Safe and Sound (Part Twelve)
Prologue | One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine | Ten | Eleven | Twelve | Thirteen | Fourteen | Fifteen | Sixteen | Seventeen and Epilogue
Chapter Twelve
Feel like I was a hero
Feel like I was a zero
“I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Chloe smiled as she carried another box into Marty’s apartment.
He smiled at her, his eyes twinkling. “I’m so glad you changed your mind.”
She paused in her steps. “This doesn’t mean I’m not gonna be friends with Clark.” Her voice was quiet, serious.
“I know.” He sighed softly. “I’m sorry I asked you to choose. It was unfair and out of line.”
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Yeah, but you realize that, so…everything’s okay.”
He moved over to her and wrapped his arms around her. “And you’re moving in with me. We’ll have plenty of time to figure things out.”
Chloe smiled, hugging him back. “What do you say we celebrate?” she asked mischievously.
He grinned. “What exactly do you have in mind?”
Her grin widened and she simply winked at him, then headed toward his bedroom.
Chuckling, he quickly followed.
* * *
“Where are you going?”
Chloe glanced up from where she was setting boxes outside what was soon to be her former room to see a vaguely familiar red-head she knew lived down the hall. She tried to remember the girl’s name. “Oh, I’m moving in with my boyfriend, actually.”
A flicker of some untold emotion crossed the girl’s face. “Oh.”
She smiled. “What’s your name again?”
“Sarah,” she answered, looking at all the neatly stacked boxes. “Where are your friends?”
“Oh, uh…they’re at home for the weekend, actually.”
“Where’s home?”
“Smallville. You heard of it?”
“No.” Sarah shook her head. “I’m from Wichita.”
“Really? My friend Pete lives there. Pete Ross.”
“Sorry, it’s…a pretty big place.”
“Right, of course.” Chloe smiled. “I’m actually from Metropolis originally but we moved to Smallville when I was in eighth grade.”
“Who’s we?”
“Me and my dad,” she answered.
Sarah let out a breath, and looked at her. She started to say something when a voice called, “Chloe! Are you about done!”
Marty’s voice made her smile and she turned toward the end of the hall. “Yeah, just about.” She turned to glance at Sarah once more, and her eyebrows furrowed when she realized the girl was gone. “That’s weird.”
“What’s weird?” he asked, picking up one of the heavier boxes.
“I was just talking to one of the girls from down the hall and…she just left.”
“Huh.” He shrugged. “Maybe she had somewhere to be.”
“Yeah. Maybe.” Chloe frowned a little, rubbing the back of her neck. She was used to Clark making quick exits, but this one left her feeling unsettled. And she had no idea why.
* * *
On Monday morning, Lana entered the dorm room that she shared with Chloe and flipped on the light. What she saw made her stop dead in her tracks. Chloe’s half of the room was completely empty. Everything was gone--her bedspread, the wall of weird, all of Chloe’s pictures. Her heart pounding quickly, she hurried over to the closet and yanked it open only to find that all of her clothes were there, but all of Chloe’s were gone.
Her eyes wide, she moved to sit down on the edge of her bed. Her cell phone rang but it took her a moment to realize that’s what it was. She slowly pulled it out of her purse and looked at the caller ID. Swallowing hard, she pressed the phone to her ear, and when she spoke, her voice shook. “Clark?”
“Hey, Lana. I hope I didn’t wake Chloe up calling this early.”
“Um, no. You didn’t.” She bit her lip.
There was a pause. “What’s going on?”
“Chloe’s not here.”
“She doesn’t have class this early.”
“No, I mean…all of her things are gone, Clark. She moved out. Or someone moved her out.”
“What?” The alarm in his voice echoed that which she was feeling at the moment.
“I think you should come up here,” Lana whispered.
“I’m on my way.” The phone line went dead.
Lana swallowed hard, slowly sliding the phone back into her purse and looking around the semi-empty room worriedly. She just hoped Clark wasn’t too late.
* * *
“Where is she?” Lois pushed past Lana and stepped into the dorm room, looking around and seeing her cousin’s side of the room stripped to bareness.
“I’ve been trying to call her all morning, but she’s not answering her cell,” Lana told them.
Clark’s adrenaline was nearly through the roof. He could’ve been there hours ago, but it would have been too suspicious for him to show up right after calling Lana. Besides, Lois needed to be there, too. She was, after all, Chloe’s closest relative. But that didn’t make his frustration subside even a little.
“Do you think she might have gone back to Uncle Gabe’s?”
Clark shook his head. “No, I don’t think so.”
Lana swallowed hard. “She mentioned that Marty asked her to move in with him.”
The room fell silent other than the loud ticking off Clark’s watch.
“Why didn’t you say something before now?” Lois demanded.
“She said she was going to tell him no.” Lana bit her lip. “Why would she do this? Just up and leave without telling anybody?”
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Lois said, shaking her head. “She would have called one of us.”
“Maybe not. She hasn’t really been herself lately,” Lana said softly.
“Are you looking for your friend Chloe?”
