Bear Skips Stone, Sends Text

Maya stood at the edge of Pine Lake, clutching her iPhone like it was her last connection to civilization. The party raged behind her—kids from Westside High blasting music, grinding against each other like they were in some low-budget music video. Maya, naturally, was hiding in the shadows.

"Yo, you coming back?" called Jordan, the guy she'd been crushing on for six months. He held out a red Solo cup. "We're doing bears."

Bears. The stupid drinking game where you chugged whatever was in the cup and tried not to gag. Maya's stomach twisted.

"Nah, I'm good," she said, turning back to the water. The lake's surface reflected the party lights—blurry streaks of neon dancing on black glass.

Her phone buzzed. Another Instagram story from Kyle's ex-best-friend's-something-or-other. Everyone was living their best life except her. Maya gripped the phone tighter, feeling pathetic. Why was it so hard to just... be?

Then she saw it—a massive shape lumbering along the shoreline. An actual bear. Like, Winnie-the-pooh but terrifying and real.

Maya's heart seized. The bear kept coming, snuffling at discarded cups and chip bags. It was practically a party guest at this point.

The rational thing: run back, scream, alert everyone.

The Maya thing: stand frozen, weirdly mesmerized. The bear raised its head and their eyes locked. Something shifted inside her chest—this strange, electric recognition.

The bear wasn't here for them. It was just existing, doing its bear thing, completely unbothered by their teenage angst. It didn't care who hooked up with who or who was cool or who wasn't.

It was just... free.

Maya looked down at her iPhone, screen lighting up with another notification. Suddenly it felt like a stone in her hand. Heavy. Unnecessary.

The bear snorted, turned, and lumbered back into the forest.

Maya drew her arm back and skipped her iPhone across the water. One, two, three perfect skips before it sank beneath the surface, taking all her FOMO with it.

Jordan found her five minutes later. "You okay? You missed—"

"Yeah," Maya said, and for the first time in forever, she actually was. "Yeah. I'm good."

The water kept rippling long after the phone was gone, and somewhere in those woods, a bear kept being a bear. Some nights, you just had to let things sink.