Claire lay still.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfYHdmNbYZ2
The same jazz song played again.
— She could now predict exactly which saxophone note would slip slightly off pitch.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnbi4eYzQ5F
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.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVVJuncEjPv
The melody twisted like an overheating tape deck, spitting out scorched notes in her brain.
Why had she failed?9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbHtmhIl2vG
Was it because she closed her eyes?
— Was it just a matter of seconds?9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYnZbqt4fQL
Or worse... did her awareness mean nothing at all?
She couldn’t help but ask herself:9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkFsURjZH68
If this world doesn’t wait for my will to move forward... what am I even fighting for?
No.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY9cgDUD96F
Tonight, she’d try again.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlkkxnm3JoY
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.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFb0DjtLT4v
Not now.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFOSSx0ibpP
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.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaQ1PyKY89Z
Her whole body felt clean.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQlD2ijGKgG
Like someone had wiped her system while she slept.
Claire got up.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLa5W6XEMTx
Opened the café.
— She dressed. Went downstairs.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDIGMCcyOQG
Started prepping bagels with muscle memory alone.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSRYkXJMwS5
At least this kept her from thinking too much during the daylight hours.
Waiting for night again.
— Daytime was for pretending.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOF9nAWGimC
The illusion of normal would swallow her whole if she let it.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTC92zjAzJn
But her mind had already carved out space for the night. Reserved it.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxXRdsu4pr4
A blackout room in the back of her thoughts.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEBDTypdnym
9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGrlMQRXoLr
Three days later, she woke to jazz again.
Same track.
Same key.
— The song had become a ritual.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4zhmATwqrh
A key.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb4nQhIXy8U
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.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAvprvSsicN
— Not midnight.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRHGSu9kBkI
Not sunrise.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrZhfScceXm
Not the radio signal.
Her.
Her eyelids dropped—curtain down.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNLSJcz0Ntr
The world rewound.
So if she didn’t sleep… she could reach tomorrow?
— The idea hit like a gas leak.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvfzTmt1v7J
Invisible. Intoxicating. Dangerous.
No sleep = escape?
What was the cost?9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZstRyjCpVI
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.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8tzeyqGlnA
She set the pen down instead.
This wasn’t a joke.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOZjX08blxM
But jokes were the only way she knew how to survive this.
No.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxkeGY8T7qV
This wasn’t the solution.
The answer had to be closer.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsRI5PhE3on
Not in her blood pressure.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWLineZHJpf
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.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmeKMo8JriV
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.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhCRrjNu6Bv
No appointments in a world with no tomorrow.
— She almost laughed, imagining herself in a psych office:9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFTGMH07Sat
“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.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡimReUC960C
And even if someone did—they couldn’t help.
9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ2roawEKKJ
Claire’s head hung low.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM0XQ3N0mnB
She stared at the bed sheets.
Hmm...
— That crease was in the same spot yesterday.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrq0SUqp7hy
She never made her bed. Usually just kicked the covers to the side.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPzDpWORquo
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:9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWUJtdkqa2m
The protagonist picks up a glowing watch.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaYts1n0sEF
Or touches some cursed gemstone.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMmVNSAkemb
Suddenly: time loop.
Claire had no watch.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKU2IqGEvrj
No gems.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9vDPIQP66J
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?9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpHj3ibRPpU
The ones she never touched?
She used to imagine they moved at night.
Later, she blamed it on her own overthinking.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD9UF1yX7rb
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.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNIJ8wAzg4A
She didn’t want the world suspecting anything.
Just like a researcher observing test subjects—9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhZxXVxpLc1
you don’t let them know they’re being watched.
7 p.m. came.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX4IWGMCMLo
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.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX6gRw8DRMi
This felt small.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Xlp6ieGLq
But also like it could shift the gravity of the whole universe.
She booked a cheap motel.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgsdC5kukpC
Didn’t care about the room.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvMhv6zv25B
Didn’t care about the bed.
This wasn’t about comfort.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡacGefjJCwd
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—9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnPZVAh4F7Q
Good.
Maybe something would finally change.
— A missing bag of flour would be worth celebrating.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPbBLHgchp0
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.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl98uAZBqW7
