And then came the explanation.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2wPtnJEl8b
The daily boss fight.
Her hardest task, every time:14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxzf2kU6Ocq
Convince someone in under five minutes that she wasn’t crazy, the world wasn’t broken—just... cracked.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQEVzj9KAAw
A little.
Claire had it down to an art now.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ZxzCyBa6A
She’d practiced.
Step one: start with “I had a dream.”14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAsMpi0wNgT
Then ease into “The dream was real.”14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs9b5CF1H3J
Follow up with “You were here yesterday too.”14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa8v2a2F9Gt
And finally close with “You all forgot, but I didn’t.”
Boom. Five minutes.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvzRNyWb63G
Scripted, rehearsed, and repeatable.
She’d even gotten used to asking Nightwing or Robin for their earpieces directly.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡilIKkjqDeU
Why waste time relaying info like it was a game of telephone? Batman was usually already online.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGKmZ6lu81c
It was more efficient to just brief everyone at once.
She could feel herself becoming part of their workflow.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaw80hGYMEG
A new kind of muscle memory.
Alfred always started with, “Oh dear, Miss Claire, terribly sorry we forgot you again.”14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUsgI8bWdku
Batman, on the other hand, delivered every voice message like it was a field command.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbIMlSxiUzs
Concise. Authoritative. Meant to be followed.
Then came the status update.
Usually the same:14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡty7AlIcJaL
“Nothing changed today.”14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXUHBr3gpQM
“Sky hasn’t cracked.”14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWrPWqadz0O
“Bagels sold well.”
She’d said some version of that report over thirty times now.
Batman had banned her from sky-watching.
“It interferes with your perception. Makes the fissure too active.”14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRSltXnjCmP
He’d said it like a doctor warning against too much caffeine, calm and clinical.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ977d4jU1oZ
But it had kept her up all night.
He told her once a week was enough.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvtzLItjNLV
“If it’s coming, it will let you see it.”
And somehow, that was the most terrifying thing he’d said yet.
Because it meant he knew—14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLVeEPmxsSC
this wasn’t something she was observing.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡur6I7hHflB
It was something that could observe her back.
This was her fourth report.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRaGKsgwm6x
Still nothing.
No updates.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP60yzf80k3
No signs.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTkUGkXgzhp
Just that eerie nothingness that made her more anxious than any actual event.
Was nothing a good sign?14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsCwjkg3Z3A
Or was it just... waiting?14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAYE9tKg1ju
Watching?14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIFlF7T708k
Calculating when she’d slip up?
After reporting, Claire wandered the safehouse.
Fiddling with the gear that still looked like it belonged in a sci-fi movie.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbDO0Mn4CPI
Sometimes she sneakily Googled manuals to understand what they did.
Now, she could switch between three different surveillance modes,14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhCWRCR9qPS
and knew exactly which button sent a distress call.
She knew how the tech worked.
Because here, she couldn’t afford to just be “that girl who says the sky is broken.”
She had to become “the calm anomaly who explains things clearly and can handle equipment.”
That’s how they’d believe her.
That she was still sane.
14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkwIZDRTAYo
Claire thought everything would keep repeating.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7LlzpX6Rug
She'd come to see the infinite loop as some kind of twisted safety net—a bizarre, but reliable routine.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwmmCAQYn26
No surprises.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTBrG6K7Wcy
No endings.
She really believed that.
Even Batman’s exact eyebrow twitch, or the second Nightwing’s half-suspicious smile would appear—she could time it like a metronome.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCpl0WNdGZT
This lifestyle gave her a kind of mechanical calm.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY8mJarFa4l
Predictable.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1IDyxI7MBf
Stable.
Every day, reintroduce herself.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHtQlELkWvD
Control her tone.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI2ojMjidlI
Deliver the optimal info load to minimize questions.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlh56AMnWQS
She had tested different explanations before, but eventually chose the most efficient version.
Now she could deliver her entire situation in under three minutes.
"I’m Claire. Time resets for me. Every day’s the same."
Said with all the emotional depth of reading a toaster manual.
She could now operate almost everything in the safehouse.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTrvOG0Damj
Which screen was for surveillance.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBbGpfjSN1F
Which device disrupted signals.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUN6m1KntZh
Which red light meant “don’t touch.”14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSON09P5DYU
Muscle memory, baby.
And then the fissure check.
Take out the telescope.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡehK1AQRcum
Angle it just right.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlfnwdReY54
Deep breath.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡifCkJpF5qI
Close the right eye.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡorzcAc66Ko
Don’t stare too long.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL5RXsL1uhN
She knew better now—14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq2shBty5IM
something out there might stare back.
