Claire lay still.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Gzf7DwOgZ
The same jazz song played again.
— She could now predict exactly which saxophone note would slip slightly off pitch.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj3ocjjAOZS
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.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5wSZiVcmCI
The melody twisted like an overheating tape deck, spitting out scorched notes in her brain.
Why had she failed?75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1qrT902gd9
Was it because she closed her eyes?
— Was it just a matter of seconds?75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKnTpbkPwF1
Or worse... did her awareness mean nothing at all?
She couldn’t help but ask herself:75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡey6jMtKN97
If this world doesn’t wait for my will to move forward... what am I even fighting for?
No.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFG7z76wra0
Tonight, she’d try again.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4DibWR7pao
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.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡInA0kLBeir
Not now.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbi5mmGiwQ8
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.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIm9aCLilUu
Her whole body felt clean.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Msz3qcNng
Like someone had wiped her system while she slept.
Claire got up.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG7aKAInAD9
Opened the café.
— She dressed. Went downstairs.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBZ9FIiMkvX
Started prepping bagels with muscle memory alone.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtH3C3cHkQ7
At least this kept her from thinking too much during the daylight hours.
Waiting for night again.
— Daytime was for pretending.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWFuvm06cjO
The illusion of normal would swallow her whole if she let it.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg3XcBBKlAc
But her mind had already carved out space for the night. Reserved it.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAqta8i7LXf
A blackout room in the back of her thoughts.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnpXrYdVXQz
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFQcL6jXVjt
Three days later, she woke to jazz again.
Same track.
Same key.
— The song had become a ritual.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcVV3mT9qSy
A key.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqvFgdqwLf7
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.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3srcheuWVQ
— Not midnight.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlALs8fSv6m
Not sunrise.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk2COYZdVeN
Not the radio signal.
Her.
Her eyelids dropped—curtain down.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsgSDQEQjxt
The world rewound.
So if she didn’t sleep… she could reach tomorrow?
— The idea hit like a gas leak.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYckSR3KzRM
Invisible. Intoxicating. Dangerous.
No sleep = escape?
What was the cost?75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH7SSMy2DCv
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.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhvA1NzxYy1
She set the pen down instead.
This wasn’t a joke.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHRUjRKksas
But jokes were the only way she knew how to survive this.
No.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgIyQQ9F5j4
This wasn’t the solution.
The answer had to be closer.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvLkqdvDKn5
Not in her blood pressure.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2OrrLr2trn
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.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9D8HoU7aYX
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.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC0xqgMJL6m
No appointments in a world with no tomorrow.
— She almost laughed, imagining herself in a psych office:75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0JaVjrI9WD
“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.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm3CEBRoo7X
And even if someone did—they couldn’t help.
75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOtJcYD7nOn
Claire’s head hung low.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡny9vtX17FI
She stared at the bed sheets.
Hmm...
— That crease was in the same spot yesterday.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3H2S99pFSI
She never made her bed. Usually just kicked the covers to the side.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡguJziauwj7
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:75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn7SbefvJE7
The protagonist picks up a glowing watch.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1MCo4outPr
Or touches some cursed gemstone.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxz5N7BCxZ4
Suddenly: time loop.
Claire had no watch.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡojvbAix2ma
No gems.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmz008HFwwl
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?75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEgCC8u6CEp
The ones she never touched?
She used to imagine they moved at night.
Later, she blamed it on her own overthinking.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtc0XU8y2AJ
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.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp74U3blXn6
She didn’t want the world suspecting anything.
Just like a researcher observing test subjects—75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKdUO846zYK
you don’t let them know they’re being watched.
7 p.m. came.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQazx6xthnW
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.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHHEgJCfZJa
This felt small.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY4JtuU7DbW
But also like it could shift the gravity of the whole universe.
She booked a cheap motel.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrnscQvnwOY
Didn’t care about the room.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUWec1JYedf
Didn’t care about the bed.
This wasn’t about comfort.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq0sXDetlV1
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—75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv5dmqoetac
Good.
Maybe something would finally change.
— A missing bag of flour would be worth celebrating.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBYxY1mQINU
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.75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa9Xgg3j1Zp
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