Day 5.
The alarm rang.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjdOWNpoOQR
The jazz tune came on.
Claire opened her eyes, brown and bleary, but didn’t fight it anymore.
— It was a reflex now. A pre-installed response. Resistance was pointless.
Same song. Again. The same damn song.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSkPML7j023
She sat up.
— It wasn’t even the kind of tune that grows on you.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡraiHfaGqCj
It was a kind of familiarity that felt like inflammation in her ears, like a metal key scraping memory straight out of her brain.
After five days, she was sure. She wasn’t imagining it.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC2VbfWQf3v
She was reliving the same day.
— Not maybe. Not possibly.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWfkr41QW1P
Definitely.
The tearing feeling that came with realizing the world was broken—yeah, that was gone.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHs4Cgirr0M
Now it was just...calm. Eerily calm.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdjaOok7UfC
Like some inner voice whispering, “Just accept it. The way you accept getting out of bed.”
Same music.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLWRTGevI9J
Same bagels.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfxsmmFvbFB
Same newspaper.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoLOwwJZq7r
Same customers.
— She could predict exactly how many times Kyle would laugh today. Which line he'd say.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn1yiYFjlGD
"Happy Easter."12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZaM8UEBmpa
Those two words were now a wad of chewed-up gum stuck in the corner of her brain.
She’d tried to change things.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQr46kmy3YI
Recommended a different drink to a customer. The customer changed it.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHTDl5HKw6g
But only because she told them to.
— That’s not change. That’s just her pulling the lever of a machine that can’t start on its own anymore.
She tried other things too.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBX0ztmvB4X
Didn’t bake the bagels. Didn’t water the plant. Didn’t put the newspaper on the counter.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrKHn7PYPi2
The city didn’t care. It moved around her like she didn’t matter.
Even her silence got overwritten.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZVbLyrr5Fp
Reality filled in the blanks like water seeping into cracks.
She wasn’t sure what was happening.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqfHA6W4pnA
Maybe she was insane. Maybe she was dreaming in a hospital bed somewhere.
— Maybe one morning, she’d open her eyes and a nurse would be there saying,12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0kHqtjMGmd
"Claire, you’re finally awake."
But she didn’t dare hope.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡygLjGs7Mzh
Even that scenario started to feel like a recycled TV script.
What if this was a dream?
— But dreams weren’t this long.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaPZRPvK9Bn
They didn’t have heat, pain, taste.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡijDxwCAH6y
If this was a dream, it was taking its job way too seriously.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhohrXioNqW
If fate was this committed, maybe she’d finally take it seriously too.
It’s not a movie.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzmU8KF9izD
This isn’t Groundhog Day.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ407gF20zSe
Claire didn’t have some deep trauma to work through.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJH0NzgW3n3
She wasn’t a killer. She hadn’t told that many lies.
— She wasn’t on some cosmic redemption arc.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDpLlhEM8RT
She ran a café. That’s it.
A woman with occasional insomnia, a short temper, and a decent track record of paying bills on time.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFIOlV2wbC2
Why her?
Calm down, Claire.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXQWFaEVPeA
There has to be a reason. There has to be a way out.
She breathed in slowly.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBU0LydwpB4
Her stomach felt tight, like it was inflating with air that wouldn’t go anywhere.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhQRielpXVb
Her thoughts came soft but firm.
Observe, Claire. Start observing everything.
— You can’t wait for it to fall apart. You have to watch it. Track it.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYB2bRZdLY6
Peel away every wrong piece until the truth shows.
If the world’s gone mad, then fine.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1zAIP5WFo6
She’d be the one sane person left.
12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY2NoWaIoT5
She opened the café anyway. Out of what—loyalty? Instinct?12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJLh4HbWs3T
— She was starting to suspect she didn’t even have the guts to rebel properly.
Day five, and she still got up after the alarm.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtfZhVvyCo7
Brushed her teeth. Got dressed.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYCHTYYbure
Like a goddamn coin-operated coffee machine—insert a few units of routine and she’d start moving.
She hated the habit.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ32gRO9YGhv
— Or maybe... she was just scared of what would happen if she stopped.
She’d spent too long thinking in bed.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ26IURJUk5O
No time to prep the bagels.
— She should’ve gone down. Should’ve opened the oven. Should’ve kneaded the dough that had already been worked over five times.
But today she stalled.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0AMxSpIdqb
That was still her choice—one of the few she had left.
She planned to bake after the morning rush.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtB8FbhXK9K
Same dough. Same recipe.
— That lump of dough sat in the fridge like it was waiting to die.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFSB63g1sLa
Every day she pulled it out, crushed it, shaped it, threw it back in.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg7XYz89Lq5
Sometimes she wondered if it had a memory too.
Maybe…12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzACOQlXt9N
Maybe it was the only thing in this loop that had a future.
Kyle asked about the bagels.
She told him they’d be ready after ten.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGi42VM8SkN
No smile. Just steady observation.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHuAvmyhIRc
Waiting—watching—for even the tiniest flicker of surprise.
There wasn’t any.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTBlBUj7yCN
He just nodded and left.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHaMYwoml5k
Said "Happy Easter" again.
— Word for word. Beat for beat.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPKK1yGAJhR
Like an actor stuck inside a film reel.
Claire gripped the dish towel in her hand.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmA7dTW1rTk
She knew exactly which officer would walk in next, exactly what drink they'd order, exactly what they'd say.
She wanted to write it all down.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8mO5nyGZmT
But then she remembered—tomorrow, it would all vanish.
She started to write:12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv2XEceSbOc
“Kyle didn’t buy a bagel today.”
But the moment her pen touched the page, the futility of it washed up her arm like a tide of static.
So what?12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXvYDSq4yfs
Tomorrow the pen would be back in the drawer.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡES39XsChsV
The paper clean.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuHX2qE5vCM
Nothing written.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ZKrEgU50B
Nothing left behind.
Her thoughts peeled away like dried pulp.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFzmBphkurg
Layer by layer.
Claire felt something slipping.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡADmRW6mnDN
— Not the world.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡack7Ca75mb
Her.
She’d tried so hard to be the observer.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZl2iF9lIOf
To stay rational. Stay grounded.
But now?
Now she was starting to get scared of mirrors.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhJok33cVi0
Afraid of the reflection.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMkya5Jg1ag
Afraid she’d see someone who’d gotten used to all of this.
Someone who belonged to it.
12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA80Ppv4jOj
