Claire lay still.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqfNMddhoNq
The same jazz song played again.
— She could now predict exactly which saxophone note would slip slightly off pitch.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡScaEL1FPaR
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.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLgwxpjIcix
The melody twisted like an overheating tape deck, spitting out scorched notes in her brain.
Why had she failed?8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmUtfwSMTtb
Was it because she closed her eyes?
— Was it just a matter of seconds?8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ914GL6s94b
Or worse... did her awareness mean nothing at all?
She couldn’t help but ask herself:8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVvQOrW6UWc
If this world doesn’t wait for my will to move forward... what am I even fighting for?
No.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbQI8VQTQ6J
Tonight, she’d try again.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWsxAXOFWLm
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.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCVgqSeAmwI
Not now.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxKu6WP5IDR
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.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkCcUT0CKQJ
Her whole body felt clean.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ54c6j0G4Pc
Like someone had wiped her system while she slept.
Claire got up.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtbC2kxcYxm
Opened the café.
— She dressed. Went downstairs.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Wv8HKee7s
Started prepping bagels with muscle memory alone.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwuCvguNmF1
At least this kept her from thinking too much during the daylight hours.
Waiting for night again.
— Daytime was for pretending.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXa5XPhewJZ
The illusion of normal would swallow her whole if she let it.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡutrwV0Oxnk
But her mind had already carved out space for the night. Reserved it.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHssr1RTM3v
A blackout room in the back of her thoughts.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡerervNUQqB
8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzsLkYH8ycd
Three days later, she woke to jazz again.
Same track.
Same key.
— The song had become a ritual.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtV4lsj893X
A key.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7raJ94joT1
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.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0CfMGzOyjw
— Not midnight.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAXwfU5Ezr5
Not sunrise.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH9idiC8D1j
Not the radio signal.
Her.
Her eyelids dropped—curtain down.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQU8iOQu2No
The world rewound.
So if she didn’t sleep… she could reach tomorrow?
— The idea hit like a gas leak.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2JwIn5GAMx
Invisible. Intoxicating. Dangerous.
No sleep = escape?
What was the cost?8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡduapTsA43I
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.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG9dslBGnNL
She set the pen down instead.
This wasn’t a joke.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpA0ziFADxN
But jokes were the only way she knew how to survive this.
No.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUy17VvvT0p
This wasn’t the solution.
The answer had to be closer.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBb43droSVm
Not in her blood pressure.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlnMU8SdodZ
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.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0iwbshmKd8
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.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡavdA8foRRg
No appointments in a world with no tomorrow.
— She almost laughed, imagining herself in a psych office:8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsDQGhjazfO
“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.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGSIa7tiQZ0
And even if someone did—they couldn’t help.
8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTYHDuCYg82
Claire’s head hung low.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwsJSNQ2d77
She stared at the bed sheets.
Hmm...
— That crease was in the same spot yesterday.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSYoHRpYqYE
She never made her bed. Usually just kicked the covers to the side.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaD2frkZ8hn
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:8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlicuH2LKqt
The protagonist picks up a glowing watch.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbhHFL2IaTt
Or touches some cursed gemstone.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGvZpBk7eqY
Suddenly: time loop.
Claire had no watch.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcTew68MyLA
No gems.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ07SY9gruHK
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?8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS14Yn3c2lR
The ones she never touched?
She used to imagine they moved at night.
Later, she blamed it on her own overthinking.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbODB5HaGVR
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.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTutb2MIgVX
She didn’t want the world suspecting anything.
Just like a researcher observing test subjects—8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyCtfmFuf59
you don’t let them know they’re being watched.
7 p.m. came.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ7HCLTNVX0
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.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwEzt6yftT9
This felt small.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRGSbp1sOYr
But also like it could shift the gravity of the whole universe.
She booked a cheap motel.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnCclYoLbV5
Didn’t care about the room.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXPXYJrr3Ro
Didn’t care about the bed.
This wasn’t about comfort.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRFX4WvSujJ
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—8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIWIcYIHynr
Good.
Maybe something would finally change.
— A missing bag of flour would be worth celebrating.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFrNQA7EYdT
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.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ9UbXrG0LU