The three of them turned to see a pretty red-head standing in the door.
“Who are you?” Clark asked.
“My name’s Sarah. I live down the hall.”
“Have you seen Chloe?” Lois stepped forward.
She nodded a little. “She said she was moving in with her boyfriend.”
Clark gazed at her intently, taking note of the worried look in the girl’s eyes and wondering what that was about.
“Do we know where this Marty guy lives?”
Lana glanced at Lois. “I have his phone number written down somewhere.”
“He lives in the apartments for students just off campus. 23B,” Sarah spoke up, causing all three of them to look at her once more.
“How do you know that?” Lois asked suspiciously.
Sarah’s eyes widened just a bit. “Oh, we used to hang out occasionally.” She shrugged. “I have to get back to studying.” Without another word, she turned and left the room.
“That was weird,” Lois commented.
* * *
“I’ll get it,” Chloe volunteered as she headed to the front door.
“No, it’s okay. You’re busy. I got it.” Marty smiled at her and she returned the smile and headed back into the kitchen where she was fixing spaghetti. He opened the door, still smiling as he found himself faced with Chloe’s cousin and friends.
“Is Chloe here?” Lois didn’t waste any time.
“Yeah, she’s in the kitchen. Come on in,” he said, standing aside.
Lana managed a faint smile and followed Lois while Clark remained in the living room with Marty.
“I don’t know how you convinced her to do this,” Clark told him, his voice low and filled with warning. “But if you’ve done anything to hurt her, so help me--”
“Down, boy,” Marty said with a smirk. “Chloe wanted to move in with me. I didn’t make her. She’s a big girl.”
His jaw clenched.
* * *
“Chloe?”
“Lois?” She quickly turned to see her cousin standing there. “Hi!” She went over and hugged her, grinning. “What are you doing here?”
“No, I think the question is, what are you doing here?”
“I’m making dinner, actually. Spaghetti.”
“Since when do you cook?” Lois shook her head in disbelief.
“Good to see you, too, Lo.” Chloe rolled her eyes, and then her smile faded a little when she spotted Lana. “Hi. Look, I’m really sorry about…I should have told you I changed my mind. I was planning on calling later tonight.”
Lana tried to smile, but it came off as more of a grimace. “What did make you change your mind?”
She shrugged a little. “Marty makes a case, what can I say?”
Lois folded her arms across her chest. “Well, you’re moving out right now,” she said firmly.
“Excuse me?”
“Chloe, you’ve only known this guy, what? Like…a little over a month? And you’ve moved in with him?”
“It’s been almost two, and so what? At least I didn’t drop out of school,” she said defensively.
Lois was more than a little caught off guard at her cousin’s remark. “You are not yourself.”
“No? Then who am I?” she demanded, shaking her head.
“I don’t know. But you’re really starting to scare me.”
* * *
“What’ve you done? Brainwashed her?” Clark asked darkly, glaring at Marty.
“I didn’t need to. She loves me. And I love her. Why does that bother you so much, Kent?” Marty shook his head, folding his arms across his chest.
“Because I don’t trust you,” he said evenly.
“That’s not my problem.”
“I’m making it your problem.” Clark held his gaze.
Marty smirked. “I get it. Let me guess…your girl’s not giving it up and you’re jealous that some of us are luckier in that department than you are.” Before Clark had a chance to reply, Marty shrugged. “You have to go for the blondes. They’re much more likely to spread ‘em than those brunettes.”
“You sick sonofa--”
“You should see her face when she’s begging for it, Kent. It’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. And those tits--”
Something inside of him snapped and Clark punched Marty hard in the face, sending him sprawling backwards onto the ground and crashing into the coffee table.
“What the hell is going on?” Chloe, Lana and Lois emerged from the kitchen, all three looking shocked to see Marty lying on the ground. “Clark, what the hell did you do?” She quickly dropped down beside her boyfriend, staring at Clark accusingly.
“Chloe, this is not the right guy for you. He’s--”
“Get out!” she shouted.
The room went dead silent.
“Chloe, I really think we should talk about this,” he started.
“Clark, get out right now. And don’t come back,” Chloe said harshly, turning her attention to Marty’s bloody nose.
Swallowing hard, he stared at her for a moment, then turned and left the apartment.
“You guys should go,” she told Lois and Lana. “I’m gonna take Marty to the hospital.”
“No hospitals,” Marty said gruffly, wiping his nose.
“I’m not leaving.” Lois folded her arms across her chest.
Chloe looked up and glared at her. “Is this what you came here for? The three of you? What is it with you guys? I’m finally happy and you guys just can’t stand it, can you? Get out. And don’t call me. Just leave me alone. Leave us alone.”
Lana and Lois both stared at Chloe and after a second, Lana put a hand on Lois’s arm. “Come on, she needs to cool off,” she whispered.
“Don’t think you’re getting away with this,” Lois said darkly, glaring at Marty, who smirked. “I’ll be back.” She looked at Chloe. “Whether you like it or not, I’m your cousin. And this guy is screwing with your head.” Without another word, she turned and stomped out of the apartment.