Claire lay still.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOntP3Myp9w
The same jazz song played again.
— She could now predict exactly which saxophone note would slip slightly off pitch.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbm4cw0qlsR
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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh8TqoradM8
The melody twisted like an overheating tape deck, spitting out scorched notes in her brain.
Why had she failed?73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdt5no3Z4Xv
Was it because she closed her eyes?
— Was it just a matter of seconds?73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkHi7yxSsRB
Or worse... did her awareness mean nothing at all?
She couldn’t help but ask herself:73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXyRLdqgxyY
If this world doesn’t wait for my will to move forward... what am I even fighting for?
No.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXJx3cGgSuB
Tonight, she’d try again.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSktTkr4rh2
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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡezL58OkexT
Not now.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEOkr4Z0rLw
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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Hg78ti3ua
Her whole body felt clean.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqRqq21ZPWY
Like someone had wiped her system while she slept.
Claire got up.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBE33blLiBv
Opened the café.
— She dressed. Went downstairs.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJw0uRKVeU7
Started prepping bagels with muscle memory alone.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiCxzXhYtU7
At least this kept her from thinking too much during the daylight hours.
Waiting for night again.
— Daytime was for pretending.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdkrnCENEay
The illusion of normal would swallow her whole if she let it.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTIVi5KJYhS
But her mind had already carved out space for the night. Reserved it.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ11yblYL6r5
A blackout room in the back of her thoughts.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCZQ1TqeATr
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZMsga1LYgC
Three days later, she woke to jazz again.
Same track.
Same key.
— The song had become a ritual.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfubnCWgByG
A key.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGbBW7K5EGr
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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvmLOyBFaBO
— Not midnight.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoBi6ZzPjMr
Not sunrise.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV7GWPrxt70
Not the radio signal.
Her.
Her eyelids dropped—curtain down.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9YMfoGV2bS
The world rewound.
So if she didn’t sleep… she could reach tomorrow?
— The idea hit like a gas leak.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtuk9YApokY
Invisible. Intoxicating. Dangerous.
No sleep = escape?
What was the cost?73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKZXLDu84dh
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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSVT6ayyZ0c
She set the pen down instead.
This wasn’t a joke.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡti8BMZ2lF0
But jokes were the only way she knew how to survive this.
No.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfbX9yj5KAP
This wasn’t the solution.
The answer had to be closer.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs3vzmuDrd7
Not in her blood pressure.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRNiIpyYeXq
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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd0tHfWEHt3
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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKoCgoj5DjV
No appointments in a world with no tomorrow.
— She almost laughed, imagining herself in a psych office:73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡniUkdBZCHf
“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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDtV4brapKx
And even if someone did—they couldn’t help.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOfuv1Ltael
Claire’s head hung low.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUYmiylMjL2
She stared at the bed sheets.
Hmm...
— That crease was in the same spot yesterday.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo5SeYYmnf9
She never made her bed. Usually just kicked the covers to the side.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRFjqwZA1Y0
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:73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOb7K77l7ij
The protagonist picks up a glowing watch.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ0l8vcE1iQ
Or touches some cursed gemstone.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRHpruX7R4D
Suddenly: time loop.
Claire had no watch.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzlIFknCvnU
No gems.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc9nfz0CwLG
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?73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA5C9oo7ewM
The ones she never touched?
She used to imagine they moved at night.
Later, she blamed it on her own overthinking.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡulDAoOHJaj
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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjSxakAN4nw
She didn’t want the world suspecting anything.
Just like a researcher observing test subjects—73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYYC9dEFbGU
you don’t let them know they’re being watched.
7 p.m. came.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7HMifdDeRU
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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡna0ZEHa6A7
This felt small.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8jHUmZPZmE
But also like it could shift the gravity of the whole universe.
She booked a cheap motel.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡihj7JPE4av
Didn’t care about the room.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi2zmFAiEy1
Didn’t care about the bed.
This wasn’t about comfort.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyZZvSMo6JZ
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—73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUO8oVU7V3y
Good.
Maybe something would finally change.
— A missing bag of flour would be worth celebrating.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNtJgcTGvSS
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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5eVTqQc5EJ