That was the routine.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzAvAjlKUPj
A strange balance—between madness and clarity, between combat and café shifts, between her and it.
Until one morning, Claire wrote Day 296 on the paper.
The line under the six came out a little too dark.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq8Ct6PK50y
She stared at it.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL2s6D7X58G
296.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFKHSwwaw3G
Too close to 300.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYO6vJDmCxW
She didn’t know why, but it made her uneasy.
She opened her café.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ307LF0u1ve
Same as the previous 295 times.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0KjZkkwKLN
The air was damp.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYbZwXKzIjH
The coffee machine hissed to life.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAuQHH8Q3qT
She could smell a bit of machine oil in the steam.
It felt like a ritual.
She grabbed the newspaper from Nightwing.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9GzlSuPMSU
Still couldn’t help glancing at that photo.
She once told him, “When this is over, please face the other way on the front page. I’m tired of seeing your butt on this side.”14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjOzdloy9EK
She had no idea what his face looked like when he heard that.
Probably something between a syntax error and mild panic—eyes flicking between her and the newspaper, ending with an awkward laugh before walking off.
At 10 a.m., right on cue, Officer Dick walked in for his bagel.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDKGteWcDm2
Just like the last 295 mornings.
Claire picked up the paper bag, ready to begin her usual clairvoyant babble.
Today’s theme: “Temporal resonance between past and future.”14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpp3fYd0ZEq
Weird enough to raise eyebrows.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpyUodK7aTU
Not so weird to get committed.
She’d mastered that line between oracle and lunatic.
As she handed him the bag—
Just as her fingertips brushed the paper fold—14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡto4JAEBLC3
her eardrums exploded with a boom.
A deep, subterranean rumble shook the ground.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡopyoQc8AL7
Low. Prolonged.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtfGtZp6x9Z
Like something ancient was groaning awake beneath their feet.
An earthquake.
Claire had no time to think.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV3CtWKgSLw
The floor pitched sideways.
She lost balance.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc96NaNZrMH
Grabbed the edge of the bar—14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ02p4LKx2OG
but it moved too. Everything was moving. Bag dropped.
The officer caught her.
One hand on her shoulder.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaE9yXojL9Q
One on her waist.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRtUcNhZXNG
Pulled her back from the quake, held her steady.
She caught a hint of detergent on his shirt.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTpAZTHJbYl
And something else—something sharper.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5x7xiU4tXF
Almost like panic.
They balanced each other.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhyAC28Rt3I
Her against his chest.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT7T4U2flLz
Him braced against the wall.
Two magnets wobbling in chaos, finding brief stability in contact.
Things crashed around them.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGEsIRcw4zJ
Mugs.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgHEnI8JKhG
Spice jars.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaDr9Cd7t4G
Her precious collection of weird spoons.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0oqFJcGDMM
All shattered, ringing like breaking glass in a cathedral.
The sound pierced through her thoughts.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ86tFrzBMee
Claire flinched instinctively.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSSalJpfSUu
That noise—14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjsnDT9OIMG
that had never been part of this day before.
The ceiling light above spun wildly.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl9OkaGgz3o
Shadows on the wall flailed like ghosts.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWtBgmNV8ei
Her vision swirled.
Then—14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBgLKWpbXtM
a hand on her head.
Firm. Protective.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTy6lUlUMwa
Not planned. Just reflex.
His palm cradled her crown.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNDUGboXUCa
Like making sure her skull stayed intact.
He pulled her closer.
Not just to keep her upright—14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ15PEjP5KXo
but like he needed to.
He guided her to a corner.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡslBniZB8kw
No shelves. No glass.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ11i5dGtv6y
Just two bare walls.
A temporary shelter.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3EH5KEFQ8V
A makeshift haven.
And then—14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlB51cbPMoN
after nearly a minute—
The shaking slowed.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD3rvQjBBhX
The walls stopped growling.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4lNl59vYom
The ceiling went still.
Silence.
The kind that makes your heartbeat sound like it’s on loudspeaker.
The officer slowly let go of her.
Took a step back.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv0CEBVWHQW
Trying to see her face.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA8IdylPgbk
Check her expression.
Brows furrowed, eyes scanning—14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnhoqTxfhhf
forehead, cheek, neck.
Was she hurt?
Then—14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuvybgJvIVa
he froze.
His eyes locked on a spot on her face.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ18WqeAQw08
Still. Wide.
Like something familiar had just torn open.
A single line of blood was dripping14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGLR4yDOafO
from the golden-brown eye14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRK0zU2Znez
on her left.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmTkBI5vfVN
and then Add to home screen.