The Night I Came Alive

I felt like a **zombie** walking through the halls of Northwood High—sleep-deprived from finals week, phone blowing up with notifications I was too tired to check. When your supposed best **friend** leaves you on read for three days straight, you start questioning everything.

"Maya! You coming to Jayden's party tonight?" Chloe called from across the cafeteria, surrounded by her new crowd. The ones who wore designer everything and talked about college applications like they were discussing sports stats.

I shook my head. "Can't. Mom's got me on lockdown." Total lie. She'd stopped caring what I did months ago.

After school, I took the long way home through the wooded trail behind the subdivision. That's when I saw it—a **fox**, all orange fur and pointy ears, standing in the middle of the path. It didn't run. Just stared at me with these intelligent amber eyes like it was sizing me up.

"What are you looking at?" I whispered. "I'm not that pathetic, am I?"

The fox's tail flicked, and then it bolted into the underbrush. Probably had somewhere to be. Unlike me.

When I got home, Barnaby—my mom's ancient orange tabby **cat**—was waiting on the porch. He wound around my legs, purring like a motor, completely unbothered by my teenage existential crisis. Maybe that was the secret. Not caring what anyone thought.

I pulled out my phone and opened Instagram. Chloe had posted five stories from lunch, each one more perfect than the last. My thumb hovered over the unfollow button.

Then I remembered the fox. How it had just stood there, unbothered, before moving on to whatever was next.

I tossed my phone on my bed and grabbed my sketchbook instead. Started drawing the fox from memory, giving it wings because why not. For the first time in weeks, I didn't feel like a zombie anymore. I felt like someone who'd just met a fox in the woods and decided to draw it with wings.

Sometimes the best moments happen when everyone else thinks you're missing out on everything.