Day 5.
The alarm rang.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCozYCdS4hv
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5wHddTjba1
She sat up.
— It wasn’t even the kind of tune that grows on you.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9eJ5qPJP7L
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz6dKfzSL1q
She was reliving the same day.
— Not maybe. Not possibly.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf5ps5kzMk5
Definitely.
The tearing feeling that came with realizing the world was broken—yeah, that was gone.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdmfXWlW04B
Now it was just...calm. Eerily calm.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNee5zRjaQh
Like some inner voice whispering, “Just accept it. The way you accept getting out of bed.”
Same music.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9tq0AVapdb
Same bagels.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJJMi3Z0bQ7
Same newspaper.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTXVaL3yMwf
Same customers.
— She could predict exactly how many times Kyle would laugh today. Which line he'd say.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMcDoCMgPwV
"Happy Easter."20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5NiRofchhC
Those two words were now a wad of chewed-up gum stuck in the corner of her brain.
She’d tried to change things.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2mNls5klOn
Recommended a different drink to a customer. The customer changed it.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3vNvXCB4tz
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6retLht4bC
Didn’t bake the bagels. Didn’t water the plant. Didn’t put the newspaper on the counter.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAAfoFU8xDi
The city didn’t care. It moved around her like she didn’t matter.
Even her silence got overwritten.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnJZkw32udC
Reality filled in the blanks like water seeping into cracks.
She wasn’t sure what was happening.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCxqwQpE7Ex
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,20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNI9WK1B7WN
"Claire, you’re finally awake."
But she didn’t dare hope.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW3VZR6vOUo
Even that scenario started to feel like a recycled TV script.
What if this was a dream?
— But dreams weren’t this long.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9AIdBxXEwm
They didn’t have heat, pain, taste.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGLOn06hslh
If this was a dream, it was taking its job way too seriously.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7yZkBGxLZf
If fate was this committed, maybe she’d finally take it seriously too.
It’s not a movie.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtAC2B6ld9w
This isn’t Groundhog Day.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6dkMkeRrOL
Claire didn’t have some deep trauma to work through.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ZMean13IH
She wasn’t a killer. She hadn’t told that many lies.
— She wasn’t on some cosmic redemption arc.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx56GEP4t1i
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡebWvTO53Fp
Why her?
Calm down, Claire.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡafbRLcMFd8
There has to be a reason. There has to be a way out.
She breathed in slowly.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn7sEUtGJZd
Her stomach felt tight, like it was inflating with air that wouldn’t go anywhere.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsqHaVOrNFA
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJwE487SN3z
Peel away every wrong piece until the truth shows.
If the world’s gone mad, then fine.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRhRKZcn5yW
She’d be the one sane person left.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWz0xWzydGp
She opened the café anyway. Out of what—loyalty? Instinct?20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw6r3er9iSt
— 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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm10ZVqNL8g
Brushed her teeth. Got dressed.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyShGZ49s3h
Like a goddamn coin-operated coffee machine—insert a few units of routine and she’d start moving.
She hated the habit.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8YasTatu3q
— Or maybe... she was just scared of what would happen if she stopped.
She’d spent too long thinking in bed.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsc3d9xCqfV
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN2wyQGRqTw
That was still her choice—one of the few she had left.
She planned to bake after the morning rush.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfYZKNGJsqr
Same dough. Same recipe.
— That lump of dough sat in the fridge like it was waiting to die.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP9S7udum43
Every day she pulled it out, crushed it, shaped it, threw it back in.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5VpoSWmAYA
Sometimes she wondered if it had a memory too.
Maybe…20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8v7nsPoAaV
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpYFmIAnJRc
No smile. Just steady observation.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkBmpEn2OuW
Waiting—watching—for even the tiniest flicker of surprise.
There wasn’t any.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXEutTrALvy
He just nodded and left.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrYEdJMm4kj
Said "Happy Easter" again.
— Word for word. Beat for beat.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK0xB4AzmtY
Like an actor stuck inside a film reel.
Claire gripped the dish towel in her hand.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSwaqDl5Exn
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPOqFyfTNMo
But then she remembered—tomorrow, it would all vanish.
She started to write:20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVcyJlZbYi4
“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?20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJA1V1iroMx
Tomorrow the pen would be back in the drawer.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeqx8l8z6WO
The paper clean.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzgTaDyfJHz
Nothing written.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqtBjEcHqtD
Nothing left behind.
Her thoughts peeled away like dried pulp.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9LNBwe8Gse
Layer by layer.
Claire felt something slipping.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGmLCWIWa0S
— Not the world.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvFbhPAv8KO
Her.
She’d tried so hard to be the observer.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUWtuYXkovP
To stay rational. Stay grounded.
But now?
Now she was starting to get scared of mirrors.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4zjSXa12k5
Afraid of the reflection.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRwb5h4pays
Afraid she’d see someone who’d gotten used to all of this.
Someone who belonged to it.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsJtT71hvbL
