Zombie Mode Off

Maya's phone died at exactly 11:47 PM — third time this week. The charging cable had been fraying for months, exposing those little copper wires like something nervous and raw, but she kept using it anyway because her parents had already said no to a new one. "That's what happens when you destroy your things," her mom had said, which felt unfair when Maya had barely even touched anything outside her room all summer.

She'd spent the last six weeks in zombie mode. That's what her friend Kai called it — that glazed-over, scrolling-until-eyes-burn state where you're technically awake but spiritually somewhere else. Maya was thirteen and had already watched approximately four hundred hours of other people living lives that looked way more exciting than hers.

"Your dad's vitamin gummies are still on the counter," Kai had texted earlier. "Come over. We're doing the thing."

The thing. Kai's amateur zombie movie, filmed entirely on iPhones because his older sister had stolen the actual camera to college. Maya showed up at 7 PM with her gummy vitamins in her pocket, half-excited and half-convinced she'd be terrible at it.

They started in Kai's basement. Three kids, a ring light from Amazon, and way too much red food coloring. Maya was supposed to play zombie #3, the one who gets dramatically shot in the first scene. But when she looked at herself through Kai's iPhone camera — pale face, smeared makeup, that weirdly vacant stare — something clicked.

"Cut," Kai said, but he was grinning. "That was actually kind of sick."

They filmed until 2 AM, passing around the vitamin gummies like they were something illicit, laughing when Kai's cat walked through the shot like she owned the production. Maya's cable finally gave out around midnight, sparking a little before going dark, but it didn't matter. They used Kai's spare. They kept going.

For the first time all summer, Maya wasn't watching someone else's life. She was making one. She was covered in fake blood, exhausted, her contact lenses were basically glued to her eyes, and she'd never felt more awake.

"Zombie mode off," she said to herself around 3 AM, walking home under streetlights that suddenly seemed brighter than they had in months. Her phone was dead. Her cable was fried. She'd probably be grounded for staying out all night.

She couldn't wait to do it again tomorrow.