“To put it plainly, Mrs. Sanderson,” the doctor told her, “your daughter is very lucky to be alive. If two of her classmates hadn’t been close enough to hear her voice, they might not have found her in time. Those caves underneath the woods go on for miles and they aren’t very well mapped. Experts get lost in there; I hate to think of Sarah’s chances.” He smiled absently at Sarah, sitting on the edge of an examination table, wrapped up in a blanket. She stared at him; too weak to even manage a grin. The entire ordeal was still a blur in her mind; she remembered waking up briefly in an ambulance, then Clark was pulling her out of the cave… No that wasn’t right, she thought tiredly. Clark, then the ambulance, and then the hospital. She remembered the nurses working on her, trying to clean out the dust blocking her lungs. Then the doctor had taken a look at her. Clark had pulled her out then, no, that was wrong she reminded herself. He’d pulled her out before, why couldn’t she get it straight in her mind? He’d pulled her out, then…

“He winced when he grabbed me,” she mumbled to herself. Immediately she started to cough severely, her throat burning from the irritation.

“What’s that, Sarah? Speak up, are you alright?” her mother asked quickly, staring at her. She was a somewhat plump woman with lank brown hair. Her mascara was a black smear down the corners of her eyes. “Oh, is she going to be alright?” she wailed aloud, reaching to hug Sarah, then thinking better of it and simply holding her own arms tightly.

“She’ll be fine,” the doctor promised her. “She had a bit of dust and dirt in her throat, probably from the fall. Those caves are rich with a kind of crystal that shatters easily, I’m afraid. She breathed in some of those fragments is all, that’s what has her throat so irritated.”

“Can’t you get them out?” her mother asked.

“Oh, they’re not worth the trouble, Mrs. Sanderson,” the doctor assured her. “They’re completely benign in nature, and they won’t damage her throat severely. She might be a little hoarse for a few days, but that’ll be it. In the meantime, I’d keep her on soups and other liquids for at least a few days, and she’ll be fine.”

“Can I go now?” Sarah asked dully, wrapping the blanket tighter around her. Her throat still burned when she talked, but it was a little better now. If she could just get warmer though, she thought, shivering.

“Yes,” her mother agreed, “I’d really like to get her home, her father’s so worried about her.”

The doctor sighed and glanced at his chart quickly. “I’d really like for you to stay another day,” he said slowly. “You’re running a bit of temperature and some of your vitals are still a little odd, but that’s probably just the shock fading off. Just for observation, you understand.”

“Please,” Sarah pleaded, “I’ll be alright. I just really want to go home now.” The doctor glanced up from his chart, shaking his head, and Sarah thought he’d disagree. But then, suddenly he seemed to shiver a little, and he blinked his eyes rapidly, as if he was trying to clear them. Then in one smooth movement, he switched from shaking his head to nodding along with her. He smiled down eagerly at her, his eyes bright, if a little unfocused.

“Of course you can go home,” he said to her, making her mother’s head come up immediately. “What I said earlier, that was just the nurses’ concern you know. I didn’t agree with them at all,” he told her.

“So she can home?” her mother asked eagerly. The doctor nodded amiable and she threw her arms around Sarah. Wrapped up in her blanket, Sarah couldn’t return it, even if she wanted to. She was too busy noticing how quickly the doctor had changed his mind. When her mother let go of her, she snaked her arm out from under the blanket and rubbed her throat lightly. It felt strangely warm to the touch.

Martha Kent heard the front door swing open behind her as she was mopping up in the kitchen. “Hi, Clark,” she called over her shoulder. “You’re a little late today, aren’t you? How did the hike go?” she asked, turning around when she started, seeing that Clark wasn’t alone. Lana stood beside him, both of them still carrying their backpacks from the hike this afternoon. “Oh hi, Lana,” she said quickly. “I didn’t see you there.”

“Hello,” she said quietly. Martha frowned at her, noticing how pale she seemed. Clark looked worried as well, she realized.

“What’s wrong?” she asked quickly. “You two look like you almost had an accident driving over here.”

“Not us, Sarah Sanderson, Clark told her quickly. “She was walking behind us in the woods when she fell into a cave.”

“Oh my god,” Martha said. “Is she alright?”

“She’s fine,” Lana said. “We managed to get a rope and pull her out. She’s at the hospital now.”

