Who: Clark and his first 'ghost' When: Night of Dec. 17th Where: Pier What: Visitation Rating: PG Status: Complete
--------------
Clark was standing at the docks. It was probably, as the phrase goes, returning to the scene of the crime. He couldn't believe this was about the third time so far that he had gone bad. Of course he knew that each of those times, it was out of his hands, out of his control. There were extenuating and bizarre circumstances that caused it. But that didn't make him feel any better about it. He was tempted to ask people at the Hyperion about magical protection concerning this. But suddenly, a voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Hey, Clark, have you taken care of those fence posts I asked you to do?" He knew that voice. He knew it well. But he had not heard it in several years. As he turned, he saw a middle-aged man with slightly blond hair, wearing jeans and a plaid shirt. No doubt who this was. Jonathan Kent.
"Dad? But.. your heart.." Clark fidgeted, fumbling with his jacket.
The man replied, "Is still in one piece, which is a shock considering all the shenanigans you had so far. Of course it's me. Not possessed, and definitely not Brainiac."
Clark paused, moving closer. "You can't be real. We buried you! I saw you fall.. I was at the funeral.."
Jonathan snorted. "Ohhh, I see how it is! You'd rather I stayed dead? Okay, then. I see how it is now." He started to walk away. Or at least it looked as such.
"No, wait!" Clark appeared in front of him. "Maybe you're alive.. maybe the Powers restored you. But why? Why now?"
"Maybe," Jonathan said with a sigh as he leaned against a board, "I'm here to tell you to stop dickin' around with your pals and get serious. Martha isn't happy about you using her pie recipes for your own ends. She's also offended at your friends about the jokes around that. You know.. the same friends that you keep hurting. You'd be better off leaving them all."
Clark paused, confused. This wasn't right. "But they're only jokes! That's all. We all know it's only kidding around. And.. I didn't mean to hurt anyone. It was something-"
"Don't you dare raise your voice to me, sonny boy!" The man seemed to quickly get up in his face. Almost could smell breath and hay. "Seems like you're always under the influence of something or other. First it was one of those damn Horseman.. I thought I'd raised you to keep hold of that temper. And look what you did to him. Ohh, and then! Let's not forget red kryptonite. Or losing your mind. The firm made you their DOG. And look who almost drowned from that. You were almost a killer."
"It's not.. It isn't like that, I didn't intend.." Clark, it seemed, believed this for a moment. His father was telling him things that he believed deep down, but never talked about. This also was not the way he thought a reunion would feel like. He was starting to feel like trash.
Jonathan stood closer, a glare in his eye. "But it's exactly like that. You're better off without anyone. You're a time bomb, Clark. Or maybe you forget about that time you made your mother lose her baby. You killed it."
"I.. I don't.." Clark shook his head, on the verge of breaking. "No, I was forgiven. I though.. you said, she told me.."
Jonathan huffed. "Like we'd tell you what we thought. Then we couldn't use you to help with chores."
Clark stared at him a moment. Scrutinizing the man he saw. This could not be true. They had been over that years ago.
"What?" The man stared back. "You gonna turn me to dust with that krypto-freak laser vision of yours? Do it. I dare you to do it! But then you'll be just like Lex, like Lionel. No wonder Lex was your best friend."
Clark stepped back in disbelief. "You.. you aren't him. This can't be real." He pushed up, then kept going up into the clouds. And yet, the man he knew as his father was right there. "What the Hell??"
"Language, Clark," the man said. "Such a disappointment. You could have done so much more for yourself. But no, you just make pie and save kittens. And you betrayed the human race by forgetting us, by shacking up with Raya. I bet you'd two have loved to lord your superiority over all of-"
"No!" Clark shouted. "It wasn't ever that. I will never rule over humans. I'm supposed to set an example.. to help those that can't help themselves."
"Ohh, so we're weaklings? That it?? You think we're a leaf in the wind, so the big alien has to save us." Jonathan laughed at that. "You know.. when I think of all the time we wasted on you. There are days when I wonder if me and martha should have kept on driving down that road."
Clark started to descend a bit as he heard those words. They were not very kind. He could not believe this. Yet he had to. He had considered touching him. But then if he passed through, it would man this was not real, and some part of him wanted this to be real. Or if he did use heat vision, and it was not an impostor.. no. He wouldn't take the chance on hurting yet someone else he cared for in this place.
So he flew, his sensitive hearing picking up taunts about how running away is always his answer. But he kept going as he tried shutting it out. He was a blur then. Soaring in a streak of red and blue above the city. But he had reached the city limits and was back on the opposite side as though transported there. He could still smell hay. He started again, faster this time. And then faster. Each time from then on that he was repositioned, he didn't stop, he kept going straight. It must have been at least fifteen or twenty times that he passed upon the barrier. It was about the thirty-fifth time that he slowed to a stop. He looked around, frantically searching around him. The man who had adopted him so many years ago was nowhere to be seen.