Cacophony
by Lieta
Disclaimer: This is a fan work based on “Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.” All rights to the characters belong to DC Comics and Warner Bros. No profit was made off this work.
Clark sat in a corner of his room, face buried against his knees, hands clasped tightly over his ears. He was dreading going to school in the morning.
The noise had been building for several weeks now. First it had been the little creaks and various other noises around the farm and Smallville becoming louder. Next, he's started hearing new sounds and sounds from further away.
Here in his room, he could hear the horses's on Mr. Holland's farm two places down. He could hear the pigs Mrs. Hurst, who lived on the farm behind his parents', kept.
He could also hear the cacophony of voices, his parents, the Irigs, Hollands, Hursts, Humphreys, Fishers, and Shusters all whispering in his ears overlapping and competing in an wordless babble.
Clark squeezed his eyes shut as tears tried to squeeze themselves out. Then came a low rumble. Clark's body tightened and he whimpered. This year's crops had grown to the point for the first crop dusters to hit the skies.
There was too much other noise to determine what direction it was coming from, but it was getting louder and louder.
Finally, Clark couldn't hold it in any more and he screamed out in pain.
Over the cacophony in his head, he barely registered frantic hands smoothing down his own. Forcing his eyes open, he registered his mom's terrified face through the sheen of his tears.
Seconds later, he felt his dad's strong arms pulling him to him and he buried his head against the reassuring solidarity of his father's chest.
As the plane's engine started to fade away, other sounds began to drown out the sounds from outside the room.
The pounding pulse of his father's heart with the myriad of sloshing and whooshing sounds flowing through the body his ear was pressed to seemed to refocus his hearing, letting other sounds fade into the background.
"Clark?" his mother asked in a worried voice, "what's wrong?"
Clark sniffled, turning his leaking eyes to his mother's. "I can hear."
Martha frowned. "You can hear? Clark?" She turned worried eyes to her husband.
Clark buried his head against his father's chest without a word.
"Clark?" Jonathon's voice rumbled in his ear. "How can we help?"
Clark sniffled and pulled back form his father, finding himself quickly wrapped in his mother's arms. "I can hear the bees out in Mom's garden, all the animals and our neighbors..."
Martha gasped and pulled Clark tightly to her.
Clark looked straight into his father's eyes. "I can hear everything," he murmured mournfully.