“Thank heavens.” Martha frowned again, thinking back for a moment. “Isn’t her father Bill Sanderson, the lawyer?” she asked. Lana nodded. “I thought I remembered her. She’s such a nice girl, so quiet though. We used to baby-sit her, you know,” she remarked.

“What?” Clark asked, surprised. He’d never heard that before.

“Oh, you probably wouldn’t remember,” his mother said. “You both were only about four at the time. They used to have a home not far down the rode. Then her father’s practice picked up and he moved them into a bigger house at the other end of town.”

“Huh,” Clark remarked. “I don’t remember that at all.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Well you were both little,” she shrugged. “I’ll have to call her mother,” she decided. “Make sure she’s alright.”

“Well, I’ve got to be going,” Lana said. “Nell wants me to clean up around the house today, and I’ve still got the invoices from the Talon to go over.”

“If you need any help with them, you can always come over here,” Clark offered her.

“Thanks,” she smiled. “But trust me, if I did bring them over, you’d hate me after an hour.”

“Never happen,” he said. She smiled a little broader at him, and then turned to go.

“See you tomorrow, Clark, Mrs. Kent,” she called back over her shoulder. Clark waved her goodbye from the door as she climbed into her car and pulled away. When he turned around again, his mother was looking at him with a tiny, knowing grin.

“What?” he asked her.

“Oh, nothing,” she remarked, going back to her mopping. He watched her for a moment, his face troubled.

“There’s something else I wanted to tell you,” he spoke up quietly. “Where’s Dad?”

“He had to pick up some parts for the tractor uptown, why?”

“It’s about Sarah,” he said. “What Lana didn’t tell you is that when I pulled her out of the cave, she was covered in green dust.”

“The meteor rocks?” He nodded. Martha put her mop aside and sat down in a chair. “Well, did she seem alright when you pulled her out?”

“She was unconscious,” Clark shrugged. “I couldn’t really tell.”

Martha shook her head slowly. “I hope nothing happens to her,” she muttered.

“Me too. So many other people have gotten hurt because of them. Or because of someone changed by them. The last thing we need someone else popping up with new powers.”

“Sarah?” her mother called through her door. Reluctantly, Sarah peeked her head out from underneath her covers. It was only 4:30 she saw with irritation. As soon as they’d gotten home from the hospital, she’d been hustled upstairs by her mother with a bowl of chicken soup and strict orders to go right to bed. As much being sent to bed in the middle of the afternoon would have normally upset her, now she was almost grateful for it. Her entire body felt like one big bruise, and her throat kept burning any time she so much as whispered. Sleep would have been just the thing, but she just couldn’t manage it for some reason.

“What is it?” she rasped through the door. She rubbed her throat irritably, feeling the itch burn its way back up her neck.

“You’re friend, Chloe’s here,” her mother called up to her.

“My friend?” she grumbled to herself, but opened her door anyways. Chloe was standing at the foot of the landing with her mother. When she saw her, Chloe smiled at her brightly and started up the landing.

“Sarah, I was so glad when I heard you were okay,” she told her, moving past her into her room. Sarah frowned as Chloe plopped herself down on the bed, then shut the door behind her and climbed back into it, trying to pull the covers up to her chin. Chloe was sitting on part of them though, and so they only came up to her waist. She gave them a few tugs to see if Chloe would notice, but she was too busy pulling notebooks from her backpack. “So how are you feeling?” she asked.

“My throat’s a little sore,” Sarah rasped. “Other than that, I’m okay, I guess.”

“That’s great,” Chloe said. She glanced down at her notebook and then held it up for Sarah to see. “I hope you don’t mind, but I wanted to do an article about the accident in the school paper. Is that alright?”

“Fine,” she muttered, rubbing her throat again. “I can’t talk long though,” she muttered. “My throat…”

“Oh, what happened to it?” Chloe asked, starting to take notes.

“It’s nothing,” Sarah protested. “I just got a bit of dust in it, that’s all.”

“Well that good. Now,” Chloe said, looking intently. “Do you remember what happened when you fell?” Sarah hesitated and glanced away from her. “It’s alright, you can tell me.”

“You’re probably going to think I’m nuts,” Sarah muttered.

“If you’d seen half of what I’ve seen this past year,” Chloe laughed, “you wouldn’t think so. You’re going to have to come up with some pretty outlandish to shock me here.”

