6

Clark's POV

Time stood still as I looked down at her. Drenched, her white blood-stained dress clung to her curvy body. Rao, she was perfect. A stray strand of wet black hair covered her right eye, but her left gave her away.

"Let me go… please,"

Her words matched each droplet of water, drowning out their sound. They collided with our bodies, bruising our souls.

"Let me go…"

There was such fear in her eyes …

"...please…"

Crippling fear stared back at me, I needed to get away. So, I ran. Without breaking the sound barrier, I rushed out of my bathroom.

"Shit,"

The cool night air on my bare skin brought me no comfort. Higher and higher I flew until my city was barely a bunch of dim lights beneath me. What matter of underworld kingpin was I, to flee from something I wanted? I claimed myself to be this city's conqueror. I'd boasted that every crime boss inside and outside of Metropolis would fear my name, yet I couldn't take the fear in her eyes staring back at me.

Soaring into the Earth's upper atmosphere, I closed my eyes as the noise below began to bombard my senses. Billions of voices clouded my mind. I screamed into the emptiness of space.

Thump, thump

Her heartbeat was slow and calm. I clung to it until the billions of sounds around me quieted. Finally, peace… I leaned back, falling back down to Earth. I let Earth's gravity guide me. I didn't care where I landed, as long as it wasn't Metropolis.

The heat from reentry felt like a slight tingle. I free fell until I heard a familiar voice. I'd know that cackle anywhere. I stopped and opened my eyes. Looking around, I finally noticed where I'd landed. Yellow wheat fields surrounded me.

"Home,"

I found myself floating in front of a faded sign with letters of wrought iron. 'The Kent Farm'. I laughed. What irony? Of all the places to land, I had to land in front of my old prison. To her, my warden…

"Martha," I said.

The old rickety letter shook as I bellowed my 'mother's' accursed name. The dark days I spent here came flooding into my mind.

The Kent Farm, 15 years ago

Alone. Huddled into one of the corners of the old red barn, I hid behind a bushel of hay. The sound of metal dragging on the ground banged in my ears. I curled myself into a ball and began to pray.

"Come out, 1938!"

My 'mother's' voice echoed inside the barn. Tears welled up in my eyes as they were glued to the dusty floor of the barn. I slid backward, hitting the wall behind me as I heard her approaching. Clink… An old rake hit the ground.

"There you are…"

Before I knew it, she was hovering over me with a green chain wrapped around her fist.

"Tsk, tsk…" she hissed through her teeth. "Did you think I wouldn't find you?"

I shook my head, "No…"

Wack… She swung her fist down releasing the tail end of the chain. It hit me across my face, drawing blood from my lip.

"… No ma'am,"

She said as she swung the chain back across my face.

"You weren't supposed to touch her!" she yelled.

"She loves me," I replied softly. "We love each other, we could unite the families…"

My 'mother' laughed before hitting me again.

"And look what 'your love' did to her, boy," she said. "She saw what you are… a fucking freak…!"

"She kissed me first!"

She rolled her eyes.

"Do you think anyone would believe that 1938?!" she shouted back, hitting me a few more times. "You weren't supposed to do anything until we secured an alliance with them…"

"I tried," I screamed back. "But…"

She cracked the chain down harder; I felt my flesh rip from my bone.

"YOU FAILED!" my mother yelled back at me. "YOU BROKE THEIR DAUGHTER!"

Martha swung the chain, assaulting my entire body. No part of me was spared. Tears fell from my eyes. I didn't know my own strength. Lana broke in my arms as she deepened her kiss. I wrapped my arms around her and… snap… Her body went limp.

"I didn't mean to," I said as I flinched. "It just happened; I couldn't feel…"

"And now she's dead and you've cost me something for the last time!" she bellowed.

She swung the chain, wrapping it around my neck. I began to gasp for air.

"YOU ARE A FUCKING WEAPON, BOY!" she added harshly. "A WEAPON AT MY DISPOSAL! DID YOU THINK SHE WANTED YOU? HA! YOU ARE A FOOL BOY."

The chain burned my flesh.

"She loved me!" I gasped.

Martha got all close in my face. I felt her every breath.

"THEY WANTED YOU TO JOIN THEM," she said with a smirk on her face. "THEY USED HER GINGER CUNT TO GET TO YOU. AND YOU FELL FOR IT, YOU FREAK!"

The Kent Farm, The Present

"No!" I bellowed.

Martha's laughing stopped. I stood alone in front of what was once 'my home'.

"You're gone," I said into the wind. "You can't hurt me anymore…"

I stood in silence, waiting for her haunting voice to reply, but it never did.

"… Because I ended you,"

Her ghost had left me.

*Incoming message: J'onzz*

"You're in Smallville?"

I sighed, "What is it?"

J'onzz paused for a moment.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"Yes," I lied.

I was buck naked in front of my old home, haunted by images of my past. No, I wasn't ok.

"I'll be back in five," I continued.

Again, J'onzz paused before replying. I knew his silence meant he was trying to figure me out. He was one of the few who cared about my well-being. But my mental defenses were up. He couldn't get in; I wouldn't let him. Not for this…

"You know she's been looking for you?"

"Lois?"

I cringed at the thought of my 'wife' looking for me. It meant only one thing; she wanted something from me. And that was never a pleasurable thing.

J'onzz laughed, "Gods no. The Amazonian woman, Diana…"

Her name on his lips made me jealous. Diana, her name, was meant for only my lips to say.

I let out a sigh, "So she can try and kill me again…"

J'onzz scoffed, "Oddly enough she was worried about you. She said that she was sorry…"

"What?"

"Maybe if you didn't run away, you'd know that she…."

At that moment, J'onzz entered my mind. I saw 'her', still standing in my shower. Drenched, she whispered.

"I don't want to leave…"