Earth was still so strange. Breathing in through lungs. Blood pumping through her. Ambient noises everywhere.
Even familiar voices carried a different weight here in the real world. No more electronic echo. They felt more pure, more emotional. Odd and Ulrich laughing, Jeremie talking to her, asking how she was doing.
The shrill noise of the bell ringing, the clatters of chairs and books as students got ready for class.
Jeremie handed her a copy of the text book showing her where the proper page was. They were in the middle of the school year, more than halfway through the book already. The paper was glossy and smooth under her fingers, text combined with pictures staring back at her. Some were bolded, though for what reason she had no idea.
A black and white photo of a man standing in front of a large concrete structure caught her eye. He held a sledgehammer in his hand, as did others. The scene looked violent, dangerous. What was he doing?
A West-Berliner hitting a section of the Berlin Wall next to the Brandenburg Gate on November 10.
The caption didn't reveal much. Though she didn't know the context, and while it looked dangerous- at the same time, something about the picture made her feel... joyful. Hopeful. Why?
Something stirred in the back of her mind. Information bubbling to the surface, like the videos that she watched to learn about the outside world. About the world she now lived in.
But this was different. How, she couldn't explain. Almost like nostalgia.
Brown hair with slivers of grey, brushed out of his face. Glasses, like Jeremie's. The image was tiled slightly, as if she was looking up at him as he towered over her. The man smiled down at her, patting her head. He then raised the object in his hand, looking out at the others in the room.
In that same rough, imagined voice as the caption, the man started speaking. "The Berlin Wall has fallen. My friends— my comrades, today we're one step closer to freedom and safety. Our job is far from over, but it's one step closer to being realized."
The image moved, looking out at the crowd. Various smiling faces filled the small room, holding glass cups in the air. Everyone was dressed finely, in suits and dresses. They cheered, filling the room with shouts of joy and hope.
The image moved back towards the man. A woman was standing near him, her hand on his shoulder. She cleared her throat and clasped her hands behind her back, commanding attention. "While this is a celebration, we need to make sure that you all know this means that they aren't going to stop. They might to stop us even more now. They're going to get desperate, they're going to take more risks than ever before. We've only survived this long by being careful. Don't let your guard down yet."
And then she raised her own glass, the smile returning to her face. She looked down at the little girl standing next to her, squeezing her hand. The smile faltered for a moment, tears in her eyes.
The same couple stood in the kitchen later that night. A quiet conversation, in between picking up wine glasses and rinsing off plates. The girl wasn't supposed to still be awake, but she was so excited from earlier, so she sat at the bottom of the stairs, listening to them argue. The joy from earlier turned to confusion again, and fear.
"—you know exactly why I said that. Because it's true.
"You can't just hide away and pretend that they are just going to give up. You can't do that to this family. We need to make sure that we're ready for whatever is going to come next. They know who we really are. They know that we defected. I don't know what we're going to do.
"If we're not careful, we're going to end up just like the Degners, is that what you want? Hunted down by the KGB? Getting killed, leaving her all alone? Kidnapped, shot at— taken from her somehow? It's not like either of us have family she could live with after we're gone. I wouldn't put it past them to just shoot her to keep from having a loose end to tie up. I want to help others, I want to save the world just as much as you do. But I'm not going to some fool who risks her family just because the damn Wall fell."
The man walked over to her, setting the glass down and clutching her hand. He ran his fingers through her hair, speaking softly. "We're going to be fine. We made it out. They can't do anything to us. They're weak, they're broken-"
"They're desperate. And that makes them more dangerous than ever. We can't just slide by anymore. We need to decide what we're going to do to keep ourselves safe. This is a cold war but it's still a war. They can and will kill us. We can't risk forgetting that fact."
"Mme. Stones!" The teacher spoke, yanking her out of her head. The picture lay before her, printed on the book. The words. The smooth desk was cold under her fingers.
Jeremie was looking at her, concerned. She looked back at him, just as confused as he was.
The teacher asked her a question. She answered.
The memory was pushed aside, wholly forgotten in the blur of the rest of the day. Her first day on Earth. The first day of her new life.
"You sure do have a lot of wars here."