Claire lay still.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡze3vgzrYEd
The same jazz song played again.
— She could now predict exactly which saxophone note would slip slightly off pitch.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1WejNVurOM
She wasn’t even annoyed anymore. Just... hollow, like she wanted to roll her eyes at the ceiling without the energy to do it.
She was pretty sure she could sing the whole thing backwards.
— No joke. She actually tried humming it in reverse in her head.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKLecjsAB5K
The melody twisted like an overheating tape deck, spitting out scorched notes in her brain.
Why had she failed?11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvXMvSQp93I
Was it because she closed her eyes?
— Was it just a matter of seconds?11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4HKRFAjCYB
Or worse... did her awareness mean nothing at all?
She couldn’t help but ask herself:11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡERoNGMhrAB
If this world doesn’t wait for my will to move forward... what am I even fighting for?
No.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6q1lHJMDNV
Tonight, she’d try again.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMcmqNRYITZ
Another sleepless night.
— She bit down on the thought like it was a chunk of old coffee grounds—bitter, gritty, stubborn.
She wasn’t the type to give up.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ17oL5z009s
Not now.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ66cpCWIwsu
Not like this.
Even if there were no answers, she’d break this puzzle into pieces. Disassemble the trap.
She expected to be exhausted. But her body felt… reset.
— No dry eyes. No aching back. No trace of the five coffees she downed the night before.
That was the real freaky part.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2QoZbwGWXb
Her whole body felt clean.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb1FQbF7CjK
Like someone had wiped her system while she slept.
Claire got up.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQFKbkBz5VA
Opened the café.
— She dressed. Went downstairs.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5z1MR4m2cB
Started prepping bagels with muscle memory alone.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyAE4R0qupk
At least this kept her from thinking too much during the daylight hours.
Waiting for night again.
— Daytime was for pretending.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEIwcgud8Yc
The illusion of normal would swallow her whole if she let it.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU5xARLd12M
But her mind had already carved out space for the night. Reserved it.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡebc59R5IKV
A blackout room in the back of her thoughts.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQaSSRMbzUp
11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlMJyk8Iqw2
Three days later, she woke to jazz again.
Same track.
Same key.
— The song had become a ritual.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGreabMLqek
A key.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdEe2Kb5AHk
A trigger.
And this time, Claire finally let herself say it aloud:
She hadn’t failed.
The reset began with her.
When she closed her eyes, the world followed.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSmIQxRIpqa
— Not midnight.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBMFtfVhcLO
Not sunrise.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGVaAlK4wDA
Not the radio signal.
Her.
Her eyelids dropped—curtain down.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGIwGYjStAU
The world rewound.
So if she didn’t sleep… she could reach tomorrow?
— The idea hit like a gas leak.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEChsoFgGvW
Invisible. Intoxicating. Dangerous.
No sleep = escape?
What was the cost?11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy5pSdDeyEz
One night? Three? The last one?
Claire wasn’t sure if this was good news.
She wasn’t even sure which would come first: tomorrow… or her own collapse.
— She stared at the wall calendar, tempted to scribble “Don’t Die” across it.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo3AHswKW3Q
She set the pen down instead.
This wasn’t a joke.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjgIceLr8kB
But jokes were the only way she knew how to survive this.
No.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdAp9W5utxp
This wasn’t the solution.
The answer had to be closer.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYWnwCE9RFI
Not in her blood pressure.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqfhQK05nxG
Not in sleep deprivation.
There had to be a crack somewhere.
If not, she’d end up as a corpse that never closed its eyes.
Claire started wondering if time had left her behind.
Maybe everyone else had moved on.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV8WMPj9YWZ
Maybe the world was now on episode 5… and she was stuck on a frozen frame of episode 2.
— Her name. Her face. Her breath—stuck in a day that no longer belonged to anyone else’s memory.
She told herself not to dwell.
There were no therapists for this kind of fear.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJeiz5vbQFk
No appointments in a world with no tomorrow.
— She almost laughed, imagining herself in a psych office:11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYkQQedEY0m
“Hi, I’m stuck reliving the same day, and by the way, Doc—you’ll forget I came in.”
She couldn’t even be bothered to write the script.
No one would believe her.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQUbWhDU8xe
And even if someone did—they couldn’t help.
11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgv4ytJQnUR
Claire’s head hung low.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ1BiMF1Ozw
She stared at the bed sheets.
Hmm...
— That crease was in the same spot yesterday.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqPHskZg8A9
She never made her bed. Usually just kicked the covers to the side.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqOcZyqK0Dl
But the folds… they always stayed the same.
Like someone had painted them on.
What if this was magical?
What if it wasn’t a cosmic glitch… but something in her space?
— Like those old movies:11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTJ2q5avZyN
The protagonist picks up a glowing watch.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1CCzF6Fj43
Or touches some cursed gemstone.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz5f1P62OUf
Suddenly: time loop.
Claire had no watch.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4O0dhbByNl
No gems.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDPZLstLhBN
Just a bed as stiff as a plastic cutting board.
Was it the bed?
— A magic bed that reset time when she laid down?
Or the room?
Or something in it?
— Her aunt’s things, maybe?11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡom0cQ9jr7B
The ones she never touched?
She used to imagine they moved at night.
Later, she blamed it on her own overthinking.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdQ4fOFu3QZ
But now?
Even absurdity seemed worth testing.
A thought settled in.
She’d try again tonight.
But not here.
— The café still opened like usual.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Z1ooi1M6q
She didn’t want the world suspecting anything.
Just like a researcher observing test subjects—11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdIzu8GZC6x
you don’t let them know they’re being watched.
7 p.m. came.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaSv92IUoYl
Claire locked up.
But this time, she was on the outside of the door.
— Her hand trembled—not from fear, but from the weight of it.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiHmVu03yMw
This felt small.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG1GMsPpbO8
But also like it could shift the gravity of the whole universe.
She booked a cheap motel.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8qYadNH7Z4
Didn’t care about the room.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGBQDjcmLG9
Didn’t care about the bed.
This wasn’t about comfort.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Hnz1QaIoU
It was about boundaries.
She double-checked the lock on her café.
Then scratched a mark into the doorknob with her nail.
Let’s see if that’s still there tomorrow.
If someone broke in—11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIB5alGvGVk
Good.
Maybe something would finally change.
— A missing bag of flour would be worth celebrating.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx4FuHSZzBP
She’d pop champagne for a dent in the matrix.
Anything.
Any sign this world wasn’t a sealed glass maze, always snapping back into place like a puzzle that refused to stay broken.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9eyClpc7x9
