The Cat Who Knew

Maya's phone battery died at 11:47 PM—perfect timing, actually. The party had turned into a zombie apocalypse anyway, except instead of brains, these zombies wanted followers. Everyone stood around in Lena's basement, faces illuminated by blue light, thumbs moving in that mindless scrolling rhythm that made them look undead.

Then lightning struck something outside, and the whole house went dark.

"WiFi's down," someone whined, like it was a medical emergency.

Maya felt her way toward the basement door, secretly relieved. Her best friend Sarah had been ignoring her all night, too busy flirting with Jake to notice Maya existed. Three years of friendship, apparently undone by one varsity jacket.

She found herself on the back porch, where Mrs. G's orange tabby cat sat on the railing like it had been waiting for her. The cat regarded her with yellow eyes, then jumped onto her lap like she was a piece of furniture it had claimed.

"At least you don't need my Instagram," Maya muttered, scratching behind its ears. The cat purred, vibrating against her chest like a tiny engine.

That's when she saw it—her friend tag on Instagram stories: Sarah and Jake, looking cozy, captioned "my person."

Another lightning flash illuminated the screen, and something inside Maya cracked. Not broke—cracked, like how lightning splits open the sky to let something new in.

She stood up, the cat leaping gracefully to the ground. Maya walked back inside, found Sarah in the candlelight.

"Hey," Sarah said, all casual smiles. "Where've you been?"

"Outside with the cat," Maya said. "And I realized something."

"What?"

"That I'm done being your backup friend. The one you text when you're bored or when things go wrong with Jake." Her voice shook, but she didn't stop. "I'm worth more than that."

The room went silent. Sarah's face fell. "Maya, I—"

"No. It's fine." Maya grabbed her jacket. "But real friends don't treat each other like options."

She walked out into the storm-fragged air, the cat watching from the porch rail. Lightning flashed again, and for the first time all night, Maya felt completely, electrically alive.