Charged

Maya's iphone was her lifeline, even out here. Two bars, tops. The farm was supposed to be 'character-building,' according to her mom. Mostly it was just miserable.

The drama back home was peak BS—her ex-best friend spreading rumors, ghosting her texts, then posting stories acting like nothing happened. Classic toxic behavior. Maya had been staring at her screen all morning, refreshing like her life depended on it, when the sky went weirdly dark.

The barn. She needed to check something in the barn. Her uncle had mentioned it earlier, but she'd been too busy doom-scrolling to really listen. Now the first drops of rain were hitting, and something about the air felt wrong—charged, heavy, the way it does right before something big.

She was halfway to the barn when she saw it. The bull. Massive, black, standing there like it owned the place. Maya froze. She knew nothing about farm animals, but she knew this thing could crush her without trying.

The first strike of lightning hit simultaneously with her realization: her phone was dead. She'd forgotten to charge it. No signal, no power, no way to call for help.

The bull turned its head. Its eyes reflected the next lightning flash—weirdly golden, almost intelligent. It wasn't charging. It was just... watching her. Like it knew she was stranded, powerless, completely out of her element.

Maya's heart hammered. She was seventeen years old and she was about to die because she couldn't put down her phone long enough to learn where the actual dangers were on a farm. The irony would've been funny if she wasn't terrified.

Another lightning strike, closer this time. The air cracked with it. And suddenly she realized the bull wasn't threatening her. It was—she could barely process this—it was scared. Of the storm.

The big, scary creature was trembling. Maya felt something shift inside her. She wasn't the helpless one here.

"Hey," she said softly. "It's okay."

She didn't run. She didn't scream. She just stood there, getting soaked by the rain, while the storm raged around them. Just a girl and a bull, both scared, both waiting it out.

By the time her uncle found them, Maya was sitting on the ground, the bull curled nearby like a giant, terrifying dog. Her phone was still dead, and somehow that was fine.

That night, she finally charged it. The notifications poured in—drama, rumors, more bull. But Maya just turned it off. She'd faced something real today. The rest could wait.