Sphinx Mode

Maya's iphone burned against her thigh, buzzing with notifications she refused to check. The group chat was probably blowing up—everyone wondering where she was, why she'd bailed on Alex's party last minute.

She pulled her beanie hat lower over her forehead, hiding behind its comfort like a shield. It was her safety hat, the one she wore when everything felt too loud.

"You good?" Liam appeared beside her at the park bench, out of breath from running laps around the track. "You disappeared, like, completely ghost mode."

Maya shrugged, picking at a loose thread on her jeans. "Just needed air. The party was... a lot."

"Yeah, Alex really went all out." Liam dropped onto the grass beside her. "That legit Egyptian-themed escape room he built in his basement? The sphinx statue is low-key terrifying."

She almost smiled. Almost.

"Everyone's paired up," Maya said softly. "You and Sarah, Jordan and Riley..."

"And you're swimming in your head again." Liam nudged her shoulder. "You think everyone's got it figured out? Sarah and I argued for twenty minutes about which clues to follow. The sphinx riddle took us, like, seven tries."

"Really?"

"Maya, nobody's running a perfect life. We're all just guessing." He checked his own phone. "Sarah's actually looking for you. She said the sphinx puzzle is impossible without a fourth person."

"What?"

"The escape room, Maya. They literally need you. Not random-you, specifically you—you're the only one who paid attention during that mythology unit. They need your brain, not your social battery."

Maya felt something loosen in her chest.

"So... they're not mad I left?"

"Dude." Liam stood up, extending a hand. "They're waiting for you. The sphinx won't solve itself."

She took his hand, hat still pulled low but feeling a little lighter. Maybe showing up didn't have to mean performing. Maybe it just meant being there.

Her iphone buzzed again. This time, she checked it.

[group chat: Alex's B-Day Bash]

Alex: WHERE IS MAYA WE NEED MYTHOLOGY BRAIN

Sarah: the sphinx is judging us help

Jordan: maya we swear to god you're the only one who paid attention in mr harrison's class

Maya typed back: omw.

Then she tucked her phone away and followed Liam back toward the party, toward the riddles waiting to be solved, toward the friends who'd noticed she was gone.

She was still anxious. Still didn't love crowds. But she wasn't running anymore.

And that felt like enough.