Day 5.
The alarm rang.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKynwjlIwv5
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFGrgTHbZb4
She sat up.
— It wasn’t even the kind of tune that grows on you.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ803jyQFr1e
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLhVzhN19eC
She was reliving the same day.
— Not maybe. Not possibly.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTmjvYW2aRV
Definitely.
The tearing feeling that came with realizing the world was broken—yeah, that was gone.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvwkEgrUKSh
Now it was just...calm. Eerily calm.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp4FAwqoMek
Like some inner voice whispering, “Just accept it. The way you accept getting out of bed.”
Same music.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaEycieXG6d
Same bagels.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqwOAW07V2b
Same newspaper.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIptgx2KSXY
Same customers.
— She could predict exactly how many times Kyle would laugh today. Which line he'd say.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbQa6gYpgAU
"Happy Easter."15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPsh7ay4zPT
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqe4deC4HK8
Recommended a different drink to a customer. The customer changed it.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL2TED8RLM1
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhJYVrMc7Ix
Didn’t bake the bagels. Didn’t water the plant. Didn’t put the newspaper on the counter.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6TWyy6uhGY
The city didn’t care. It moved around her like she didn’t matter.
Even her silence got overwritten.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuXiiLpImC7
Reality filled in the blanks like water seeping into cracks.
She wasn’t sure what was happening.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡokc2dOvP1r
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdBLG3ca8hU
"Claire, you’re finally awake."
But she didn’t dare hope.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYtiEtqG10S
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqRy7xTaW6l
They didn’t have heat, pain, taste.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJGhxX1ieJ3
If this was a dream, it was taking its job way too seriously.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYAcJ4l09j9
If fate was this committed, maybe she’d finally take it seriously too.
It’s not a movie.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUyoCZl6vM1
This isn’t Groundhog Day.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOnI9F5TfWe
Claire didn’t have some deep trauma to work through.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKqWERM1lm
She wasn’t a killer. She hadn’t told that many lies.
— She wasn’t on some cosmic redemption arc.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh2q4njJK7M
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOfsyb6g7Yh
Why her?
Calm down, Claire.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ31QTfLCtGS
There has to be a reason. There has to be a way out.
She breathed in slowly.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWsAlVohvmr
Her stomach felt tight, like it was inflating with air that wouldn’t go anywhere.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdyRf1nhFQH
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡea5nqI9aLM
Peel away every wrong piece until the truth shows.
If the world’s gone mad, then fine.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYMnG0lJcfg
She’d be the one sane person left.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkewoD6QImN
She opened the café anyway. Out of what—loyalty? Instinct?15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnZAE58j8p2
— 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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxopvSqmTDR
Brushed her teeth. Got dressed.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoW75qdtsGw
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyM3SA7aa84
— Or maybe... she was just scared of what would happen if she stopped.
She’d spent too long thinking in bed.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaAgH7VjeRw
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjWVnmZIJTX
That was still her choice—one of the few she had left.
She planned to bake after the morning rush.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLlzRAW0bgn
Same dough. Same recipe.
— That lump of dough sat in the fridge like it was waiting to die.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqbENbAYhoA
Every day she pulled it out, crushed it, shaped it, threw it back in.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbO16ynhMA5
Sometimes she wondered if it had a memory too.
Maybe…15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9hbjEmPaLH
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxrUEdT74I0
No smile. Just steady observation.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2r6UF1b5iT
Waiting—watching—for even the tiniest flicker of surprise.
There wasn’t any.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZOThXo1NFG
He just nodded and left.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfnD9ZBVmGP
Said "Happy Easter" again.
— Word for word. Beat for beat.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡANk61gjcEy
Like an actor stuck inside a film reel.
Claire gripped the dish towel in her hand.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtcK1NHCRxU
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrgg2GRASFk
But then she remembered—tomorrow, it would all vanish.
She started to write:15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBWJaGJdXgK
“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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIbNrptcdUb
Tomorrow the pen would be back in the drawer.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLm6Y5QPOTy
The paper clean.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp73KqhogL2
Nothing written.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Cu13x4cUc
Nothing left behind.
Her thoughts peeled away like dried pulp.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ5upmpe1EF
Layer by layer.
Claire felt something slipping.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUeKUHwmhIC
— Not the world.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCxDrYYh7qR
Her.
She’d tried so hard to be the observer.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCAuBDS7aXR
To stay rational. Stay grounded.
But now?
Now she was starting to get scared of mirrors.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH6pfA2ApIh
Afraid of the reflection.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2iWiGrwLSf
Afraid she’d see someone who’d gotten used to all of this.
Someone who belonged to it.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjMZXDKG7nE
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