The Vitamin D Connection

Maya's internet cut out for the third time that week. She stared at the loose coaxial cable dangling from her wall like a dead snake, silently cursing whatever cosmic force had decided her social life needed another obstacle.

"Maya! Time for your vitamin!" her mom shouted from downstairs.

"Coming!" Maya yelled back, grabbing her phone. 12 notifications. All from group chats she was too anxious to respond to. Out of sight, out of mind—that's how it worked, right? If you didn't post stories, didn't reply to memes, didn't exist digitally, did you even exist at all?

Her cat Barnaby jumped onto her desk, knocking over a stack of unfinished homework. He purred loudly, demanding attention like he hadn't just destroyed her academic comeback.

"You don't care about followers, do you?" Maya scratched behind his ears. "You just want food and pets. Simple."

Barnaby's response was to chew on the ethernet cable.

"No! Bad cat!" Maya pulled it away, inspecting the teeth marks. Perfect. Now she'd have to explain to her dad why the internet wasn't working. Again.

Her phone buzzed. A text from Lily: "party at Jake's tonight, everyone's going 💀"

Maya's stomach did that thing where it felt like it was trying to escape her body. She'd been invited to three parties this semester. She hadn't gone to any. The FOMO was real, but somehow the anxiety was always stronger.

"Maya! Vitamin! Now!"

She trudged downstairs, still holding Barnaby (he refused to be put down). Her mom stood at the counter with that giant bottle of Vitamin D supplements.

"You're pale," her mom said, pressing a tablet into Maya's hand. "You need sunshine. Or at least what passes for sunshine in a pill."

"I'm fine, Mom. Just... busy."

"With what? Your room's a mess, you haven't been out in weeks, and your dad says the internet cable's been loose for days. Have you even noticed?"

Maya looked at Barnaby, who was now trying to eat the corner of a rug. Something about the cat's complete indifference to social expectations, to whether he was "living his best life" or not, suddenly hit her different.

"Actually," Maya said, pulling out her phone, "I think I will go out tonight."

Her mom's eyebrows practically disappeared into her hairline. "Really?"

"Yeah. Lily invited me to Jake's. Should be... fun?"

Barnaby meowed, like he approved.

"Well then," her mom smiled, "take Barnaby's vitamin D too. He's looking a bit peaked."

Maya laughed. It felt good. "Mom, cats don't take vitamins."

"This one looks like he could use whatever help he can get."

Upstairs, Maya texted Lily back: "I'm in 🔥"

The cable could wait. Barnaby could wait. Her teenage existential crisis could definitely wait. Tonight, Maya was going to actually exist in the world, no filter needed.

Barnaby rubbed against her leg, purring like a tiny motor. Sometimes the best connections weren't the ones you plugged in.