Present Lives

“Where is he?” Jonathan and Clark both ran into the hospital seeing Luke* in the waiting area.

“What’s going on? Where is he?” Jonathan asked.

“Surgery, they said he’s lost a lot of blood. The bullet hit him in the chest, close, but not to close of a range, if they can stop the bleeding they think he’ll be ok,” Luke* told Jonathan.

“Clark what happened!” Jonathan looked at him.

“That’s what I want to know,” Luke walked up to where Jonathan, Clark, and Luke* were, followed by Jesse and John.

“Yes Mr. Kent, what happened,” the sheriff walked up behind them.

“I don’t know, I was hit from behind, I went looking for my dog, my Uncle here said he saw him heading down the road, so I went to look for him. When I found him he was hurt, I was about to pick him up when I got hit from behind,” Clark explained, “they held me at gun point and made me walk to a cave nearby,” he continued, “then I got sick, felt sick, I fell to the ground, after that I’m not really sure what happened.”

“Do you know who they were, and how many is they,” the sheriff asked.

“Two… and I didn’t know them, I didn’t really get a good look at them, I’m sorry,” Clark lied.

“We’ll be in touch Mr. Kent,” she said walking off.

After she was out of the hospital, away from them Luke looked at Clark, “what really happened.”

“I don’t think we should talk about it here,” Clark said.

“Well we’re going to,” John said, “so tell.”

“Did you shoot him?” Jesse asked.

Clark was taken back by the question, “what? No!”

“Clark would never shoot Bo*, he wouldn’t have to,” Jonathan said.

“They were in a cave full of those green rocks, maybe Bo* made him walk in there, and Clark didn’t have a choice,” Luke* said.

“No! I didn’t shoot him!” Clark said grabbing Luke* by this shirt.

“It’s ok son, I know you wouldn’t,” Jonathan went up to Clark, “let him go, he’s just trying to understand what happened,” Jonathan added.

Clark starred at Luke* before letting him go, “it was some guys named Rodney and Lewis.”

“Rodney and Lewis!” John exclaimed, “what the hell were they doing here? Why would they want….”

“I don’t think they meant to. Bo* before taking off from Hazzard held the Lewis guy at gunpoint, they came after him, probably followed you guys,” Clark looked at the boys, “Rodney told Lewis to tie Bo* up, and that’s when things got crazy, Bo* grabbed Lewis and held him in a headlock. Told Rodney he’s snap his neck if he didn’t toss the gun down, Rodney put it on me, told Bo* to let Lewis go or he’d shoot me.”

“You should have let him! Its not like you can get hurt!” John said.

“I could, in that cave, I was on the ground, in pain, couldn’t move,” Clark said, “Bo* told him to go ahead and shoot me, it didn’t matter to him,” Clark replied.

Jonathan looked disappointed to hear him say that Bo* said that.

“They were both trying to bluff each other, Rodney won, he was about to pull the trigger and Bo* threw Lewis and jumped in front of me,” he told them.

Jonathan couldn’t believe what he heard.

“They freaked out, Rodney said it wasn’t suppose to be loaded. Lewis got scared, told Rodney they weren’t suppose to hurt anyone, not like that, and then they ran. I pulled myself over to Bo*, tried to stop the bleeding but I passed out. He saved my life, and I don’t know why,” Clark said walking off out of the hospital.

Jonathan had tears in his eyes, and had to walk away from Luke and the boys, he went after Clark.

“What’s wrong with your cousin,” John asked.

“I think he thinks he might have finally gotten what he wanted to so bad,” Luke said.

“What? Bo* dying in a hospital room because he was stupid enough to throw himself in front of a damn bullet!” John said angrily.

“No, Bo* giving them a chance, and caring,” Luke said.

Jonathan found Clark outside leaning against the truck.

“Clark,” Jonathan walked up to him. Clark wouldn’t look at him, so Jonathan grabbed his face, one hand on each side and turned Clark’s face towards him, and held it there, “it’s not your fault.”

“I could have stopped them, before we got into the cave, I didn’t want them to see me use my powers, I thought if I went along with them for a bit I would have a chance to stop them without them seeing me use my powers, but they took me to the cave, and before I knew it, I couldn’t,” Clark explained.

“It is not your fault,” Jonathan hugged Clark, and Clark hugged him back. As Jonathan held him in a hug, Clark broke down.

“Why did he do it,” Clark asked, “I hate him, he hates me, why did he do it, I don’t understand.”

“Because no matter what, your brothers,” Jonathan told him, “you might hate each other now, but still care, whether you want to admit it or not.”

“I don’t! I won’t!” Clark pushed his dad away.

“Clark….” Jonathan was surprised.

“I can’t, he almost killed you,” Clark reminded, “he almost killed himself and his cousin because he wanted to hurt us!”

“That was without his medication Clark, I know you don’t want to believe it, but…”

“No!” Clark then disappeared. He took off in super speed away from his dad and the hospital.

“CLARK!” Jonathan shouted, “come back!”

Jonathan sighed, he was torn apart. One son undergoing surgery, and another son running off confused, and scared, and his wife suffering from something he didn’t know how long she could last like that.

“Jonathan!” Luke ran out, “its Martha!”

Jonathan’s heart fell like it had just broke into pieces.