What Lightning Revealed

Maya lay on her bed, iphone glowing against the dark ceiling. The group chat was blowing up—everyone talking about Jordan's party Friday, except Jordan.

"Are you coming?" asked Chen, whose real name she knew was Chloe.

"I don't know," Maya typed. "My parents are being weird."

Lightning flashed outside her window, illuminating the tension in her chest. For weeks, she'd been the group's designated spy, monitoring what people said about them online. Reporting back. It made her feel important, needed.

Another flash of lightning, and suddenly her younger sister burst into the room. "Maya! Mom and Dad are talking about moving again!"

Maya's heart stopped. They'd moved three times in two years. Each time, she'd had to reinvent herself, find new friends, become someone new. That's why she'd started spying—to protect herself, to know who was real.

But as the lightning continued to streak across the sky, Maya looked at her iphone, at the messages from her friends who had no idea she might be leaving again. Who thought she was one of them.

She wasn't protecting herself anymore. She was lying to them.

Another flash of lightning, and Maya made her decision. She started typing.

"Guys, I need to tell you something."