The Zombie in the Mirror

Maya stared at her reflection. Dark circles under her eyes, hair a tangled mess. Another 3 AM doomscroll session. She looked like a zombie.

Her iPhone buzzed – her "friend" Chloe from the popular group. They only texted when they needed something.

"Pool party at Jenna's. Don't be lame."

Maya groaned. She didn't even like pools. Or Jenna.

At lunch, Chloe spent the entire time complaining about her boyfriend while scrolling through Instagram. Maya's phone sat face-down, battery at 8%.

"You okay?" someone asked.

Maya looked up. It was Sam, the quiet kid from her art class. He was eating something from a small container.

"My mom makes me take these," Sam said, offering a gummy vitamin. "They're actually not terrible."

Maya took it. It was shaped like a bear. "Thanks. I'm just... tired."

"Zombie mode?" Sam asked. "I get that. Like my brain hasn't booted up."

Maya laughed. It was the first real laugh she'd had in weeks.

"You know what helps?" Sam said. "Doing something for yourself. Not for likes or whatever. Just... something you actually want."

That night, Maya looked at her phone. The group chat was blowing up about Jenna's party. She opened her camera app instead and called her cousin, the one with the cool blue hair.

"Teach me how to do it," Maya said.

The next morning, Maya walked into school with electric blue hair. Her phone stayed in her backpack.

Chloe stared. "What did you DO to your hair?"

Maya smiled. It felt real. "I woke up."

She found Sam at lunch. He slid the vitamin container across the table.

"Vitamin bear?" he asked.

"You know it," Maya said. "And thanks. For yesterday."

Sam shrugged. "No problem. The hair looks sick, by the way. You look... alive."

Maya took the gummy. It tasted like artificial strawberries and possibility. Her phone buzzed in her backpack – probably the group chat, probably drama. She let it buzz.

She was done being a zombie. It was time to actually live.