Chapter Text
~*~*~*~*~*~
Clark was unloading bushels of apples from the back of their old pickup truck at the weekly farmer's market when Chloe bounced up to him and him dad.
"Clark!" she said, sounding excited. "Guess what!"
Clark, not really in the greatest mood, picked up a bushel basket, then turned and frowned at her.
"Lex was just committed to Belle Reeve this afternoon!"
Clark felt numb.
"...What?" he managed to croak out.
"Yeah -- crazy, right?" she said, eyes shining brightly like they always did when she was sharing what she thought was a really juicy story. "After I saw you yesterday, I ran into some of his staff from the mansion wandering around town. I cornered a couple of them and got them talking, and they said that he'd chased them out, yelling like a maniac, when they'd got in that morning. And then his dad heard about it, and when Lionel finally got back from Metropolis and stormed the place a couple hours ago, they found Lex in the library and he was hallucinating seeing his dead mother--"
The basket slipped from Clark's nerveless fingers and hit the ground.
~*~*~*~*~*~