Day 5.
The alarm rang.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpg49om6llW
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.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA7rmyvewza
She sat up.
— It wasn’t even the kind of tune that grows on you.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBqfN7HZFcJ
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.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQg3XHEsuf0
She was reliving the same day.
— Not maybe. Not possibly.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdPla8Mz0mh
Definitely.
The tearing feeling that came with realizing the world was broken—yeah, that was gone.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgnxyhEAEcL
Now it was just...calm. Eerily calm.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpHWuZU1QEJ
Like some inner voice whispering, “Just accept it. The way you accept getting out of bed.”
Same music.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIPPdKIXvmO
Same bagels.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnezB18mN5C
Same newspaper.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ55te1Hhjtp
Same customers.
— She could predict exactly how many times Kyle would laugh today. Which line he'd say.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcuqeH70Fgj
"Happy Easter."15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMRprBSXRrp
Those two words were now a wad of chewed-up gum stuck in the corner of her brain.
She’d tried to change things.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1EdIVZERuh
Recommended a different drink to a customer. The customer changed it.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfF4xFCweAI
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.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTa8B3B5KXP
Didn’t bake the bagels. Didn’t water the plant. Didn’t put the newspaper on the counter.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs27b9reLyZ
The city didn’t care. It moved around her like she didn’t matter.
Even her silence got overwritten.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlQ7GH3uaUV
Reality filled in the blanks like water seeping into cracks.
She wasn’t sure what was happening.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWarBXaeKwP
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,15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrFu7p7j6ev
"Claire, you’re finally awake."
But she didn’t dare hope.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWpNKeql4Za
Even that scenario started to feel like a recycled TV script.
What if this was a dream?
— But dreams weren’t this long.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGuFeIepZpQ
They didn’t have heat, pain, taste.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKTYvqix3FT
If this was a dream, it was taking its job way too seriously.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0kHEcf8QaA
If fate was this committed, maybe she’d finally take it seriously too.
It’s not a movie.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM2IMxyjxb2
This isn’t Groundhog Day.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDUmQ2FIiPy
Claire didn’t have some deep trauma to work through.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHPSE4on4OE
She wasn’t a killer. She hadn’t told that many lies.
— She wasn’t on some cosmic redemption arc.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTHk5kb84M8
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.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFnZgf4M70r
Why her?
Calm down, Claire.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡafGx07pTd9
There has to be a reason. There has to be a way out.
She breathed in slowly.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9cOdaFfLwK
Her stomach felt tight, like it was inflating with air that wouldn’t go anywhere.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmLXgHtQgHe
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.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5GhUAcZHhj
Peel away every wrong piece until the truth shows.
If the world’s gone mad, then fine.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRXPqUusg6V
She’d be the one sane person left.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ88It0eUU5U
She opened the café anyway. Out of what—loyalty? Instinct?15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8MYetn3144
— 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.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ88EPpnMnXA
Brushed her teeth. Got dressed.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrG7B33VH2n
Like a goddamn coin-operated coffee machine—insert a few units of routine and she’d start moving.
She hated the habit.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrF7gVz8oPf
— Or maybe... she was just scared of what would happen if she stopped.
She’d spent too long thinking in bed.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcVyS54bSc5
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.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw45kMg0vbJ
That was still her choice—one of the few she had left.
She planned to bake after the morning rush.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8GSEDHJLwB
Same dough. Same recipe.
— That lump of dough sat in the fridge like it was waiting to die.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcyu9PpqnLF
Every day she pulled it out, crushed it, shaped it, threw it back in.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4sh8yL11XN
Sometimes she wondered if it had a memory too.
Maybe…15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWnZ8Ugo14X
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.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi6MkyDy8dX
No smile. Just steady observation.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiBPPPXphMN
Waiting—watching—for even the tiniest flicker of surprise.
There wasn’t any.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtMMIh3gRos
He just nodded and left.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6iqU7UV7gc
Said "Happy Easter" again.
— Word for word. Beat for beat.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX5T1obHITn
Like an actor stuck inside a film reel.
Claire gripped the dish towel in her hand.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuOxTd1seO9
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.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd8D7TChM6H
But then she remembered—tomorrow, it would all vanish.
She started to write:15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡleWiFqOAXH
“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?15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRZYAPR3Ygt
Tomorrow the pen would be back in the drawer.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaJjAqIMIeU
The paper clean.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtfB4VF61ZV
Nothing written.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ACvUyXsMC
Nothing left behind.
Her thoughts peeled away like dried pulp.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmDal4XsRYw
Layer by layer.
Claire felt something slipping.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsYKMN8kUNy
— Not the world.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm78bSsAEcI
Her.
She’d tried so hard to be the observer.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo4CzrraI5g
To stay rational. Stay grounded.
But now?
Now she was starting to get scared of mirrors.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCv2UkUxHpf
Afraid of the reflection.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8sVvpe9307
Afraid she’d see someone who’d gotten used to all of this.
Someone who belonged to it.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpapKMeSdnx
