Claire lay still.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyo9KqyJcTA
The same jazz song played again.
— She could now predict exactly which saxophone note would slip slightly off pitch.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf27hULrShc
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmxhsxukbJg
The melody twisted like an overheating tape deck, spitting out scorched notes in her brain.
Why had she failed?11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpiiYmDPyRK
Was it because she closed her eyes?
— Was it just a matter of seconds?11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA6w2g1MFHg
Or worse... did her awareness mean nothing at all?
She couldn’t help but ask herself:11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJZtrsSQJA3
If this world doesn’t wait for my will to move forward... what am I even fighting for?
No.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1JvJk9THux
Tonight, she’d try again.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyohgVxLZ5j
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPpMTdJhadw
Not now.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF5tzfDRypp
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjR06GnKH6k
Her whole body felt clean.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGHGxaLuhTO
Like someone had wiped her system while she slept.
Claire got up.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡynWf58C7Ca
Opened the café.
— She dressed. Went downstairs.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq7vXR47yUC
Started prepping bagels with muscle memory alone.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6itWLejkuR
At least this kept her from thinking too much during the daylight hours.
Waiting for night again.
— Daytime was for pretending.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7x16ytzMsG
The illusion of normal would swallow her whole if she let it.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNwLa1c2hSZ
But her mind had already carved out space for the night. Reserved it.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7QsUq2ffpa
A blackout room in the back of her thoughts.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfr72WPPHfb
11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV4a4sREDl2
Three days later, she woke to jazz again.
Same track.
Same key.
— The song had become a ritual.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSyWgqbuYxN
A key.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXtdM11kHY5
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfeEOtIq8JP
— Not midnight.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoaMGMbxhFL
Not sunrise.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLd4xrmrA6e
Not the radio signal.
Her.
Her eyelids dropped—curtain down.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhbcM6lAFSm
The world rewound.
So if she didn’t sleep… she could reach tomorrow?
— The idea hit like a gas leak.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvGqZhkt7Hj
Invisible. Intoxicating. Dangerous.
No sleep = escape?
What was the cost?11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAHwEFGfD3L
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp16ajQimQq
She set the pen down instead.
This wasn’t a joke.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGLKTlRbN9C
But jokes were the only way she knew how to survive this.
No.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvQMHodXCrk
This wasn’t the solution.
The answer had to be closer.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9b5Xlf5JlN
Not in her blood pressure.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡstgXQCvY0O
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpaXB2W3LEb
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzdVQMjbI8k
No appointments in a world with no tomorrow.
— She almost laughed, imagining herself in a psych office:11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDzLDT2k0pp
“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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLfQSR7VFN3
And even if someone did—they couldn’t help.
11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE4gCWUO1JS
Claire’s head hung low.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTwkIAw69d
She stared at the bed sheets.
Hmm...
— That crease was in the same spot yesterday.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTY8UkoeXkQ
She never made her bed. Usually just kicked the covers to the side.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsgnT8b8Xf5
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Ng67ZBldS
The protagonist picks up a glowing watch.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdpt33RGFmL
Or touches some cursed gemstone.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5dwUankWIO
Suddenly: time loop.
Claire had no watch.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgZvezzfAiI
No gems.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlEpL8osdaE
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeqx6GmSYNg
The ones she never touched?
She used to imagine they moved at night.
Later, she blamed it on her own overthinking.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZgZbIV2IWz
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHij0pl642o
She didn’t want the world suspecting anything.
Just like a researcher observing test subjects—11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkO9geRBpJi
you don’t let them know they’re being watched.
7 p.m. came.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlyoVyaLqY1
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX5s0uTbonf
This felt small.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1oGdl5H4gW
But also like it could shift the gravity of the whole universe.
She booked a cheap motel.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyuN1s58B4S
Didn’t care about the room.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKlsYuzaHSF
Didn’t care about the bed.
This wasn’t about comfort.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLej0CQN5nr
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmTmTS8Fbq4
Good.
Maybe something would finally change.
— A missing bag of flour would be worth celebrating.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWQgyurfJNv
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcojsVYlIpS
