Claire lay still.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrRFjjZPRuT
The same jazz song played again.
— She could now predict exactly which saxophone note would slip slightly off pitch.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡciJo3nPIJH
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGOCdNlsIkG
The melody twisted like an overheating tape deck, spitting out scorched notes in her brain.
Why had she failed?14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4uhvr3TtSR
Was it because she closed her eyes?
— Was it just a matter of seconds?14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP5AJScI20o
Or worse... did her awareness mean nothing at all?
She couldn’t help but ask herself:14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK2AT4pQHfF
If this world doesn’t wait for my will to move forward... what am I even fighting for?
No.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv1cWyr5ln7
Tonight, she’d try again.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV0J5sIQvba
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkJwb1UsN2P
Not now.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjUBIxcEB4e
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuw06FIPaL7
Her whole body felt clean.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYRwgZ2ZIG5
Like someone had wiped her system while she slept.
Claire got up.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7K3SuGIoGf
Opened the café.
— She dressed. Went downstairs.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9GmjW8wMxu
Started prepping bagels with muscle memory alone.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPsGlnEUuew
At least this kept her from thinking too much during the daylight hours.
Waiting for night again.
— Daytime was for pretending.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB8bOK2kMe6
The illusion of normal would swallow her whole if she let it.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiWoANtl2ML
But her mind had already carved out space for the night. Reserved it.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ15idyFQAQI
A blackout room in the back of her thoughts.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlJ5TJ4lM8c
14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVSgmD1lXDz
Three days later, she woke to jazz again.
Same track.
Same key.
— The song had become a ritual.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzF9Q5Vsl94
A key.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzzSt7wgz1g
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtOT8ZTxpxV
— Not midnight.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6OOXumcSxh
Not sunrise.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMdcSzqx2Uu
Not the radio signal.
Her.
Her eyelids dropped—curtain down.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOyol98w8fY
The world rewound.
So if she didn’t sleep… she could reach tomorrow?
— The idea hit like a gas leak.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiuMOkiTJ46
Invisible. Intoxicating. Dangerous.
No sleep = escape?
What was the cost?14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO8es2h3rWg
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuuH8BU642L
She set the pen down instead.
This wasn’t a joke.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡau5SRT4LKu
But jokes were the only way she knew how to survive this.
No.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeTZyJskxzN
This wasn’t the solution.
The answer had to be closer.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN9QQQ0Dirw
Not in her blood pressure.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlY8uHuYYny
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbRALgNlmWv
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMyucJHgQZC
No appointments in a world with no tomorrow.
— She almost laughed, imagining herself in a psych office:14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKmGCxALojo
“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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkx1K9v5wej
And even if someone did—they couldn’t help.
14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnxrUA4tP1C
Claire’s head hung low.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZtuU3RSkTz
She stared at the bed sheets.
Hmm...
— That crease was in the same spot yesterday.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZVCqvOPz2
She never made her bed. Usually just kicked the covers to the side.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDjcXCvHGgm
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:14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZccB2jprqp
The protagonist picks up a glowing watch.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlYQPbqWr2a
Or touches some cursed gemstone.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIGD3xcQflU
Suddenly: time loop.
Claire had no watch.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMxu3jgpO23
No gems.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg1KXsl2Knl
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?14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKrWFlFQ9Vj
The ones she never touched?
She used to imagine they moved at night.
Later, she blamed it on her own overthinking.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhF2BlzU8Yy
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4EIv2MQwyu
She didn’t want the world suspecting anything.
Just like a researcher observing test subjects—14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdNroNbFBtQ
you don’t let them know they’re being watched.
7 p.m. came.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFQBw6ZB6FK
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfadVYUzbf6
This felt small.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbXNVBaKLT6
But also like it could shift the gravity of the whole universe.
She booked a cheap motel.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvag47s3tWl
Didn’t care about the room.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwmGsr5T1UD
Didn’t care about the bed.
This wasn’t about comfort.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQl8UliVN0f
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—14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaPS2dG4wai
Good.
Maybe something would finally change.
— A missing bag of flour would be worth celebrating.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyxAISUGUX7
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2uwwhA7JuM
