Heart of Stone

Chapter 25

Lois studies my face with rapt attention, her sharp lavender eyes peeling me apart, layer by layer. I feel like a pinch of bacteria under a microscope. "Do you play football?" she asks abruptly.

"Not anymore." I avoid eye contact and face the window. The Daily Planet looms in the distance, its golden globe towering above the rest of the buildings. It's a beacon of hope shining through the vast city. I sigh. In another life, the only extraordinary thing about me would have been my writing skills. In another life, I might have landed an internship at The Daily Planet, climb the ranks, and become a full-fledged reporter. LadyTruth would be there, living out the dream. In another life, I could have had friends, friends that know the real me.

"Interesting," she muses, her gaze not once leaving my face. It is unnerving. "You carry yourself like a dork, but you have the build of a jock. Why did you quit?"

"Guess it's all the chores on the farm," I shrug, deflecting her question altogether.

"You didn't answer my question," she tilts her head to the side contemplatively. "Football is your one ticket to get out of Geeksville. Why did you quit?"

"I fail to see how that is any of your business." I glare at her.
"Wow," Lois whistles softly. "You must have sucked royally if you can't even talk about the game."

"I did not suck!" I bite out. Far from it. The game turned me into somebody I don't like. "It's complicated," I decide is the safest thing to say.

"I really do not care about your high school soap opera," she says crudely. "That was just a bit of foreplay. What I do care about, is that there's a girl from your hometown in the morgue at MPD."

My ears turn pink at the mention of Bri. "She was a sweet girl."

"Ah-ha!" Lois claps her hands together. "So you do know her!"

"Of course, I knew her," I groan. "Smallville is a small town."

"How small?"

"Shy over three hundred people."

Lois's face scrunches up in disgust. "No wonder you ran away. Probably dying of boredom."

It didn't use to be like that. Before the meteor shower Smallville was a bustling town full of life. Everything changed after that crisis. If I were a little older I could have saved so many people.

"Then you must know what happened to her," Lois continues. I nod. Guess it's too much to hope she'd lose her voice in the next five seconds. "Well?" Lois prompts. "What was she doing in Metropolis?"

"I wish I knew," I say honestly. "It's not like her to skip town."

"Something tells me it's not like Clark Kent to skip town either," she observes astutely. "Are you here to find Bri's killer? That does seem like something you'll do, Smallville. But no," she raises a brow at me, too observant for her own good. "Something drastic would have had to happen for you to leave the safety of the farm." When did this interrogation shift from Bri to me? "So, what did you do? Lose a cow, forget to lock the gate . . . run over the neighbor's dog—"

"You talk too much," I say.

"I'm told it's one of my best qualities."

"What idiot told you that?"

Lois' smile morphs into an ugly scowl. She glares at me murderously. Her curiosity about all things Smallville outweighs her disgust with me."Is it true the Fordmans were all killed in their sleep?" Lois asks. "The founders of Smallville," she clarifies as if there ever was any doubt. "I read about it in Smallville A History. . ."