Day 5.
The alarm rang.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMmbuuW7fUQ
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.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSGDuYtX5Em
She sat up.
— It wasn’t even the kind of tune that grows on you.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAfxFmzlGUj
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.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH9FGSdJbTd
She was reliving the same day.
— Not maybe. Not possibly.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsa9o5MnN7A
Definitely.
The tearing feeling that came with realizing the world was broken—yeah, that was gone.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUiZywHjTl0
Now it was just...calm. Eerily calm.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtbM4OppPUf
Like some inner voice whispering, “Just accept it. The way you accept getting out of bed.”
Same music.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQnrkiZnIQk
Same bagels.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu0WnLxh1hi
Same newspaper.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdQvPHmweNr
Same customers.
— She could predict exactly how many times Kyle would laugh today. Which line he'd say.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡConieKRUCy
"Happy Easter."13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRSXVHyl5xV
Those two words were now a wad of chewed-up gum stuck in the corner of her brain.
She’d tried to change things.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5bEapqyzZ2
Recommended a different drink to a customer. The customer changed it.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5k199LtiTd
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.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡap5ATHSiC3
Didn’t bake the bagels. Didn’t water the plant. Didn’t put the newspaper on the counter.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3dRNhDBz5n
The city didn’t care. It moved around her like she didn’t matter.
Even her silence got overwritten.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9I1Fm7dO5S
Reality filled in the blanks like water seeping into cracks.
She wasn’t sure what was happening.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1t6fbeZTbe
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,13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXFNmukimiu
"Claire, you’re finally awake."
But she didn’t dare hope.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXXjc5vCYBf
Even that scenario started to feel like a recycled TV script.
What if this was a dream?
— But dreams weren’t this long.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9lfX2MKD20
They didn’t have heat, pain, taste.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtT1BMAppyv
If this was a dream, it was taking its job way too seriously.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjkTpA4N4nf
If fate was this committed, maybe she’d finally take it seriously too.
It’s not a movie.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBxLIyZbI4q
This isn’t Groundhog Day.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbPQmkxXfCz
Claire didn’t have some deep trauma to work through.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC8YgIuOwkW
She wasn’t a killer. She hadn’t told that many lies.
— She wasn’t on some cosmic redemption arc.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtsAO5m26wU
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.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8U46tuPZvq
Why her?
Calm down, Claire.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZN5wd44089
There has to be a reason. There has to be a way out.
She breathed in slowly.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrRUI9ZOufg
Her stomach felt tight, like it was inflating with air that wouldn’t go anywhere.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAS7N9ntnxL
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.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXSvHvVj0By
Peel away every wrong piece until the truth shows.
If the world’s gone mad, then fine.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1E8AlA1BGR
She’d be the one sane person left.
13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHp6Hm9F3sY
She opened the café anyway. Out of what—loyalty? Instinct?13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCXAGmxwcFo
— 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.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWDSDlPI8cg
Brushed her teeth. Got dressed.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEIooCxlPBh
Like a goddamn coin-operated coffee machine—insert a few units of routine and she’d start moving.
She hated the habit.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkBtrd0xo9f
— Or maybe... she was just scared of what would happen if she stopped.
She’d spent too long thinking in bed.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsoBTh2DgwP
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.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Tx5OqWyKY
That was still her choice—one of the few she had left.
She planned to bake after the morning rush.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡio9TWEs7He
Same dough. Same recipe.
— That lump of dough sat in the fridge like it was waiting to die.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ2RczfU0Pi
Every day she pulled it out, crushed it, shaped it, threw it back in.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWhkKOcixPN
Sometimes she wondered if it had a memory too.
Maybe…13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpX7vbnHwJM
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.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiIUsvg8Isz
No smile. Just steady observation.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡntgqMUgYmu
Waiting—watching—for even the tiniest flicker of surprise.
There wasn’t any.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8fQDY7sMWd
He just nodded and left.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpjwGtuqSEo
Said "Happy Easter" again.
— Word for word. Beat for beat.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZWX7uskJIC
Like an actor stuck inside a film reel.
Claire gripped the dish towel in her hand.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRnzmoeu8Ry
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.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwVbNUaFiBN
But then she remembered—tomorrow, it would all vanish.
She started to write:13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxsqXusIYqb
“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?13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfOgvAwWSKl
Tomorrow the pen would be back in the drawer.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVEAzeQSr6S
The paper clean.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡspRz9KUbNl
Nothing written.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCs8qWZR2i9
Nothing left behind.
Her thoughts peeled away like dried pulp.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEq9Q9BKY7o
Layer by layer.
Claire felt something slipping.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmpy9AePEm2
— Not the world.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv31fGFoVCF
Her.
She’d tried so hard to be the observer.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2qAjaGxSlz
To stay rational. Stay grounded.
But now?
Now she was starting to get scared of mirrors.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNfO9UQSXAv
Afraid of the reflection.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKyIh2wkP69
Afraid she’d see someone who’d gotten used to all of this.
Someone who belonged to it.
13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnkYocOgh4X
