Claire lay still.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4o4sl6wuIX
The same jazz song played again.
— She could now predict exactly which saxophone note would slip slightly off pitch.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGxZjDUTO7A
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.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcxIKosXj2V
The melody twisted like an overheating tape deck, spitting out scorched notes in her brain.
Why had she failed?10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9GHgKZhGV2
Was it because she closed her eyes?
— Was it just a matter of seconds?10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3lR5aLMxVI
Or worse... did her awareness mean nothing at all?
She couldn’t help but ask herself:10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTagYm5r28R
If this world doesn’t wait for my will to move forward... what am I even fighting for?
No.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvJimmqaPFe
Tonight, she’d try again.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYuUn6oicLw
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.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkKoiPr8tBE
Not now.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1DaFQasccu
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.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyEezH9vIIh
Her whole body felt clean.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMbJf6iynkS
Like someone had wiped her system while she slept.
Claire got up.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXviBMSHHgm
Opened the café.
— She dressed. Went downstairs.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTj9PAFoFGI
Started prepping bagels with muscle memory alone.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcEFB6npJ0v
At least this kept her from thinking too much during the daylight hours.
Waiting for night again.
— Daytime was for pretending.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmvbExFfqK4
The illusion of normal would swallow her whole if she let it.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4tzXvgUCvN
But her mind had already carved out space for the night. Reserved it.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQs9MqUANAS
A blackout room in the back of her thoughts.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpXsDhUUtG5
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKbLLVzGpeF
Three days later, she woke to jazz again.
Same track.
Same key.
— The song had become a ritual.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfWeqsErEUk
A key.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSiDVtjauA9
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.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbrIkeuxiRy
— Not midnight.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoOMzp1OHgL
Not sunrise.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVI2hv6jFQM
Not the radio signal.
Her.
Her eyelids dropped—curtain down.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJYBD2cUKFS
The world rewound.
So if she didn’t sleep… she could reach tomorrow?
— The idea hit like a gas leak.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN9wsuOTrAg
Invisible. Intoxicating. Dangerous.
No sleep = escape?
What was the cost?10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqc3lu7GRut
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.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWHXCo8IgNc
She set the pen down instead.
This wasn’t a joke.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvofqX7aDT5
But jokes were the only way she knew how to survive this.
No.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTHuEdgLkgZ
This wasn’t the solution.
The answer had to be closer.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmRUprG8zmV
Not in her blood pressure.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ5JTbQ1oqK
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.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9cfNBLUi5n
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.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE2uF6Qne9f
No appointments in a world with no tomorrow.
— She almost laughed, imagining herself in a psych office:10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7bWC2Do3SX
“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.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnzYgFoA0UV
And even if someone did—they couldn’t help.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOSZpMfKRIL
Claire’s head hung low.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxQBRRlXvGX
She stared at the bed sheets.
Hmm...
— That crease was in the same spot yesterday.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9H1x7mO1Dl
She never made her bed. Usually just kicked the covers to the side.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDZPvoy723Q
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:10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrFHnKZJG0l
The protagonist picks up a glowing watch.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKCsJlbAHag
Or touches some cursed gemstone.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBo86qaE1Yl
Suddenly: time loop.
Claire had no watch.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoo43iD0yTF
No gems.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQvehZRfo18
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?10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmviDxu7Fs7
The ones she never touched?
She used to imagine they moved at night.
Later, she blamed it on her own overthinking.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1UbfcLdOTk
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.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCVPyUcJ34O
She didn’t want the world suspecting anything.
Just like a researcher observing test subjects—10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIqW7aT76pI
you don’t let them know they’re being watched.
7 p.m. came.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtasFoVlcxD
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.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhTHSW4oXIs
This felt small.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe8ykUsse6d
But also like it could shift the gravity of the whole universe.
She booked a cheap motel.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB3tjy6Bvl5
Didn’t care about the room.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi1SxsAlmQT
Didn’t care about the bed.
This wasn’t about comfort.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoTVdE4CZSW
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—10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcfpmSnE71e
Good.
Maybe something would finally change.
— A missing bag of flour would be worth celebrating.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR6lp5iIhmK
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.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9r9WdmCEAa
