Claire lay still.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQG2iNSza90
The same jazz song played again.
— She could now predict exactly which saxophone note would slip slightly off pitch.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ92m1SFl3Cx
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡawdKgBoIuC
The melody twisted like an overheating tape deck, spitting out scorched notes in her brain.
Why had she failed?11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT0VQMdI32q
Was it because she closed her eyes?
— Was it just a matter of seconds?11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbhmo6kxUFo
Or worse... did her awareness mean nothing at all?
She couldn’t help but ask herself:11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlx14fYrwkH
If this world doesn’t wait for my will to move forward... what am I even fighting for?
No.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrvPDzAayc8
Tonight, she’d try again.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBNRrZynpsc
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLnaJVdDILA
Not now.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡObLs6zZFNs
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPmy8zSXHyc
Her whole body felt clean.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN6oDqnMITM
Like someone had wiped her system while she slept.
Claire got up.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHvT8TL8UuD
Opened the café.
— She dressed. Went downstairs.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhaF37SyMXA
Started prepping bagels with muscle memory alone.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb5A9tipGLP
At least this kept her from thinking too much during the daylight hours.
Waiting for night again.
— Daytime was for pretending.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLFBho2DIv1
The illusion of normal would swallow her whole if she let it.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡstqnJJHgax
But her mind had already carved out space for the night. Reserved it.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7aIphEZudT
A blackout room in the back of her thoughts.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsLiPNCHPfT
11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkOfj0kZ51u
Three days later, she woke to jazz again.
Same track.
Same key.
— The song had become a ritual.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlcVMeVSaDX
A key.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg94jY85JiA
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ70WJnTChsU
— Not midnight.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5OvCCj5iLV
Not sunrise.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWKC8QEE0VG
Not the radio signal.
Her.
Her eyelids dropped—curtain down.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIXAxqDw4Ai
The world rewound.
So if she didn’t sleep… she could reach tomorrow?
— The idea hit like a gas leak.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWBXAiP7zs4
Invisible. Intoxicating. Dangerous.
No sleep = escape?
What was the cost?11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsIDbkSJ3A9
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUyf1gWjOt0
She set the pen down instead.
This wasn’t a joke.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiT7Oikal6J
But jokes were the only way she knew how to survive this.
No.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIzNn1zJqBU
This wasn’t the solution.
The answer had to be closer.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm4RytnxtQX
Not in her blood pressure.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8QJHr6cjYn
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHaDT7P90os
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡymUm7W9Ly7
No appointments in a world with no tomorrow.
— She almost laughed, imagining herself in a psych office:11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA6Yriv4DjB
“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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3pbqVX6QZG
And even if someone did—they couldn’t help.
11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd1e5FRdMyk
Claire’s head hung low.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHxbw3skSAJ
She stared at the bed sheets.
Hmm...
— That crease was in the same spot yesterday.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy7VYNItsUb
She never made her bed. Usually just kicked the covers to the side.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTNQK76jcjO
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJDyqlI7RPL
The protagonist picks up a glowing watch.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzqeEFQn45I
Or touches some cursed gemstone.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyZljRGjMso
Suddenly: time loop.
Claire had no watch.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ13bnlQqcp5
No gems.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjPPjlZ98xe
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe5GPWZuT74
The ones she never touched?
She used to imagine they moved at night.
Later, she blamed it on her own overthinking.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdGk238OpaD
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCCP2ldL3dV
She didn’t want the world suspecting anything.
Just like a researcher observing test subjects—11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ43MdqBm2VB
you don’t let them know they’re being watched.
7 p.m. came.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDwK3eCt8t7
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLDkS5Kh7oL
This felt small.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuntyc5IDKB
But also like it could shift the gravity of the whole universe.
She booked a cheap motel.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr9NsiNFegg
Didn’t care about the room.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOBh7qI5yP1
Didn’t care about the bed.
This wasn’t about comfort.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDSPxLB2oBZ
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXuUDizCC4d
Good.
Maybe something would finally change.
— A missing bag of flour would be worth celebrating.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8XCa3mMGHb
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaF6NILBMtc
