Flash Point

Maya's iPhone lit up her face in the darkness of her bedroom, 2:47 AM glowing in harsh blue. She shouldn't be stalking his profile—Zach had made it clear they were "just friends" three weeks ago when she'd finally worked up the courage to admit her feelings. But here she was, caught in that endless loop of checking his stories, analyzing who he was tagging, reading way too much into every caption like some desperate digital spy.

Outside, the first summer lightning storm of the season cracked open the sky. Maya flinched as a flash illuminated her room, throwing her reflection against the window—pale, wide-eyed, clutching her phone like it was her lifeline. Which, honestly, it kind of was. Four hundred followers on Instagram, but how many of them actually knew her? How many would notice if she just disappeared from the grid?

Her finger hovered over Zach's name again. Another lightning strike, closer this time. The thunder rattled her window frame, and in that moment of electric chaos, her iPhone screen glitched. A message popped up—not from Zach, but from an unknown number.

"Stop scrolling. He's not worth it."

Maya's heart hammered against her ribs. Who was this? Some hacker? A glitch? Her hands shook as she typed back, "Who is this?"

"Someone who sees you, Maya. Not your posts. You."

The lightning flared again, and suddenly it all clicked—the way her older brother Jordan had been making weird comments about her posts lately. How he somehow always knew when she was having a rough day before she even said anything. He wasn't being annoying. He was paying attention.

Maya abandoned her iPhone on the bed and crossed the hall to Jordan's room. His door was cracked open, phone light flickering against his face in the darkness.

"You're the worst spy ever," she whispered from the doorway.

Jordan jumped, nearly dropping his phone. "Maya? What—"

"Zach's not worth it," she said, and for the first time in weeks, the words actually felt true. "But you kind of are."

The storm raged outside, but the space between them felt suddenly, electrically quiet. Jordan grinned, setting down his phone. "Wanna watch the lightning from the roof?"

Maya smiled back, her own iPhone forgotten on her bed. "Yeah. Yeah, I do."