Claire lay still.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6SZbhe4gQ0
The same jazz song played again.
— She could now predict exactly which saxophone note would slip slightly off pitch.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnbNawPzpCJ
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ40u8LvPwwp
The melody twisted like an overheating tape deck, spitting out scorched notes in her brain.
Why had she failed?14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYJv2z6D6pM
Was it because she closed her eyes?
— Was it just a matter of seconds?14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2F2HAYsmlf
Or worse... did her awareness mean nothing at all?
She couldn’t help but ask herself:14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIAxvYF2IUZ
If this world doesn’t wait for my will to move forward... what am I even fighting for?
No.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP6Yck23HcO
Tonight, she’d try again.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOzfCvXfA9o
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiryxAcdQI7
Not now.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfF03Wukptu
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJYUtJlbjKS
Her whole body felt clean.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKwRUQwsKlP
Like someone had wiped her system while she slept.
Claire got up.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡai5J1wf2h1
Opened the café.
— She dressed. Went downstairs.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjaS5w8UDos
Started prepping bagels with muscle memory alone.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqCEZSuXvuW
At least this kept her from thinking too much during the daylight hours.
Waiting for night again.
— Daytime was for pretending.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZeyxA8n0uU
The illusion of normal would swallow her whole if she let it.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu2X1hGqQlQ
But her mind had already carved out space for the night. Reserved it.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzQDF3PmKeQ
A blackout room in the back of her thoughts.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMsU8ueCZXD
14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf7S5n6sjli
Three days later, she woke to jazz again.
Same track.
Same key.
— The song had become a ritual.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSpjrmmgx5k
A key.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT878I2Zlrf
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc5dq8Sbiwf
— Not midnight.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdtdc9rwKBB
Not sunrise.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvlDpgz4mjR
Not the radio signal.
Her.
Her eyelids dropped—curtain down.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ31WeyCBkQH
The world rewound.
So if she didn’t sleep… she could reach tomorrow?
— The idea hit like a gas leak.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4LQUfSyCAv
Invisible. Intoxicating. Dangerous.
No sleep = escape?
What was the cost?14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwwlFTYxBaF
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM8LMgZghNS
She set the pen down instead.
This wasn’t a joke.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOtGWGnSkgB
But jokes were the only way she knew how to survive this.
No.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0nXDWy1fdy
This wasn’t the solution.
The answer had to be closer.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO5e8H96y5K
Not in her blood pressure.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡofVSXvVjZv
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT4IqpJ9VT2
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjncH1o6MaH
No appointments in a world with no tomorrow.
— She almost laughed, imagining herself in a psych office:14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiGwkhYiVIZ
“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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj0PxtwWdoI
And even if someone did—they couldn’t help.
14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRn4hA3vdFh
Claire’s head hung low.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTG9wauP11S
She stared at the bed sheets.
Hmm...
— That crease was in the same spot yesterday.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnrwjMSy44P
She never made her bed. Usually just kicked the covers to the side.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2z26jaF5j8
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnttMuacvqi
The protagonist picks up a glowing watch.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfKaBY0S7vt
Or touches some cursed gemstone.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdaovCvjF15
Suddenly: time loop.
Claire had no watch.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLDG8p4VJRg
No gems.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQjP7dpDUle
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSSVSshQs3W
The ones she never touched?
She used to imagine they moved at night.
Later, she blamed it on her own overthinking.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLYJEoMuocX
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEL3WCqfM9Q
She didn’t want the world suspecting anything.
Just like a researcher observing test subjects—14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZBN3SZ7y3v
you don’t let them know they’re being watched.
7 p.m. came.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuvnenvWEmE
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡllfunGz3E7
This felt small.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAN3OxVEWwt
But also like it could shift the gravity of the whole universe.
She booked a cheap motel.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBdj8LeghK5
Didn’t care about the room.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJUml4fGvq
Didn’t care about the bed.
This wasn’t about comfort.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj1zHIl4GUt
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwydhG8ixz3
Good.
Maybe something would finally change.
— A missing bag of flour would be worth celebrating.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDiNYh3W7C5
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeA2XgKywpf
