Day 5.
The alarm rang.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHm5J6LJHA9
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbdSPLoMSbJ
She sat up.
— It wasn’t even the kind of tune that grows on you.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQkxCWaurwX
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNlK6lTsp1D
She was reliving the same day.
— Not maybe. Not possibly.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSfjEigbWI6
Definitely.
The tearing feeling that came with realizing the world was broken—yeah, that was gone.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdHb9mil7pw
Now it was just...calm. Eerily calm.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7V4ZqQbcqN
Like some inner voice whispering, “Just accept it. The way you accept getting out of bed.”
Same music.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡufTZyizxd8
Same bagels.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg7ommhBv4D
Same newspaper.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6VIaYXssHY
Same customers.
— She could predict exactly how many times Kyle would laugh today. Which line he'd say.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgQ4r2Fm5ct
"Happy Easter."40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5zR1rVOJDq
Those two words were now a wad of chewed-up gum stuck in the corner of her brain.
She’d tried to change things.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFm0BFMNVwK
Recommended a different drink to a customer. The customer changed it.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4bWN0hm00R
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXTFJgfwiOI
Didn’t bake the bagels. Didn’t water the plant. Didn’t put the newspaper on the counter.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡimQBlf5qPC
The city didn’t care. It moved around her like she didn’t matter.
Even her silence got overwritten.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsI4wNV2wQy
Reality filled in the blanks like water seeping into cracks.
She wasn’t sure what was happening.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0kI3MJ27Vh
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,40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrQvjzeXf4n
"Claire, you’re finally awake."
But she didn’t dare hope.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXoPoC2OnvT
Even that scenario started to feel like a recycled TV script.
What if this was a dream?
— But dreams weren’t this long.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmOKqB02B6M
They didn’t have heat, pain, taste.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdv3xpn8l8A
If this was a dream, it was taking its job way too seriously.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMMy2qR1sIy
If fate was this committed, maybe she’d finally take it seriously too.
It’s not a movie.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMGQ1xFWVEN
This isn’t Groundhog Day.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2u5Bs6Bc0I
Claire didn’t have some deep trauma to work through.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWw4xhDvSWd
She wasn’t a killer. She hadn’t told that many lies.
— She wasn’t on some cosmic redemption arc.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIattI6UE1L
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwZUpIbu01T
Why her?
Calm down, Claire.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyfZ7TvOsJB
There has to be a reason. There has to be a way out.
She breathed in slowly.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZO4HQjRZHO
Her stomach felt tight, like it was inflating with air that wouldn’t go anywhere.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ853yJoPUsq
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZ2Ep7nJgF
Peel away every wrong piece until the truth shows.
If the world’s gone mad, then fine.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXMuCBkpLnL
She’d be the one sane person left.
40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpROcxpQe60
She opened the café anyway. Out of what—loyalty? Instinct?40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7JCWwSGyoF
— 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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO8r91bpsAG
Brushed her teeth. Got dressed.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJz0j4J3oto
Like a goddamn coin-operated coffee machine—insert a few units of routine and she’d start moving.
She hated the habit.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL9e1jCpCJZ
— Or maybe... she was just scared of what would happen if she stopped.
She’d spent too long thinking in bed.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPVRcdM2mnv
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgy9j9LLJ4k
That was still her choice—one of the few she had left.
She planned to bake after the morning rush.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡghwZOimSNO
Same dough. Same recipe.
— That lump of dough sat in the fridge like it was waiting to die.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn78xmKN5zt
Every day she pulled it out, crushed it, shaped it, threw it back in.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg6389ladNP
Sometimes she wondered if it had a memory too.
Maybe…40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM8HwP3Y5Qm
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFlbAjiPARe
No smile. Just steady observation.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZgAKT1QVjq
Waiting—watching—for even the tiniest flicker of surprise.
There wasn’t any.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbZWGnk1Glu
He just nodded and left.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmbmVDXyRYJ
Said "Happy Easter" again.
— Word for word. Beat for beat.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQE9UaaI3Np
Like an actor stuck inside a film reel.
Claire gripped the dish towel in her hand.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlr56qGy0i3
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcSKPLPI2RC
But then she remembered—tomorrow, it would all vanish.
She started to write:40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9uXax9FSPT
“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?40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡynCTW3q0Ep
Tomorrow the pen would be back in the drawer.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdqiVu6tnqV
The paper clean.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡypaCmdzU6t
Nothing written.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmwQrXe1g58
Nothing left behind.
Her thoughts peeled away like dried pulp.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcxrmg5BSgo
Layer by layer.
Claire felt something slipping.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzf5YC8EZ15
— Not the world.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn0bTCTbHVU
Her.
She’d tried so hard to be the observer.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡykUMzhOc7W
To stay rational. Stay grounded.
But now?
Now she was starting to get scared of mirrors.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxDtIu5AlmW
Afraid of the reflection.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd6Y73Kaj9X
Afraid she’d see someone who’d gotten used to all of this.
Someone who belonged to it.
40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoAiB7HzVpJ
and then Add to home screen.