Day 5.
The alarm rang.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAe41J5uaJk
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV5tpdOWkvb
She sat up.
— It wasn’t even the kind of tune that grows on you.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv497dWXW2L
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoR2M6L0OnP
She was reliving the same day.
— Not maybe. Not possibly.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi89lRfKkbI
Definitely.
The tearing feeling that came with realizing the world was broken—yeah, that was gone.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡROO4PIDD4O
Now it was just...calm. Eerily calm.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡulVIeUE6ul
Like some inner voice whispering, “Just accept it. The way you accept getting out of bed.”
Same music.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIu2y7qbPxx
Same bagels.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIzaGwg7KXD
Same newspaper.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsbObvsEOm8
Same customers.
— She could predict exactly how many times Kyle would laugh today. Which line he'd say.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLCPuU7uh1e
"Happy Easter."15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9MjYMlrgt3
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcKOD8sNXdI
Recommended a different drink to a customer. The customer changed it.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA3NvxpKzgI
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVX4deSh9l4
Didn’t bake the bagels. Didn’t water the plant. Didn’t put the newspaper on the counter.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeh7SZL2Qh0
The city didn’t care. It moved around her like she didn’t matter.
Even her silence got overwritten.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ5MnhG4WUf
Reality filled in the blanks like water seeping into cracks.
She wasn’t sure what was happening.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡub3IJB8qL7
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYe0hFFBLWb
"Claire, you’re finally awake."
But she didn’t dare hope.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0SmHZV5pm8
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDVQYM3euc1
They didn’t have heat, pain, taste.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEtm0loYXVl
If this was a dream, it was taking its job way too seriously.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8AifNnbBiN
If fate was this committed, maybe she’d finally take it seriously too.
It’s not a movie.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeG6bRcST8T
This isn’t Groundhog Day.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH493YiiElB
Claire didn’t have some deep trauma to work through.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoNohNKDIBg
She wasn’t a killer. She hadn’t told that many lies.
— She wasn’t on some cosmic redemption arc.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHYBVk2aJUl
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeDTd7akjtF
Why her?
Calm down, Claire.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbcN7ZkApDo
There has to be a reason. There has to be a way out.
She breathed in slowly.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2xgMsZdAHL
Her stomach felt tight, like it was inflating with air that wouldn’t go anywhere.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNeLVLWAbkY
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYPYpvCgmBs
Peel away every wrong piece until the truth shows.
If the world’s gone mad, then fine.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsBi8Romz4F
She’d be the one sane person left.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEKzUYrAQhH
She opened the café anyway. Out of what—loyalty? Instinct?15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4cTn5Wm6rD
— 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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmy7NzLtfKK
Brushed her teeth. Got dressed.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgHblK1Mbi2
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCi7Qt5m0Bl
— Or maybe... she was just scared of what would happen if she stopped.
She’d spent too long thinking in bed.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuImXX0qnb7
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhDX7RKTKww
That was still her choice—one of the few she had left.
She planned to bake after the morning rush.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqVmqy5UHHR
Same dough. Same recipe.
— That lump of dough sat in the fridge like it was waiting to die.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAMWoI3a1s0
Every day she pulled it out, crushed it, shaped it, threw it back in.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl5EjzDv1SQ
Sometimes she wondered if it had a memory too.
Maybe…15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1g7liHvdfP
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWqxLXjL3fW
No smile. Just steady observation.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaRjAbBeZKw
Waiting—watching—for even the tiniest flicker of surprise.
There wasn’t any.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKJJPWC3bUR
He just nodded and left.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡltyB7TXiwt
Said "Happy Easter" again.
— Word for word. Beat for beat.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvfgGsjQVgO
Like an actor stuck inside a film reel.
Claire gripped the dish towel in her hand.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn4YnYt1chT
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXqWpMCPpxT
But then she remembered—tomorrow, it would all vanish.
She started to write:15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb72NEn4k8r
“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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjv7kKXx4yI
Tomorrow the pen would be back in the drawer.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2jWZhPSeuc
The paper clean.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡelkA7lboDS
Nothing written.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1jV55pICyh
Nothing left behind.
Her thoughts peeled away like dried pulp.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjTZ4T27DNL
Layer by layer.
Claire felt something slipping.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdGtPj8UQBq
— Not the world.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO1SYftoT77
Her.
She’d tried so hard to be the observer.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡikr7YXYcw8
To stay rational. Stay grounded.
But now?
Now she was starting to get scared of mirrors.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr3UMfNO1yX
Afraid of the reflection.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5K2YxkaWeI
Afraid she’d see someone who’d gotten used to all of this.
Someone who belonged to it.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgJBRSxZ6YK
