"Alexandra!"
The use of her full name was truly a curse, especially when it was uttered from her mother's lips. Alex was certain that it never sounded so ugly coming from her father's mouth or really from anyone else. Her name was Alex. She didn't know why her mother insisted on calling her Alexandra. It didn't matter that that was the name on her birth certificate. For as long as she could remember, she was always Alex.
"Alexandra!"
She didn't respond. She stayed huddled and hidden. Alex just hoped that her mother would calm down and leave her alone. Ever since Kara had arrived and began living with them, she swore her mother had had it out for her. She had never been mean or argued with her so much until Kara joined their family.
It was hard to hate someone who was so kind and bright as Kara. The girl was always apologizing whenever Alex got into trouble for something...and in all honesty, she just didn't understand exactly how Earth worked most of the time. That was hard for Alex, though. She'd worked so hard not to stand out, not in the way she did now. She was the girl with the weird adopted sister. No, she'd worked hard to be just visible enough that the cool boy she liked at school knew her and invited her to the beach. Her parents were always telling her that she had to look out for Kara and to make sure that she was protected.
Alex was only fourteen.
It was a hefty weight for her to carry.
"Alexandra Danvers! You answer me this instant!"
She didn't.
She couldn't.
Hiding in the closet, she closed her eyes and tried to think of the times when she and her mom had been in a better place. She knew that it wasn't all because of Kara, but maybe that was just amplifying her mother's upset with her. When she was younger, maybe eight...she remembered a time that both of her parents were so proud of her. About how they used to tell all of their friends about her...doting on her...and...it was just happier then.
The door was flung open and she looked up at her mother. She looked half frantic. It took her mother a moment, but then she was off. Words spitting out a mile a minute about how disappointed she was in her that she didn't walk home with Kara and how Kara wasn't even home yet. How her dad was out looking for her 'sister'. Alex knew that if she told her mother the truth, that the boy she liked had wanted to walk with her...and Kara joining them would have been awkward (in more ways than one)...then she knew it was going to really hit the fan. "You're supposed to watch her, Alexandra! Make sure she's-"
"She's thirteen!" Alex shouted back.
"She's not from this planet!"
Alex groaned. "How long is that going to be a pass for her?!" She shot up to stand on her own two feet, her hands in fists at her sides. "She's smart! She can figure it out! She's probably not even lost!"
"That's not the point, Alexandra!" her mother scolded firmly. "She's your sister!"
"She's not! I've only known her for a few months! She's weird!" Alex spat back. The words felt so horrible coming out of her mouth, but she was mad. She didn't want to carry the weight of being her sister's keeper. Watching over a little sister was something she was supposed to grow up learning how to do...and to perfect pushing their buttons. This was something that was thrust upon her and she just-she wasn't ready-and she didn't know how to sister this alien adoptive sister she had. "No one asked me if I wanted a sister! No one asked me if I wanted to share my room! Or my school! We have other rooms in this house! There are other schools she could have gone to! You could have home schooled her!" It was all just building up. It was hard to keep it all inside. The more she spat out whatever bubbled to the surface, it felt like a tiny bit of weight came off a little at a time. She just couldn't handle the weight anymore. "Why do you hate me so much?!"
Alex just stood there, fingers balled into fists, and hot fury boiling inside of her. Her mother just seemed to soften at that. It was like she'd been blasted by the heat that Alex felt like she had inside of her. "Alexandra...I don't hate you," her mother said gently. "I couldn't hate you. You're my daughter…"
"Now you have another daughter," Alex countered, still angry.
Silence.
"Maybe," Eliza finally spoke up. "But Alex...I will always love you longer than Kara. Nothing is ever going to change that."
It didn't calm the fire inside of her and Alex realized that even though some of that weight had been displaced, another weight had taken its place inside of her. Maybe it wasn't about Kara...maybe it was about her mother and her relationship. Maybe it was just them growing apart...whatever it was...it left a weight.
The End.