecrow.

Marcy did as well, waiting for something to happen and then…it vanished?

A gust of air behind her made Marcy shiver.

"Come on," the other girls said running into the maze.

Marcy had to give the committee that set this up credit. To make an entire scarecrow disappear was impressive. In fact, it was impossible. That is, unless it was just a projection of some kind. Strange; she was so sure someone was inside.

Marcy entered the maze. A straight aisle lined with corn was in front of her. With unsure steps she moved forward with the feeling of being watched.

A rustle in the corn caused her to look left and she saw the face of the scarecrow, the one from the shack staring back at her from between the rows of corn. The two other girls had gone on ahead and she heard them screaming and laughing. Marcy kept walking and then out of curiosity turned around and despite herself let out a strangled scream.

The scarecrow had turned its head and was looking at her.

Marcy picked up her pace and continued walking making the first left turn and bumped into the scarecrow again.

"Can you spare some brains?"

"That's a zombie thing!" Marcy shouted as she jogged ahead. She looked back to see that once more the figure had vanished.

The first right turn and there standing before her was the exact same one. The outfit was identical, right done to the painted face with the sideways D.

"I couldn't get in to see the Wizard."

Marcy made the second right turn and now faced the gauntlet, the long stretch of mud boxed by rows of corn. She looked back to see nothing behind her, but what would she face ahead?

She began to walk forward. One step, then two, then three and nothing was happening. Once she was in the middle, all hell broke loose.

Scarecrows from either side came jumping out shooting at each other with water pistols. Marcy screamed and ran forward, nearly jumping out of skin when something grabbed her ankle.

"Help! Help! My legs! I can't feel my legs," a scarecrow that had been cut in half said. To his left was a pair of jeans filled with straw and three crows were pecking away at the strands.

Marcy screamed, made the final right turn only to trip over her feet as she exited.

She sat on her butt for a few minutes trying to comprehend what had just happened. Then she began to laugh. Getting up, she brushed herself off and rushed off to find her parents.

Marcy was going to need another ticket.

Clark Kent smiled to himself. The afternoon had been a success.

His idea to crash the fair's Haunted House had been meet with skepticism at first. It didn't sound as thrilling as the original tradition was supposed to be. But a few chimed in that they'd do it and the others begrudgingly agreed to give it a try.

Clark divided them into two groups, the one group for the beginning, those who would pretend to be the same scarecrow, and then the group for the gauntlet who would be having a "war" with each other.

"How did you not get caught, Kent?" Some asked.

Clark took the station inside the shed, using superspeed to vanish. "I'm just that fast." He shrugged.

A few times the teachers had come through to see what was going on with the Maze this year, never to see the mysterious scarecrow the teenagers whispered about.

And that was the intriguing part for his teammates. They were not allowed to get caught by the teachers. In time, he heard them laughing and making more and more ridiculous excuses for the war.

"Crows have corn rights!" "Recycle straw!" "Say no to weedkiller!"

Yes, the afternoon had been a success. They had had fun, acted as a team, and no one had gotten hurt.

Clark sighed. It wasn't like they cared about making the Haunted House popular for the first year ever and earning the Middle School a few more dollars. Or that they cared about not jumping a freshman and tying him up for a night of torture.

"Hey, Kent?" Marcus, a junior and the most likely choice of quarterback next year.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for thinking of this. I participated in the Scarecrow prank last year and, well, and I'm ashamed of it. I just wanted to be a part of the team, you know?"

Clark nodded. He knew. He knew all too well. "Maybe you can keep this one going."

"Maybe." Marcus walked off, punching him in the arm as he left.

Clark smiled. Maybe they did care a little after all.

I hope you enjoyed reading this fanfiction. A prank like this seemed like something the people from my high school would have done.