Midnight Riddle Session
Maya's bedroom glowed with the blue light of her screen at 2 AM. Her friends were still in the voice chat, deep in zombie mode on their favorite game. She should have been sleeping—chemistry test tomorrow—but when you're fifteen, FOMO hits harder than any deadline.
"Yo, did you guys see Mr. Henderson's face today when my phone went off during his lecture?" Rico laughed through her headphones. "Absolute zombie mode, bro."
Maya grinned while adjusting her tangled charging cable. It was fraying at the end—her third one this semester. Her mom would kill her if she asked for another.
Suddenly, a scratch at the window. Not her window. First floor.
She crept downstairs and found Barnaby—her neighbor's golden retriever—sitting on her porch, looking heartbreakingly pathetic. His collar had a tag: BARNABY. The dog across the street who'd been missing for three days.
"You poor thing," she whispered, letting him inside. He immediately flopped onto her rug like he owned the place.
Back in her room, something caught her eye on her desk—a small stone figurine her grandmother had given her before passing. A sphinx. Riddles and secrets and wisdom she'd never understood.
"What's the riddle, Grandma?" she murmured, tracing its smooth surface. "How do you figure out who you're supposed to be when everyone expects something different?"
Her phone buzzed. Group chat:
Rico: VITAMIN GUMMIES SAVE LIVES
Chloe: literally what are you talking about
Maya: Found Barnaby. Also existential crisis at 2 AM. Normal stuff.
Rico: classic Maya energy
She smiled. Maybe that was the answer—not solving the riddle all at once. Not becoming the perfect version everyone wanted. Just being here, in this moment, with a stolen dog on her rug and friends who stayed up too early and a fraying cable that still worked when you wiggled it right.
Some sphinx riddles don't have answers. Some questions, you just live inside them.
She typed back: Who needs sleep anyway?
Then she curled up next to Barnaby and finally let herself rest.