Day 5.
The alarm rang.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9bFnsDDL1S
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.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡslc8ssj2bs
She sat up.
— It wasn’t even the kind of tune that grows on you.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFxiBBbESl0
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.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNLFWC8zTVf
She was reliving the same day.
— Not maybe. Not possibly.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1q8rnOJPie
Definitely.
The tearing feeling that came with realizing the world was broken—yeah, that was gone.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSizbKeKas6
Now it was just...calm. Eerily calm.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ79wvuvtavV
Like some inner voice whispering, “Just accept it. The way you accept getting out of bed.”
Same music.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmYHkKHgb4F
Same bagels.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOmkhiE4T3r
Same newspaper.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiC3QVehtYy
Same customers.
— She could predict exactly how many times Kyle would laugh today. Which line he'd say.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡARi6s1iZN6
"Happy Easter."72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ILbEvl2Q6
Those two words were now a wad of chewed-up gum stuck in the corner of her brain.
She’d tried to change things.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL0SzffhRuk
Recommended a different drink to a customer. The customer changed it.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxP5qG2by0W
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.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxk8BAh08AJ
Didn’t bake the bagels. Didn’t water the plant. Didn’t put the newspaper on the counter.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqKkvhT0EN4
The city didn’t care. It moved around her like she didn’t matter.
Even her silence got overwritten.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuHonfRpPiJ
Reality filled in the blanks like water seeping into cracks.
She wasn’t sure what was happening.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKwBQtE6sC6
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,72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIciob6rZeu
"Claire, you’re finally awake."
But she didn’t dare hope.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvDbeO4kCyt
Even that scenario started to feel like a recycled TV script.
What if this was a dream?
— But dreams weren’t this long.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh5nPUooJ7w
They didn’t have heat, pain, taste.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6bdceE81Ra
If this was a dream, it was taking its job way too seriously.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNEB15N6gPZ
If fate was this committed, maybe she’d finally take it seriously too.
It’s not a movie.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmgCeSlrQwQ
This isn’t Groundhog Day.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKPia3lVBs9
Claire didn’t have some deep trauma to work through.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmKNUVotSLa
She wasn’t a killer. She hadn’t told that many lies.
— She wasn’t on some cosmic redemption arc.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwiVtR8LwzZ
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.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRdluiwb4TI
Why her?
Calm down, Claire.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT2vVIp1jvh
There has to be a reason. There has to be a way out.
She breathed in slowly.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGLiOCZkMNo
Her stomach felt tight, like it was inflating with air that wouldn’t go anywhere.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Xz5Z74cn0
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.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzDghH5p5fr
Peel away every wrong piece until the truth shows.
If the world’s gone mad, then fine.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8mt7AJbiAg
She’d be the one sane person left.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJqOmKw2RtI
She opened the café anyway. Out of what—loyalty? Instinct?72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ZOJxuoO87
— 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.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJksr9uIgQX
Brushed her teeth. Got dressed.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMJI0tuZqg6
Like a goddamn coin-operated coffee machine—insert a few units of routine and she’d start moving.
She hated the habit.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ59AxlUEKmg
— Or maybe... she was just scared of what would happen if she stopped.
She’d spent too long thinking in bed.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ52Eu4F1SMi
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.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYc62VNYjpk
That was still her choice—one of the few she had left.
She planned to bake after the morning rush.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCSFwcb7VRZ
Same dough. Same recipe.
— That lump of dough sat in the fridge like it was waiting to die.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlup2pOdzOo
Every day she pulled it out, crushed it, shaped it, threw it back in.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGLKD6QxThB
Sometimes she wondered if it had a memory too.
Maybe…72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZtL4NAJLU
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.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeU0YKfzmUa
No smile. Just steady observation.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwkndM8226z
Waiting—watching—for even the tiniest flicker of surprise.
There wasn’t any.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡleUaV8Sq3R
He just nodded and left.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiQWncEvqQ1
Said "Happy Easter" again.
— Word for word. Beat for beat.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0TE8gvxxiq
Like an actor stuck inside a film reel.
Claire gripped the dish towel in her hand.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡegmhskSPQi
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.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkA6k9xb6g1
But then she remembered—tomorrow, it would all vanish.
She started to write:72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjbkjS7RP9P
“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?72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡltZPi62HfL
Tomorrow the pen would be back in the drawer.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxUJb4Syc4t
The paper clean.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcgbTNujgAP
Nothing written.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkoUZi9esZI
Nothing left behind.
Her thoughts peeled away like dried pulp.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSrkHADUcee
Layer by layer.
Claire felt something slipping.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡso3SL5FinR
— Not the world.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjX6erQhONm
Her.
She’d tried so hard to be the observer.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ99DpwSKxLh
To stay rational. Stay grounded.
But now?
Now she was starting to get scared of mirrors.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS1E771XOVN
Afraid of the reflection.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgrfXXBRBhg
Afraid she’d see someone who’d gotten used to all of this.
Someone who belonged to it.
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNXLshupuwd
