Beyond the Sun

12

"Things haven't been right for a while. I can't pinpoint where to start, but things aren't good." Annie said while kicking her legs on the chair. Clark sat down by her side and looked at her patiently. She bit her lip, and looked at him with wide eyes. "My dad's back in Gotham. My mum's not well, and they're in a process of a divorce...only, because of how my mum is, I... we are likely to be split up. We can't afford the bills without my father's income. Any child support he sends is barely enough to keep food in the house." Annie said while placing a hand to her mouth to hide away the sob which was threatening to come out. "My dad's aiming for full custody which means I'll be taken to Gotham...I listened to a conversation they had, before he left, he threatened to get my mum sectioned...she's bipolar, Clark, and has been for years. But what with the accident, and with dad upping and leaving her for another woman, it's too much...she's not here mentally. There's no way she's going to come out of this a winner." Annie said while slowly crying, she wasn't an idiot. Her father had no other reason to leave them other than the fact that he had clearly found an interest in someone else. Be fair, it'd be going on for long enough that her mother just chose to ignore it and bury her head in the sand while everything got steadily worse. "I don't want to go!" She cried out and huddled into herself. "I've never liked this place...but the thought of leaving you is tearing me apart...you're my best friend, you are the only thing which seems to be with the here and now..."

"When was this all happening?" Clark asked while placing a hand on her shoulder and gently rubbing it in hopes to soothe her.

"Last week." Annie said flatly while peering out from her fingers.

Clark stilled and tensed. "Me being how I was certainly didn't help. I am so sorry."

She straightened up and shook her head. "You had pretty good reasons, Clark...I don't hold it against you...I don't know what to do..." She stared dead ahead with hollow teary eyes, she still had tears trickling down her cheeks.

"When do you find out the verdict?" He asked while she slowly turned her head to look at him. "You already have..." Clark trailed off as he looked at her, it'd make sense as to why Annie's words were all so final. "When?" He asked seriously with a frown.

"I've got a month left." Annie said with a heartbroken smile. She looked suddenly to the table and rummaged about until she found the official letter she was looking for. "My mum doesn't know I've read this. Be fair she doesn't know I've read any of these, let alone made sense of it all." She watched as Clark read over it, he frowned as he went on and ended up looking at her. Annie smiled stiffly and shrugged. "I don't know if she's paid any heed to this all. Or if she's ignorant to it. But if she doesn't hand me over, they will get the authorities involved and she will get shipped off somewhere for treatment. She just hasn't taken any medication for a while. She's okay, honestly she is, until she stops...and everything just piled up..." Annie trailed off and wiped her eyes, she sniffled and smiled awkwardly. Shrugging she sighed and put a hand on the one on her shoulder. "We'll stay in contact, it won't be the same...but we're not missing out." Clark thought about it all, he felt empty, he was wrapped up in his own little problems, though they were major problems too, that he had not totally realised the trauma and troubles which was happening to Annie and in her life. "Don't tell anyone..."

He looked up at Annie when she spoke, he shook his head slowly while wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "I would never!" He said while looking down at her, she just looked so void of anything. So, different than the happy smiling girl from moments ago. Clark frowned slowly, she really had been bottling this up for a while, though getting everything into the open didn't seem to help at all. She still looked utterly defeated. Standing up slowly he held a hand out to her, Annie looked at him confused. Yet she stood up and put her hand in his, he slipped his fingers into hers and led her back out of the house. She turned and locked the door before getting a head nodded at her.