When the Lights Went Out

The mechanical **bull** at the county fair looked innocent enough from a distance. Up close? It was a beast, freshly painted and smelling like teenage desperation and questionable decisions.

"You're actually gonna ride that?" Maya asked, raising an eyebrow. She was wearing this oversized **hat** that somehow made her look cooler than everyone else there.

"Yeah," I said, trying to sound confident. "Why not?"

Inside, I was freaking out. But Tyler was watching, and Tyler had this way of making everything feel like a test I hadn't studied for. If I chickened out now, I'd be that guy for the rest of high school.

A storm was brewing. **Lightning** kept cracking across the sky, making everyone flinch. The operator shrugged, took my ticket, and muttered something about it being my funeral.

I climbed on. The bull started gentle, then went FULL ZOMBIE MODE — jerky, unpredictable, literally trying to throw me into another dimension. I lasted maybe three seconds before flying off, landing in a heap that was definitely not graceful.

But the real disaster happened when I tried to stand up too fast and caught my foot on a loose **cable**. The whole sound system cut. The music died. The lights went out. Total darkness.

Everyone started screaming. Someone yelled "ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE" and people actually believed them for a second because why not, right?

"You okay?" Maya's voice cut through the chaos. Her phone flashlight found me, still on the ground.

"Yeah," I said. "Just humiliated myself in front of everyone."

She sat down next to me in the dark while operators tried to fix the power. "Tyler's an idiot anyway," she said. "And that bull ride was actually pretty sick before you died."

We sat there talking until the lights came back on. Sometimes the worst moments become the best ones. And sometimes you don't need to be cool — you just need someone who gets it.