Day 5.
The alarm rang.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzTVRW5G2uW
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.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUzszlRhAVd
She sat up.
— It wasn’t even the kind of tune that grows on you.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7oyC2uY1OQ
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.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgnvUzVRZAM
She was reliving the same day.
— Not maybe. Not possibly.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ2kNCZmAJj
Definitely.
The tearing feeling that came with realizing the world was broken—yeah, that was gone.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVBZYr3sb3K
Now it was just...calm. Eerily calm.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGhSse3Z38r
Like some inner voice whispering, “Just accept it. The way you accept getting out of bed.”
Same music.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJHPOStGLjo
Same bagels.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0IQiDjlhUH
Same newspaper.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡubx30GXQQn
Same customers.
— She could predict exactly how many times Kyle would laugh today. Which line he'd say.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIkJWnvBgOm
"Happy Easter."180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnFZ1A1W1rz
Those two words were now a wad of chewed-up gum stuck in the corner of her brain.
She’d tried to change things.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2wWanujXoA
Recommended a different drink to a customer. The customer changed it.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ65iYUa8Ye2
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.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNSye0tiunC
Didn’t bake the bagels. Didn’t water the plant. Didn’t put the newspaper on the counter.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn7C64YoZYb
The city didn’t care. It moved around her like she didn’t matter.
Even her silence got overwritten.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg0FdKnrbJU
Reality filled in the blanks like water seeping into cracks.
She wasn’t sure what was happening.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4HAIwJIyDw
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,180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEAie89Lsb
"Claire, you’re finally awake."
But she didn’t dare hope.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡri7wO4oEWT
Even that scenario started to feel like a recycled TV script.
What if this was a dream?
— But dreams weren’t this long.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZkbD3z6Wpp
They didn’t have heat, pain, taste.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDsQKzXxgC7
If this was a dream, it was taking its job way too seriously.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXXxDa876GY
If fate was this committed, maybe she’d finally take it seriously too.
It’s not a movie.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ94ylhWLLgk
This isn’t Groundhog Day.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAPlLblPfHz
Claire didn’t have some deep trauma to work through.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBEZJRdFBrL
She wasn’t a killer. She hadn’t told that many lies.
— She wasn’t on some cosmic redemption arc.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn7YswNLAyC
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.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpYfaReUgKj
Why her?
Calm down, Claire.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeiPwLkhfnJ
There has to be a reason. There has to be a way out.
She breathed in slowly.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV33dDM6YUJ
Her stomach felt tight, like it was inflating with air that wouldn’t go anywhere.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGGspBBBsQD
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.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHjh3vwXTWe
Peel away every wrong piece until the truth shows.
If the world’s gone mad, then fine.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJmahwxO5t2
She’d be the one sane person left.
180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqdEDUfFMsY
She opened the café anyway. Out of what—loyalty? Instinct?180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSeAKXuCwqz
— 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.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEsoo81kxmj
Brushed her teeth. Got dressed.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY9NT6OXOIA
Like a goddamn coin-operated coffee machine—insert a few units of routine and she’d start moving.
She hated the habit.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsQLoXUpMjX
— Or maybe... she was just scared of what would happen if she stopped.
She’d spent too long thinking in bed.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCt5YzEgMcH
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.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh5BeFMkZnB
That was still her choice—one of the few she had left.
She planned to bake after the morning rush.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX3xeVEPH19
Same dough. Same recipe.
— That lump of dough sat in the fridge like it was waiting to die.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPWS2FVFnEw
Every day she pulled it out, crushed it, shaped it, threw it back in.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0bB24sXpKt
Sometimes she wondered if it had a memory too.
Maybe…180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM3QuGqx33l
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.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1FzipezMHp
No smile. Just steady observation.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNRpFa9MMPZ
Waiting—watching—for even the tiniest flicker of surprise.
There wasn’t any.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYtF6e4jFCG
He just nodded and left.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtQVeXrYTVB
Said "Happy Easter" again.
— Word for word. Beat for beat.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkoWoFn7P7G
Like an actor stuck inside a film reel.
Claire gripped the dish towel in her hand.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHtjiQabeau
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.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRIec5bn68Z
But then she remembered—tomorrow, it would all vanish.
She started to write:180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4MgjLg3vQO
“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?180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMZ1QKJouo3
Tomorrow the pen would be back in the drawer.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxkn8UUZHJA
The paper clean.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIQpSJTZzw5
Nothing written.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyo9CMESnCa
Nothing left behind.
Her thoughts peeled away like dried pulp.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2qe5N72zxW
Layer by layer.
Claire felt something slipping.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLmdXsNFA7g
— Not the world.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsM96nnwPC9
Her.
She’d tried so hard to be the observer.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnQCGkClTOj
To stay rational. Stay grounded.
But now?
Now she was starting to get scared of mirrors.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi9Oc14kFlC
Afraid of the reflection.180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡokSCbpqqh9
Afraid she’d see someone who’d gotten used to all of this.
Someone who belonged to it.
180Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnbdimF8epn
and then Add to home screen.