Claire lay still.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEKusQQqa21
The same jazz song played again.
— She could now predict exactly which saxophone note would slip slightly off pitch.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4pQv5HvsJG
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.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTb8mModIdE
The melody twisted like an overheating tape deck, spitting out scorched notes in her brain.
Why had she failed?80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6xF5BU0ZoR
Was it because she closed her eyes?
— Was it just a matter of seconds?80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4QzeWuA0X5
Or worse... did her awareness mean nothing at all?
She couldn’t help but ask herself:80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2slhO6cyR2
If this world doesn’t wait for my will to move forward... what am I even fighting for?
No.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlNLqTZtEad
Tonight, she’d try again.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwjjndq1NFg
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.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnZrdhrIza6
Not now.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZCdkEzGoTt
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.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfl8gyFE1t5
Her whole body felt clean.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzz6T367rAs
Like someone had wiped her system while she slept.
Claire got up.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0rKYrdeC9I
Opened the café.
— She dressed. Went downstairs.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4JCcoH78QE
Started prepping bagels with muscle memory alone.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp3vMoAMl10
At least this kept her from thinking too much during the daylight hours.
Waiting for night again.
— Daytime was for pretending.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg4fxGh0Sgc
The illusion of normal would swallow her whole if she let it.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7HdIOGqELN
But her mind had already carved out space for the night. Reserved it.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjFeIxX3D9j
A blackout room in the back of her thoughts.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNjREyrfoLw
80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt4odruRbse
Three days later, she woke to jazz again.
Same track.
Same key.
— The song had become a ritual.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnIYuvvP9l0
A key.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2j5wekw2Ub
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.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYpVtiHJXgz
— Not midnight.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDP7TxlMTLD
Not sunrise.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqApDpLijZd
Not the radio signal.
Her.
Her eyelids dropped—curtain down.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWX1ONfiRzA
The world rewound.
So if she didn’t sleep… she could reach tomorrow?
— The idea hit like a gas leak.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlQcMl6e9nb
Invisible. Intoxicating. Dangerous.
No sleep = escape?
What was the cost?80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo1jfgAQVDM
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.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyhCH8xzPA3
She set the pen down instead.
This wasn’t a joke.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQuxNyrmf8N
But jokes were the only way she knew how to survive this.
No.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcp9TIHH6l6
This wasn’t the solution.
The answer had to be closer.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjKQc6cG2gS
Not in her blood pressure.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsy3KrWnZVK
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.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjMfYZg4k4T
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.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡomnE5Y4cPh
No appointments in a world with no tomorrow.
— She almost laughed, imagining herself in a psych office:80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlUb0JAL8oE
“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.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡguw7yJLYYk
And even if someone did—they couldn’t help.
80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc1LzY0K3Xd
Claire’s head hung low.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkYean5vK6P
She stared at the bed sheets.
Hmm...
— That crease was in the same spot yesterday.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1NG71J1mhs
She never made her bed. Usually just kicked the covers to the side.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP4v6i7bltQ
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:80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaZUwB6lKoe
The protagonist picks up a glowing watch.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2YX1s3DjBL
Or touches some cursed gemstone.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqty5gyqC4R
Suddenly: time loop.
Claire had no watch.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNPPk3vV4e9
No gems.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxKYKwki6VK
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?80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpSuC1ldTCb
The ones she never touched?
She used to imagine they moved at night.
Later, she blamed it on her own overthinking.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcbcTFqcCOE
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.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtCCm5k1uou
She didn’t want the world suspecting anything.
Just like a researcher observing test subjects—80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9eZvQft3fG
you don’t let them know they’re being watched.
7 p.m. came.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡckoU0eKrAg
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.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQLIb7X9Nru
This felt small.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQGU5GR2Gui
But also like it could shift the gravity of the whole universe.
She booked a cheap motel.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmHBUQogpq9
Didn’t care about the room.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOZCuBiHkbM
Didn’t care about the bed.
This wasn’t about comfort.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM3Lr68BIcf
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—80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2WxyV1M17Q
Good.
Maybe something would finally change.
— A missing bag of flour would be worth celebrating.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsO8pmLre6l
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.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAThcHDICeB
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