“Okay,” she said. “When I first fell in it was all dark, I couldn’t see anything. Then there were these green-“ Her door opened suddenly, making both of the girls jump. Sarah’s father walked in without knocking, looking particularly irritated. He had a stiff, rectangular face, severe looking on good days, harsh on others. Instantly, Sarah could tell that this would be one of the others.

“I thought you had more sense than this, Sarah,” her father sighed, looking pointedly at Chloe. “I’ve told you before about talking to the media.”

“The media?” Chloe laughed.

“Daddy!” Sarah yelled, her voice scratching its way out. “I had the door closed. This is my room!”

“It’s my house,” he reminded her. “And yes, Miss Sullivan, I do consider you ‘the media’.”

“But it’s just for the Torch,” she said, holding up her notebook.

“And how many other newspapers have you had articles printed in? I know you’re going to be working for the Planet this summer.” He glanced at his daughter and rubbed his forehead. “Sarah, we don’t need any stories about your accident until I decide what we’re going to do about it.”

“What we’re going to do about it?” she repeated, incredulous. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, whether we intend to sue-“ he stopped short, glancing back at Chloe. “We’ll discuss this another time. Now tell your friend to go.”

“But Dad…”

“No buts, Sarah,” he yelled at her.

“But…”

“Listen, Sarah,” he started, “when I tell you to do something, I expect you to do it. I’m only watching out for your best interests after all. What would you or your mother do without me here to take care of you? You could have been killed on this trip, this unsupervised hike over ground that turns out not to be stable. What would have happened if you-“

“Dad,” Sarah yelled finally, “just be quiet!” And like that, his mouth snapped shut like a trap.

It would hard to tell who was the more surprised, Sarah or Chloe. Chloe stared at the now mute Mr. Sanderson. Her notebook fell out of her hands, but she didn’t notice. Sarah sat in shock, looking at her father. He was the least disturbed of any of them. His mouth was shut, but it was smiling as he glanced between the two of them. “Daddy?” Sarah’s voice wheezed out. He looked at her brightly, but didn’t say anything. “Daddy, are you alright?” He smiled and said nothing. “Please, Daddy, answer me,” she pleaded.

“Why I’m fine,” he said suddenly, making them both jump. “Is there anything else you need, dear?” he asked, concerned. He seemed fine now, better than fine in fact. He smiled down at them happily.

“No, everything’s okay,” she said slowly, her mind racing suddenly. The same thing had happened to the doctor in the hospital she remembered.

“I can go if you want me to, Mr. Sanderson,” Chloe spoke up. He turned to look at her, blinking suddenly like he was waking up from a dream.

“Oh, right,” he said, trying to focus. “Yes, that would probably be best,” he told her, his voice gaining back some of its gruffness. “It’s nothing personal, of course, it’s just that I’d really like to decide what our stance is going to be on this incident before I talk to any sort of newspaper.”

“I think she should stay,” Sarah said firmly, watching her father’s reaction carefully.

“Well if you say so,” he agreed happily, his face breaking into a smile again. “I’ll be downstairs going over some documents from work. Or better yet,” he thought, “why don’t I cook you up some of those cookies you like so much, Sarah. How would that be?”

“Dad, you don’t know how to cook,” she reminded him.

“I’ll learn then,” he shrugged. “Anything to make you feel better, honey.” He turned around and started towards the door. One more test, Sarah thought. One more test.

“Dad,” she said, trying to make her voice sound as sweet as possible. “Could I borrow the car tomorrow?”

“You can have it, sweetheart,” he corrected her, pulling out a set of keys. “I mean, it’s high time you got your own, don’t you think?”

“No, not that one,” she said, seeing the keys he was holding. “I want the good one, the Mercedes.” Chloe’s eyes bugged out when she heard this. Her father smiled and pulled out another set of keys.

“Whatever you want,” he told her, tossing her the keys. She caught them automatically, her mind almost numb with a flurry of emotions. “Now, why don’t I start out on those cookies, huh?” he said, leaving and shutting the door behind him. Chloe stared at the keys in Sarah’s hands, her own almost shaking.

“My God!” she breathed out finally. “Does your dad do 180’s like that all the time or is today special?”

“I think it’s very special,” Sarah whispered, staring at the keys.

“No, I’m serious,” Chloe said eagerly. “You have him wrapped around your little finger. God, I am so jealous,” she laughed. “I bet you could make him do whatever you wanted.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Sarah said, closing her hand around the keys. “Anything I wanted,” she wondered out loud. Her eyes went wide at the possibilities.