When the Lightning Hit

Maya's parents had been fighting about the cable bill for weeks. Another thing falling apart in the house that already felt like it was crumbling at the edges.

"You gonna say something, or just sit there like a zombie?" Chloe nudged her at lunch, snapping Maya back to reality. The cafeteria noise swirled around them—clattering trays, laughter that seemed too loud, groups Maya used to be part of before everything changed.

"I'm fine," Maya mumbled, even though she wasn't. Not even close.

Then Jake walked by. Jake, who'd dated her best friend last month and now was already rumors-deep with someone from the soccer team. The bull, everyone called him behind his back—though he was more like a force of nature you just had to survive. He caught Maya's eye and actually smirked, like this was all some game he was winning.

Something in Maya snapped.

That night, she finally did it—the thing she'd been talking about forever but never actually tried. She livestreamed for the first time. Just her, in her room with the door locked, talking about everything she couldn't say anywhere else. About parents fighting, about feeling fake, about how nobody tells you high school is actually just a four-year lesson in pretending you've got it together.

People watched. Like, actually watched.

Then the storm hit—full-on crazy weather, thunder shaking the windows. And suddenly, lightning struck somewhere close enough that the whole neighborhood went dark. Her stream cut. Everything cut.

In that blackout moment, sitting in her room with nothing but phone light, Maya felt something shift. Like she could finally breathe. The next day at school, she caught Jake's gaze across the hallway and didn't look away. For once, the zombie was gone—and whatever was coming next, at least it would be real.