Shadows of the Past (R )

**autumngold** · 11th November 2004, 02:26

I agree with Chloe about Lana!! Why does she get away with everything? Thank you so much for this chapter that shows Lex thinks of Lana as a sister, how I wish that was true on Smallville!! Incredible update!! Post more soon please!! :yay: :chlexsign3: :yay:

**tiger04** · 11th November 2004, 03:08

oh, please write more soon. I love this story. I can't wait to see where this is going.

AT

**hfce** · 11th November 2004, 04:16

Oh this is getting so good. :clap:

Hope

**FroggyJump** · 15th November 2004, 15:11

Very interesting, the dreams have me hooked, can't wait for more.

**Kit Merlot** · 16th November 2004, 20:51

A/N: I owe everyone an apology. Yes, I was influenced to write this story from The Grudge, but also by two great Chlex stories, Journey’s End by Tigerbaby and Until We Meet Again by Catheryne. I’m sorry that I didn’t mention that in my initial disclaimer. Also, a huge shout out to my parents for providing me with accurate historical information. Lastly, thanks to my excellent beta newbatgirl, and for all the kind reviews. You guys are awesome!

Chapter 3

“Today, Emma and I were out in the garden, picking flowers to set at the dinner table. We were heading back towards the porch steps, when I noticed it. Or rather, Emma saw it, and hid her face in my skirts. My little girl is very brave, but even she quakes at the sight of a dead cat. It wasn’t that the cat was dead, but that it appeared to have been almost mutilated…”

~~~

The journal haunted her.

Chloe would go to bed each night, determined not to read it, and yet, before she’d even realized it, she would have it clutched tightly in her hand, eager to read the next entry. She would not only smile at Megan’s quaint writing style, but she would often be amused at her stories.

It was more than evident that Megan had a gift as a storyteller, and to Chloe, that made her a kindred soul.

It was that feeling of kinship that made Chloe want to find out whatever happened to Megan. Her last journal entry was November 6, 1920. There was nothing else after that, and Chloe felt a profound sense of loss. Did Megan and Daniel have more children? Who had been watching her? What happened to Emma?

Chloe had far too many questions, and not nearly enough answers. So, she decided to launch a full-scale investigation, Chloe Sullivan style.

Her dreams had become connected to the journal so that Chloe couldn’t remember what had been written, and what she had dreamed. So, she began by going through the journal, entry by entry, and cataloguing all of information that she could find about the Todd’s. She even used Megan’s own words to form the outline.

Megan Casey Butler, to her mother’s chagrin, and her father’s amusement, was not a demure little miss, content to stay at home, and bake pies. She was a city girl, having been born in Metropolis, and her family moved to Smallville when she was eleven.

Her father’s family still liked in the city, so she was able to visit and get a taste of the real world. Her mother blamed those visits to Metropolis for enforcing her independent nature. Megan’s father said that every Butler woman was spirited.

Marriage didn’t slow her down, either. Megan was active in the suffragists movement, and she was even part of a demonstration in Metropolis that took place in front of the courthouse.

And she cried tears of joy when the nineteenth amendment was ratified on August 26, 1920. The citizens of Smallville were shocked when she demanded her right to vote for the town’s mayor. The only people not scandalized were her father and husband.

She would box anyone’s ears that questioned her love for her family. She was a devoted wife to Daniel Todd, and a loving mother to their 2-year-old daughter, Emma.

Daniel and Megan were married in May of 1917, and Emma was born a year later. A day did not pass that didn’t find Megan grateful for her kind and loving husband, and their beautiful little daughter.

Daniel’s story was a tad bit more harrowing than Megan’s. Daniel had been wounded on the battlefield during the Great War, and was recovering in Metropolis when his father sent him out to the country, so he could get some fresh air.

His father was afraid that too much time in the city would expose him to tuberculosis, and he figured Smallville was the perfect cure.

Mr. Todd was an investor in the railroad, and he sent Daniel to oversee the construction of the railroad line running from Smallville to Metropolis. Daniel was going to stay with cousins from his mother’s side, a family by the name Fordman.

Coincidently, the Butler’s and Fordman’s were neighbors, so Megan and Daniel met the first night of Daniel’s arrival. The pair met and were instantly smitten with each other.

Chloe paused in her writing, and contemplated asking Mrs. Fordman if there were any family members left who might remember the Todd’s. Chloe knew that Mrs. Fordman was finally getting her life back on track after the deaths of her husband and son. Chloe didn’t want to cause Mrs. Fordman any unnecessary grief; so visiting her would be a last resort.

About midway through Megan’s journal, her tone began to change. She started to write of nightmares, and feeling watched. She often mentioned being followed, and her belief that her rooms had been searched and her clothing gone through.

Megan also seemed fearful for her daughter, as though she knew some harm would come to her. Her last entry was frightening in its brevity. Megan wrote that she was scared of a mysterious “he,” a man that Megan knew but refused to name.

It was that final journal entry that had Chloe filled with such dread. Megan seemed hopeless, as if she knew that nothing could be done to help her or Emma. There had been a couple of instances where she had tried to confide her fears to her husband and her parents, but all three told her that she was overreacting, and letting her imagination run away with her.

A common explanation was that she was just nervous like all first time mothers. No one even considered the thought that the threat to Megan and her daughter was real, and that she was not hysterical.

Chloe couldn’t say for sure that Megan wasn’t making the whole story up. But she did know that if her dreams were anything to go by, Megan had been terrified.

Chloe would often wake up, her heart pounding from the effort to run away from the nameless man. Chloe wished that Megan had written down whom she was scared of, but she seemed to think that even her journal was no longer safe.

Chloe put her pen down and considered her options. She needed to get into the archives of The Smallville Ledger, which had been in circulation since 1895. Unfortunately, the newspaper was still a bit behind the times.

The staff still hadn’t converted their old editions to microfilm. Chloe would be literally going through stacks of newspapers, and looking for specific dates. She decided to run the Todd’s names through The Daily Planet archives, to see if anything popped out.

It didn’t take long for a series of articles to appear, all dating from November to December of 1920.

Chloe clicked on the link to the first article.

Her face drained of all color when she read the first sentence. Her stomach dropped and her hands started to shake. Chloe had to reread the article five times before it made any sense. And even then, she still couldn’t believe what she had read.

It just wasn’t possible, especially after everything she learned about the Todd’s marriage from the journal and her own dreams. The article was wrong. It just had to be.

*****

An excerpt from The Daily Planet

“Daniel Todd, the son of Metropolis Railroad Magnate Michael Todd, was arrested yesterday for the stabbing death of his wife, Megan, and the drowning of their daughter, Emma, two years old."

**asharnanae** · 16th November 2004, 22:22

:huh: Damn, now thats a twist! great stuff, MORE!!! :yay:

**newbatgirl** · 17th November 2004, 00:52

Hee-hee. I love this. I love the way you wrote the passages about the past.
Your attention to detail is inspring, my dear.

I also love that Megan was a suffragist!

:

Keep this good stuff coming!