Fox in the Flash

Maya's hands shook as she popped the gummy vitamin into her mouth, trying to calm her pre-party jitters. Her mom's wellness routine had finally seeped into her bloodstream—literally.

"You good?" Liam asked, raising an eyebrow as he pulled up to the curb.

"Yeah. Just needed a little boost."

The house party was already thumping when they arrived. Maya positioned herself near the snack table, clutching a red solo cup like it was her lifeline. Then she saw her: Chloe, the senior everyone talked about, gliding through the crowd like she owned every square inch of sticky basement floor.

Then something moved outside the sliding glass door.

A fox. A legit, red-furred fox was staring back at her through the rain, its eyes glowing amber in the patio lights. It tilted its head, almost like it was judging her social paralysis.

"Is that... is that a dog?" someone asked.

"No, it's literally a fox," Maya said, her voice steadier than she felt. "My grandma has a farm, I know what foxes look like."

The fox's gaze held hers for three seconds, four. Then lightning cracked across the sky, illuminating everything in that weird strobe-light way that makes time feel suspended. In that flash, something clicked.

Since when did she need some random animal's validation to talk to people?

She set her cup down and walked toward Chloe. Not smooth, not confident, just moving. The fox watched, then slipped back into the darkness.

"Hey," Maya said. "I like your jacket."

Chloe looked up, surprised. "Thanks! It's vintage. I'm Chloe."

"Maya. I was just... I was just outside watching this fox, and it was kinda crazy, and—"

"Wait, there's a fox?" Chloe's eyes lit up. "No way. I'm obsessed with foxes. They're literally my favorite animal."

They spent the next twenty minutes talking about urban wildlife and vintage jackets and how weird it was that both their moms forced them to take those same awful gummy vitamins.

Later, Maya would remember the moment not as some epic party conquest, but as the first time she'd done something that scared her simply because she wanted to. The fox had been right about one thing: sometimes you just have to pounce.

Also, she never took her mom's vitamins before a social event again.