Riddle Me This

Maya's bedroom was a sanctuary of tangled wires and abandoned dreams. The coaxial **cable** snaked across her floor like a dead vine, disconnected from the wall since her mom cancelled cable TV last month. Not that Maya cared – she streamed everything anyway, hunched over her phone like everyone else at Franklin High.

But today was different. Today was the day her older brother Leo left for college, and Maya felt like she was about to face the **sphinx**'s riddle without any answers. The sphinx had been their inside joke since sixth grade social studies – Leo would grin and ask, "What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?" whenever Maya was being dramatic about homework or crushes or whatever crisis felt like the end of the world.

Now he was really gone, and Maya was stuck holding the metaphorical baby.

"Take these," her mom had said that morning, shoving a bottle of gummy **vitamin** D into her hand. "You're inside too much. Your brother played sports."

Maya rolled her eyes so hard it actually hurt. Because yeah, comparing her to Leo was the fastest way to make her feel like a total failure. Leo was captain of the debate team, had a girlfriend who looked like a Disney Channel star, and was probably going to become president or something. Meanwhile, Maya couldn't even maintain a streak on Snapchat without feeling like a fraud.

She sat cross-legged on her bed, popping a chalky vitamin into her mouth and staring at the disconnected cable. The sphinx's riddle echoed in her head: what was she becoming? Who was she when she wasn't Leo's annoying little sister?

Her phone buzzed. A text from Leo: *left my charger behind lol*

Maya laughed. For once, she was the one who had something he needed.

The sphinx's riddle wasn't about legs or stages of life. It was about figuring out who you were when nobody was watching. And maybe – just maybe – that was okay. She grabbed the charger, threw it in her backpack, and headed downstairs.

Some riddles don't have answers. Some answers you have to find yourself.