Zombie Mode and the Last Straw

Maya had been in full-on zombie mode for three weeks straight. Finals, breakup drama, and her mom's nagging about college apps had turned her into a walking corpse, surviving on caffeine and three hours of sleep. Her hair hung limp and greasy, a testament to how little she cared anymore.

"You look like you died three days ago," TK said, sliding into the booth across from her at Smoothie King. "No offense."

"None taken," Maya mumbled. "I feel like I died three days ago."

Her phone buzzed. Jackson. The guy who'd ghosted her after two months of whatever-that-was.

"That's bull," TK said, reading her expression. "You're not replying."

"I know," Maya said. But her thumb hovered anyway.

The county fair was in town, and somehow TK convinced her to go. Probably because she mentioned there'd be a zombie 5K run that night, and honestly? Maya felt like she fit right in with that demographic.

Then she saw it. The mechanical bull.

Her friends had been obsessed with that TikTok trend where people rode mechanical bulls in prom outfits. Maya had always been too scared to try. Too self-conscious. Too worried about her hair getting messed up, looking uncool, falling off in front of everyone.

But something about being in zombie mode changed things. When you're already dead inside, what's there to lose?

She pulled her hair back into a messy knot. "I'm doing it."

"You're gonna die," TK said.

"Already dead, remember?"

The ride operator raised his eyebrows when she stepped up. "You sure about this?"

Maya nodded. "Hit me."

Her first three seconds were pathetic. Her fourth second, she found her rhythm. By her eighth second, people were recording. By her twelfth second, she understood why people did this. For twelve glorious seconds, she wasn't the girl who got ghosted, wasn't the zombie student drowning in AP classes, wasn't anyone except right here, right now, holding on tight and loving every chaotic second.

She flew off on second fourteen and landed in the hay.

TK was screaming. A group of random girls she'd never met were cheering. Her hair had completely fallen out of its knot, wild around her face.

And her phone buzzed again. Jackson.

Maya looked at her phone, then at TK, then at the mechanical bull still spinning behind her.

"You gonna reply?" TK asked.

Maya laughed. "Nah. I've got better things to worry about."

Like how she was definitely going to ride that bull again. And how maybe zombie mode wasn't permanent after all.