Day 5.
The alarm rang.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiOcyPuxh5A
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.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP3XTtYIMa5
She sat up.
— It wasn’t even the kind of tune that grows on you.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPsR1ilSTZO
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.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4z619eUbEM
She was reliving the same day.
— Not maybe. Not possibly.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoAyg4xmhRJ
Definitely.
The tearing feeling that came with realizing the world was broken—yeah, that was gone.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUHV7tHY1rG
Now it was just...calm. Eerily calm.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTg4s76mviQ
Like some inner voice whispering, “Just accept it. The way you accept getting out of bed.”
Same music.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaPJOjsHhm2
Same bagels.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6SiMOOIGWg
Same newspaper.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnmoEhU1hXN
Same customers.
— She could predict exactly how many times Kyle would laugh today. Which line he'd say.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS72wESziyr
"Happy Easter."16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWKZOFfjjzE
Those two words were now a wad of chewed-up gum stuck in the corner of her brain.
She’d tried to change things.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrDQZDitkfQ
Recommended a different drink to a customer. The customer changed it.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqXWDJz3uhE
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.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgLxP3UlPGX
Didn’t bake the bagels. Didn’t water the plant. Didn’t put the newspaper on the counter.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqr6HiVJyrx
The city didn’t care. It moved around her like she didn’t matter.
Even her silence got overwritten.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm6fQtmUN4z
Reality filled in the blanks like water seeping into cracks.
She wasn’t sure what was happening.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOeJtSv7bqh
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,16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ46fftm61z
"Claire, you’re finally awake."
But she didn’t dare hope.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVlQZ1JTi1E
Even that scenario started to feel like a recycled TV script.
What if this was a dream?
— But dreams weren’t this long.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPUVgPo1li7
They didn’t have heat, pain, taste.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrAuE1QHTRP
If this was a dream, it was taking its job way too seriously.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoVldgiCcwo
If fate was this committed, maybe she’d finally take it seriously too.
It’s not a movie.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMe62BUxlYp
This isn’t Groundhog Day.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHoQaaarTSi
Claire didn’t have some deep trauma to work through.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtr9XZsXCgy
She wasn’t a killer. She hadn’t told that many lies.
— She wasn’t on some cosmic redemption arc.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiatTSEIoS5
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.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk5dIXR4b5C
Why her?
Calm down, Claire.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv0NtPU4zDz
There has to be a reason. There has to be a way out.
She breathed in slowly.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXts1YKtgcW
Her stomach felt tight, like it was inflating with air that wouldn’t go anywhere.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6PbdnostpH
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.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡepVV6dVeqn
Peel away every wrong piece until the truth shows.
If the world’s gone mad, then fine.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCB2KjyAf4G
She’d be the one sane person left.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy88GLbhSZQ
She opened the café anyway. Out of what—loyalty? Instinct?16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNXwH7Ta3KW
— 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.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSVQYvjBm7N
Brushed her teeth. Got dressed.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP6f0UYufsM
Like a goddamn coin-operated coffee machine—insert a few units of routine and she’d start moving.
She hated the habit.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUOb5XLHIl2
— Or maybe... she was just scared of what would happen if she stopped.
She’d spent too long thinking in bed.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0xZUVjXt4
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.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoZlOVLJjIW
That was still her choice—one of the few she had left.
She planned to bake after the morning rush.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBXhombc3i1
Same dough. Same recipe.
— That lump of dough sat in the fridge like it was waiting to die.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtqTn3mK1Fa
Every day she pulled it out, crushed it, shaped it, threw it back in.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3DHUgK0Yz4
Sometimes she wondered if it had a memory too.
Maybe…16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoCRPZhtEte
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.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHqy3gvlPcW
No smile. Just steady observation.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtcDDrijFPN
Waiting—watching—for even the tiniest flicker of surprise.
There wasn’t any.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFsUZztFdji
He just nodded and left.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw8VAxOf0bc
Said "Happy Easter" again.
— Word for word. Beat for beat.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTr9S7WHyPw
Like an actor stuck inside a film reel.
Claire gripped the dish towel in her hand.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjdKlJWJzTb
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.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb5eim6Cwme
But then she remembered—tomorrow, it would all vanish.
She started to write:16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡflG4yrhfdi
“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?16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Qf0dDtYci
Tomorrow the pen would be back in the drawer.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC5vi1PvxDF
The paper clean.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDBdN5cIZ52
Nothing written.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxKiZpNmZlA
Nothing left behind.
Her thoughts peeled away like dried pulp.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv9a4rI96oY
Layer by layer.
Claire felt something slipping.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXv9ik6oczT
— Not the world.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlCdgNQgJ83
Her.
She’d tried so hard to be the observer.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxKcavq3tMN
To stay rational. Stay grounded.
But now?
Now she was starting to get scared of mirrors.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHuWHbwsCQX
Afraid of the reflection.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5RFa6IGs21
Afraid she’d see someone who’d gotten used to all of this.
Someone who belonged to it.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq7ojRiH5MC
