Birds… Kara was fascinated by them. Even after being at the planet Earth for weeks, she still found herself looking up the sky watch them play or haunt or whatever they did. They didn't have birds on Krypton. The first time Kara saw one, she screamed. But she learned they weren't dangerous and now she rather wanted to befriend them. Although that would not be possible.
It was the way they got to fly free, she thought. Especially since the Danvers family made it really clear for her that she was not allowed to use her powers. She wasn't allowed to fly. Yet she could, and seeing the birds use their power of flying freely, made Kara dream that maybe she wasn't so alone after all. It was a farfetched thought but she couldn't help but think that the birds were also aliens trapped on the earth, given the ability to fly. This was most certainly not true, but the thought was comforting.
Every day, Kara would spend her recesses on the small beach close to the school. It wasn't as big and didn't quite have as many birds as the one where they had been when Kara saved the baby and woman from the car. If she had to be honest, Kara preferred the smaller one. The birds who were, were friendlier. These circled closer to Kara. If she stood really still, they would come up to just a few inches in front of her.
"You are so cute," she would tell the birds. "If I could I would bring you food every time I came here. I'm so sorry I can't. I am not allowed to," she said while taking a big bite of her peanut butter sandwich. The bird looked at her with big black eyes which made Kara's stomach twist and she forced herself to finish her sandwich before even thinking about giving the rest of it to the bird.
"You are pretty lonely too, right?" Kara said to the bird. "I know. Maybe you have your family somewhere. I don't… My parents died. It's a long story. And it happened far away from here."
"Alex! What on Earth is your sister doing? Is she talking to that bird?" The best thing about the beach was that it was pretty far from where the rest of the students used to be, so Kara could pretty easily ignore the outside noise, but sometimes it just caught her ears and then it was hard to shut it out again. And Alex came running.
"KARA!" The bird flew away from Alex's fast movement.
"Alex, you scared it."
"Kara, stop it! Everyone is staring at you."
"I'm sorry," she said, making herself as small as possible when the others caught up on them.
The mocking flew from six different mouths. It was hard to keep up with what each was saying. Their voices were so loud in her head that she had to fight with all her being not to cover her ears.
"Why can't you just act normal?" Alex's voice cut through the sound of the other teens. Kara wanted to ask Alex how she was supposed to behave normally when no one would teach her how to. She wanted to tell all the other peers to stop staring and mind their own business but she could't find the courage.
"Alex, I am sorry."
"Yeah, you should be," said a girl Kara thought was named Evelyn.
"I seriously don't get the deal with her," Rick whispered to Alex, thinking Kara wouldn't hear it.
Piercing through the many voices like a sharp knife was a sudden loud and high pitched alarm that Kara was not familiar with. It was so sudden and so loud that Kara couldn't help but cover her ears in agony. Now that their voices were muffled, the peers' eyes said it all. Kara was eager to get up and further from the judgement and the screeching alarm.
Kara wasn't sure where her legs were taking her. Just as she passed the school building, the bell ringed, calling the students in after recess but Kara kept running. All the noise, all the judging and not understanding haunted Kara down the street to what she hoped was her way to the Danvers' house.
"Hey!" Alex's voice filled with anger and embarrassment. "Kara stop!" But Kara did't stop. She could hear her sister panting behind her. Her breath was strained and she kept spitting as she went. Kara was just too fast for her and she didn't even use her super speed.
"What is actually wrong with you?" Alex said when they finally stopped at the big house they lived at.
"I'm sorry," Kara peeped again.
"Stop saying that all the time! We are in so much trouble right now! For leaving school."
"I left. You didn't have to."
"Yes I had to. Mom would kill me if anything happened to you."
It wasn't the first time she'd felt this way since she arrived at the new planet. Guilt. Guilt over coming in to this house, turning the world on its side for her adoptive sister. Maybe she would be better off without her.
She kept to herself the hours following. The bench behind the house where Jeremiah first had given her the glasses was quiet with a beautiful view of the ocean. Today the sun was really warm so the birds sang extra much. Other than that, there was not much noise for a regular human. For Kara it was a little more than that. It was sound from the ocean and cars on the roads further from the house. That was as calm as it could get and it was peaceful.
