Riddle Under the Lights

Marcus stood at home plate, the bat feeling like a lead weight in his hands. Varsity tryouts. His shot to finally not be invisible. And he was absolutely zoning.

"You got this, M-Rob," called Tyler, already guaranteed a spot at first base. Marcus just nodded, trying to look chill instead of like his stomach was doing cartwheels.

Coach Stevens pointed toward left field. "Crush it past the school sphinx and you're on the team."

The sphinx. This ancient statue some donor had convinced the school to install back in the 90s. Marcus had made the mistake of making eye contact with it once during lunch and spent the rest of the period spiraling about what riddles she'd ask. *What walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?* More like *what gets four hours of sleep, spends seven hours wanting to die, and somehow does it all again?*

First pitch—swung and missed. So embarrassing.

"You're thinking too hard, bro," Tyler said from the dugout. "Just hit the baseball, not the existential crisis."

Second pitch—foul tip. Marcus's hands were shaking. He could feel everyone watching. The seniors. The freshmen. Brittany from chemistry, who he'd been lowkey flirting with for weeks.

Then came the thunder. A massive **lightning** flash illuminated everything in stark white—the field, the sphinx's stone face, the expectant crowd. Coach called for a delay but Marcus just stood there, frozen.

"Zombie mode," he muttered. That's what his little sister called it when he got stuck in his head. But then something clicked. Maybe it was the adrenaline, maybe the storm, maybe he just stopped caring.

Third pitch after the delay—Marcus didn't think. He just swung.

*CRACK.*

The ball soared past the sphinx, past the outfielders, clear into the parking lot. Bedlam. Tyler rushed him, the whole dogpile, actual tears pricking his eyes. He caught Brittany's gaze across the field—she was actually smiling, like *smiling-smiling*.

That night, Marcus lay in bed, everything sore, feeling different. Not different like suddenly confident, just... seen. Like he'd solved the riddle without even realizing there was one.

His phone buzzed. Brittany: *ur swing was actually fire tonight 🔥*

Marcus typed back, fingers not even shaking: *guess the sphinx was feeling generous lol*