When I returned home, a surprise was waiting for me.
Lana was in the barn.
She’d been waiting for me.
The moment I climbed the stairs and reached her, she turned toward me.
“You weren’t waiting for me outside my house yesterday morning for no reason, were you?” she asked.
“And then you didn’t just happen to show up at the stable either?”
“Hello, Lana.”
I smiled at her.
“I’m very glad to see you.”
“Hello, Clark.”
She corrected herself, apparently realizing she’d skipped something as basic as a greeting.
“But answer me.
You were watching over me, weren’t you?”
“Watching over you?”
I tilted my head slightly.
“There are some interesting marks on the table.”
She ran a finger beside the round ring left by the glass of fruit compote on the surface of my desk, next to the computer.
“There were marks just like these on the railing of my porch.
And the chair had been moved in a strange way.”
She looked at me.
“You sat there all night, didn’t you?”
Damn.
I’m no Stierlitz.
I give myself away over the most obvious things.
What now?
Should I deny everything?
She’d get offended, find something else, and corner me anyway.
That was Lana.
Stubborn.
Once she got something into her head, she wouldn’t stop in front of any obstacle.
“Lana…”
“I went to Greg’s house today.”
She continued her prosecution without waiting for me to respond.
“I got the address from Chloe Sullivan and went there with her.”
Pinkerton in a skirt.
“And there…”
She paused.
“You know what was there.”
She finished the sentence as a statement, apparently reading the answer from my face.
“You’d already been there before us.”
“You knew Greg was going to attack me.”
“You knew.”
“And you saw what he’d done to his mother.”
“And you still came.”
“You saved me.”
“Again.”
She finished her speech just as I came within a step of her and looked down into her eyes.
“You told Chloe?”
My voice was quiet.
“No.”
She answered just as quietly.
“I told her I’d seen Greg near my house and wanted to talk to him about it.”
“Chloe is smart.”
I slowly shook my head.
“She’ll dig.”
“Especially because she doesn’t know Greg is dead.”
“Clark…”
Lana’s voice dropped even lower.
“I found the crowbar.”
She said it almost pleadingly, as though she were asking for mercy.
“He flew a long way into the field, but I found it.”
“It was bent.”
“Everyone has secrets, Lana.” Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
I sighed heavily, but I didn’t look away.
“Some are very difficult to keep.”
“They burn you from the inside.”
“Do you really need this?”
“Clark, I…”
She started, then stopped.
After a moment, however, she continued.
“I overheard your conversation with Whitney.”
“You said something beautiful about being yourself if you’re going to stay with someone.”
“And will you stay with me?”
I asked so quietly that my own voice almost disappeared.
At that moment, my heart was beating so hard it felt as though it might jump out of my chest.
“I want to be with you!”
She answered immediately.
“But I have to know.”
“Otherwise, I won’t be able to.”
“You already know.”
I looked into her eyes.
“You talked to Chloe.”
“She showed you the Wall.”
“You found the crowbar.”
“You saw Greg.”
“You simply don’t want to believe what you’ve already figured out.”
“Show me…”
She whispered the request.
Without taking my eyes from hers, I struck the barn wall beside the window with my straight index finger.
My finger punched through the wooden board as easily as a construction nail gun driving a nail through soft material.
Then I slowly pulled it back out.
Lana struggled to tear her eyes away from mine and look at the wall instead.
She watched as my finger emerged from the hole I’d made.
“You…”
She looked back at my face.
“I’m very strong.”
I swallowed.
“I don’t know exactly how strong.”
“I’ve never reached my limit.”
“This…”
She whispered.
“This is incredible…”
She had finally reached her fairy tale.
She’d found it hiding beneath the bushes in the neighbor’s garden.
“Are you ready to keep a secret like this?”
I asked wearily.
“Isn’t it too heavy for you?”
There was no point pretending anymore.
The secret was already out, and there was no way to take it back.
All I could do was avoid telling her anything else unless absolutely necessary.
“I’m ready, Clark.”
She said it without passion, but with determination.
All right.
I’d believe her.
I’d try placing my peaceful life on zero.
Trusting a girl with your life.
It sounded romantic.
It was also terrifying.
“And I’m fast too.”
“Very fast.”
As I spoke, I held out a bouquet of wildflowers I’d managed to gather in the space of a single second.
A gust of wind stirred her beautiful, flowing hair.
“This…”
That was all she managed to say.
“And this…”
I handed her the flowers.
“If you combine the first thing with the second…”
I punched the barn wall again with my finger.
Then I began moving it back and forth at incredible speed, gradually pushing upward.
The air around my hand filled with tiny splinters, almost like dust, while the hole became a narrow slit roughly twenty centimeters long.
And all of it happened faster than a human eye could follow.
Lana swallowed nervously.
“Do you understand why I showed you that?”
I asked sadly, an endless melancholy in my eyes.
“Not really.”
She admitted it honestly.
“Everything about me is that strong too.”
“And everywhere.”
I swallowed.
“My finger is just the simplest example.”
“It’s awkward to talk about things like this…”
“Everywhere?”
Her eyes widened like saucers.
“And…”
“And there too?”
“Exactly.”
I nodded and immediately turned red.
Lana turned red too.
“But…”
“But…”
“I’m only just learning how to control my strength.”
“Everything around me seems so fragile.”
“Everything and everyone.”
“I…”
Lana interrupted my rambling explanation.
“I understand what you’re talking about, Clark.”
She touched my cheek with the hand that wasn’t holding the bouquet, then gently stroked it.
“We’ll figure something out.”
“Together.”
“Together?”
I repeated the word softly, almost afraid to believe what I’d just heard.
“Together.”
She smiled.
Then she kissed me on the lips.
Afterward, she pulled away and licked her lips.
My own face must have looked absolutely ridiculous.
And happy.
Very, very happy.
Then…
Well, what else could have happened?
We spent a long time kissing.
A very long time.
The sky darkened and filled with stars, but neither of us had enough of the other.
Naturally, I wanted more.
But neither she nor I was ready for more.
Eventually, I walked her home.
We kissed again outside her house.
Then, finally, we said goodbye.
I went back to my own home and worked for a while.
Without much enthusiasm, honestly.
My thoughts kept getting tangled, constantly wandering back to what had happened.
Still, I completed the amount of work I’d planned to do.
That mattered too.
In my dream, I flew again.