In her fantasies, her parents sat with her at the bench. Kara would teach them all sh had learned so far about the planet. She would tell them about birds and trees. She would show them the bird table where she and Jeremiah used to put out food for the small animals surrounding the house. And they would all be welcomed into the Danvers' house. Because they would all have escaped Krypton. They would be a family of six. Stronger together.
Kara wasn't aware that she fell asleep on the bench, before Jeremiah woke her up. She was in the middle of a dream where her and her mother went to feed the birds near the school. In her dream she was allowed to. Her mother enjoyed it just as much as she did. Her father stayed behind to build an even bigger construction for the animals to eat on.
"Hey Kara, dinner is ready," Jeremiah told her in what was her real life. "We made it earlier because we figured you hadn't eaten in one and a half hour."
"Could I talk to you for a minute?" Kara jumped. She hadn't noticed Alex went up to their room after dinner while Kara helped doing the dishes. She nodded, even though she'd rather just get her school books and go outside and do her homework.
"Mom was mad at me for you running away from school." Alex said. If it was anger or sadness in her voice was hard to tell.
"I didn't mean to get you into any trouble. I'm…"
"No don't, Kara. I already told mom I am sorry."
"You? But how?"
"It was not cool to let them mocking you. Mom told me how much you have to deal with. And even if you hadn't gone through all of this, it's still not okay to be mocking you. You're different, Kara. But you are nice to people."
"It's hard, you know…" Kara admitted, breaking a long silence that had occurred between the two girls. "I can hear everything. Not only people talking to me. But other conversations. I hear people in the hallways during class. The cars and even the ocean when it's windy. I am sorry. The alarm that went off today was so loud in my head. And I couldn't concentrate on all the people talking to me at the same time. I know I need to learn to control it. And I will."
Without even realizing it, the feelings took over her entirely. It was the first time she cried in Alex's presence. As shocked as Alex must've been over the sudden emotion overload, even more surprised became Kara when she felt her adoptive sister's arms around her. It was awkward but comforting. Neither of them were sure what to do next. Kara didn't dare to hug back, she didn't wanted to hurt Alex.
The moment was groundbreaking for the girls. It was like a lightbulb lit up in Alex and she couldn't possible be embarrassed or angry at the alien coming into her home. Kara felt relief when she was able to explain how different and visible everything was in this world. She was shocked to learn that Alex hadn't found out about the lead in Kara's glasses that suppressed her vision. The older sister wanted to know everything about it but it would have to wait until all of their homework were done.
"Please help me with this," Kara begged, struggling to memorize the assignment she had gotten. "There are seven continents on Earth… We live in America. Which is an English speaking country. But is Europe also a country where they speak English or is that London? I keep forgetting."
Alex couldn't help but laughed at her sister's eager to learn. She was so excited about it that she often jumped steps ahead and mixed stuff up.
"Europe is a continent and London is the capital in England, where they speak English, yes. You've been doing that for hours, I think you're done for today Kara."
"Only one more and I'm done, I promise."
"One more and we'll get down to get something to eat," Alex smiled.
"Wait, this one is about penguins. Did you know they're birds who can't really fly? Can I please just answer this one as well?"
"On Krypton it was so different. We didn't have this yellow sun and we definetly didn't have sunsets like this," Kara told Alex later that night when they were sitting on the balcony eating their evening snack.
"Then you should wait until it gets really dark," Alex said happily. When the sky its clear you can see the stars really clearly."
"My aunt used to teach me stars on Krypton," Kara said. "Are they different here?"
"I think so. If you want we could watch them tonight and see." They smiled at each other.
"I'm sorry for not always understanding you, Kara. I will be more like a sister for you from now on. Can you forgive me?"
"It depends," the younger girl said. "Will you start to teach me all I want to know about Earth from now on?"
"I promise," Alex said. "And I will show you how to get close to the stars without ever getting harmed. Look at this," she said and pointed to a large object Kara wasn't familiar with. "Have you ever used a telescope before?"