Food. She needed to eat something.
Cara dug through the piles of garbage loaded in the restaurant's dumpster. This was the fourth, maybe fifth, time she'd searched around in one and she still couldn't get used to the revolting smell. The seventeen-year old did her best to block out the odors. She pushed stray locks of brown hair behind her ear and continued her hunt for anything edible.
The money her father had given her only lasted about two weeks. When the cash dwindled down to about fifty or so dollars, she had lost that precious amount. Cara still hated herself for not better protecting her money and staying more alert. She would have teleported but she wasn't consciously aware of the robbery. Even though the thief had escaped with the money, she was glad that was the only thing they did. Her fingers stumbled onto a wrapped up item. Without hesitation, the hungry girl undid the papers to reveal an untouched burger. It didn't look too old. She gave it a sniff for good measure but the dumpster's stench overpowered the hamburger's scent. She decided just to pray over the food and hope for the best.
"Can you hear me?"
The brunette nearly dropped the food out of her hands. Instinctively, she ducked to obscure herself inside the trash. She didn't know who was talking or where they were but she did know that she didn't want to find out. Especially since it was the voice of a man.
"You don't have to hide," The disembodied voice continued, "I'm not going to hurt you." How was the man's voice so clear to her? It didn't make any sense. She peered at the half-eaten burger in her grip. Nothing really made sense lately. How was she even able to hear? Deaf people don't just magically gain their senses back.
"Who are you?" She spoke in a voice barely above a whisper. Cara wasn't entirely sure if the voice could hear her or if it could understand her words. She still couldn't speak perfectly normal.
"I'm someone special. Just like you, Cara."
"How do you my name?" The question was shouted.
"There's no need to shout. Haven't you noticed? I'm speaking inside your mind."
Great. Now with all the horrible things happening this was a bonus. It was official. She was going insane. The best thing now was to not respond to the ghostly sounding speech anymore. Slowly and with shifty eyes, Cara bit into the burger once again.
"It's not nice to ignore people."
If it wasn't for the hand muffling her scream, the loudest sound known to man would have screeched out from the girl. Before she got any ideas, the blond man in front of her moved his hand and held a finger to his lips.
Panic was racing through Cara's mind. It was like prom night all over again. She had to go. She had to run. But where could she run in a dumpster?
"I told you I'm not going to hurt you if you would only listen."
She didn't have to run. She could try to fight.
Cara used the terror flowing through her veins to pulse out telekinetic energy from her hands and shoved the man to the side of the dumpster. Without a glance back, she teleported but only managed to move herself to the parking lot behind the fast food joint.
And he was there as well.
"No!" She tried to tear away from him when he grabbed her wrists. Her efforts were futile. She couldn't work up the energy to fight back or vanish from his sight. "Leave me alone," she fell to her knees and he came down with her but with a more gentle motion, "leave me alone!" She repeated the phrase over and over untill her voice began to crack and fade. Now only tears poured and stained her already ruined blue sweater. It was going to happen this time wasn't it? Just like Tyler had tried, this stranger was going to take advantage of her.
Her lithe form was unexpectedly wrapped into strong muscular arms that held on tightly. She struggled momentarily in the warmth but soon let the man hold on without a fight.
"I told you I'm not going to hurt you."
She continued to cry, dampening the shoulder of his black jacket, as he soothingly rubbed at her back. It seemed reluctant, but the man pulled back from her, his stubble brushing against her pale cheek.
"My name is John. And the reason I'm here, is to help you, Cara. I know what you're going through. The powers and not knowing what to do with them. I want to help you with that."
Cara simply stared into the stranger's, or John's, strangely calming blue eyes. She tried to get some words out but all that came were more tears when she buried her face in the tall man's chest. And he held onto her untill she couldn't cry anymore.
A.N.- John mentioned in one episode that he rescued Cara. I believe he said he found her eating out of dumpsters, so this is how I think that played out. Obviously, I think she was a scared and timid girl but John helped crafted into the strong woman we know now.