Work Text:
“Hello, Chloe.”
The small, quiet voice pulls her from her disturbing thoughts and she looks up to find a young girl, maybe nine years old, standing a few feet away. She blinks and glances around, looking for the girl’s parents and it takes her a moment to realize the girl has called her by name.
She smiles. “Do I know you?”
“Everyone knows me,” she says with a shrug, the antennae headband on her head dancing with the movement. She adjusts her glasses.
Chloe pauses momentarily, thrown by the response. “What’s your name? Are you lost?”
The girl smiles and she is taken aback by the need to smile back and illustrate the inexplicable joy she suddenly feels. “I have a lot of names. But I’m not lost. And neither are you. You’re just looking for answers in the wrong places, Chloe.”
The smile freezes on her face. “Sorry?”
“Sometimes all you need to do is ask for help.”
Chloe glances around the nearly empty diner--whose name she can’t recall because at the moment she can’t even remember what little town she’d stopped in for the night--and began to wonder if she’d fallen asleep and started having some really bizarre dream. “Is your mom or dad here?” she asks, feeling uneasy with the intent way the curly blonde haired little girl is looking at her.
“I’m sorry you’re freaked out. It’s not everyday you talk with God.”
She blinks again, sitting back in the chair and staring at the girl in disbelief.
“When you were twelve, you kissed Billy Johnson in the backseat of his parents’ car when they went in to get the pizza. You never told anyone. And you were afraid to write it in your diary because you thought Lois would read it.”
The air left her lungs in a soft whooshing sound, her face paling a little.
“Have a little faith, Chloe. You’re never alone,” she says softly, putting a hand on Chloe’s arm.
Her eyes water. “I don’t want to be a freak,” she whispers.
Little Girl God smiles. “You’re not a freak. You’re just the way I made you--perfect. Everything happens for a reason. You’ll understand soon.”
“So there’s a higher purpose to me being meteor-infected?” she asks uncertainly.
“There’s always a higher purpose. And it’s not an infection, Chloe. It’s a gift. I want you to learn how to use it.”
“The last time I nearly died.”
“But you didn’t.”
Chloe gazes at her for a moment. “I’m no hero. I’m just a sidekick.”
The little girl beamed. “You’ve never been anyone’s sidekick. And you’re just as important to this world as Clark Kent or Oliver Queen. You just have to trust yourself.” She pauses, looks at Chloe intently. “You have to trust me.”
Before Chloe can respond, She turns and heads for the door.
“Wait.” She rises quickly to her feet.
“Go home to your family, Chloe. It’s Christmas Eve.” She waves one-handed over her shoulder without turning around, and then she disappears outside into the cold.
Chloe stares after her for a long moment, then looks down at the table.
It was time to stop running.