Day 5.
The alarm rang.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXKhFuJlvau
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.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAL19XGwLln
She sat up.
— It wasn’t even the kind of tune that grows on you.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhNnTzclf59
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.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1TKp97eAtG
She was reliving the same day.
— Not maybe. Not possibly.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDMbNFvunzq
Definitely.
The tearing feeling that came with realizing the world was broken—yeah, that was gone.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNtbFVuwm5k
Now it was just...calm. Eerily calm.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZWrsm8JC2Y
Like some inner voice whispering, “Just accept it. The way you accept getting out of bed.”
Same music.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdYxkM8CdFy
Same bagels.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTfuTSYWet1
Same newspaper.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7CGGAo9hOG
Same customers.
— She could predict exactly how many times Kyle would laugh today. Which line he'd say.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNRtLF4PnB6
"Happy Easter."45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG9O82fYd6X
Those two words were now a wad of chewed-up gum stuck in the corner of her brain.
She’d tried to change things.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyguq8iUem6
Recommended a different drink to a customer. The customer changed it.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfYDriITf6u
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.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡySQHaAiv63
Didn’t bake the bagels. Didn’t water the plant. Didn’t put the newspaper on the counter.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL20vuZ5kJv
The city didn’t care. It moved around her like she didn’t matter.
Even her silence got overwritten.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsu4yDUgOmm
Reality filled in the blanks like water seeping into cracks.
She wasn’t sure what was happening.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKVbo66qDnF
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,45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeUP2NFNhyn
"Claire, you’re finally awake."
But she didn’t dare hope.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5zJSKzv7FS
Even that scenario started to feel like a recycled TV script.
What if this was a dream?
— But dreams weren’t this long.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhEzH5WZKFT
They didn’t have heat, pain, taste.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHA6OnkBvna
If this was a dream, it was taking its job way too seriously.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVAiiBcSIlm
If fate was this committed, maybe she’d finally take it seriously too.
It’s not a movie.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKwI8rfyab6
This isn’t Groundhog Day.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPuCojoVZy3
Claire didn’t have some deep trauma to work through.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmj89fYABJQ
She wasn’t a killer. She hadn’t told that many lies.
— She wasn’t on some cosmic redemption arc.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUbOidBMVCT
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.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUH0PbDXcdv
Why her?
Calm down, Claire.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUnuJsBN7sU
There has to be a reason. There has to be a way out.
She breathed in slowly.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjAkTqoK6iy
Her stomach felt tight, like it was inflating with air that wouldn’t go anywhere.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡweuxKwny55
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.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB1igYGmwgm
Peel away every wrong piece until the truth shows.
If the world’s gone mad, then fine.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnLA9B3PvUl
She’d be the one sane person left.
45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ95AxiUpY9E
She opened the café anyway. Out of what—loyalty? Instinct?45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe9kPFJPBbB
— 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.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfJE0yenqNQ
Brushed her teeth. Got dressed.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwcJJSH4YAV
Like a goddamn coin-operated coffee machine—insert a few units of routine and she’d start moving.
She hated the habit.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuNLG62nu0v
— Or maybe... she was just scared of what would happen if she stopped.
She’d spent too long thinking in bed.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaKuA4nBPJM
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.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBAY1J4GwOp
That was still her choice—one of the few she had left.
She planned to bake after the morning rush.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUWPnsAH4Ki
Same dough. Same recipe.
— That lump of dough sat in the fridge like it was waiting to die.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc8KPfzYUHj
Every day she pulled it out, crushed it, shaped it, threw it back in.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp1BikiHaYF
Sometimes she wondered if it had a memory too.
Maybe…45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡST0s60NymS
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.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmJRDMs3eou
No smile. Just steady observation.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtvvtz7t3kk
Waiting—watching—for even the tiniest flicker of surprise.
There wasn’t any.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX6hx1aH0iI
He just nodded and left.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEY49WQNEXD
Said "Happy Easter" again.
— Word for word. Beat for beat.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6NbefKeSKK
Like an actor stuck inside a film reel.
Claire gripped the dish towel in her hand.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYD6MkCGttH
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.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiN8p1vEeU8
But then she remembered—tomorrow, it would all vanish.
She started to write:45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3n7T7f3qWR
“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?45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoMqLpPSzQE
Tomorrow the pen would be back in the drawer.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuFRdFJrpPg
The paper clean.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡORNoE9xq7U
Nothing written.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7qlJrbpytv
Nothing left behind.
Her thoughts peeled away like dried pulp.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJdUi8QgnIV
Layer by layer.
Claire felt something slipping.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOtQ673yB6H
— Not the world.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwc4jnqcIyy
Her.
She’d tried so hard to be the observer.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7QRjw4L4qu
To stay rational. Stay grounded.
But now?
Now she was starting to get scared of mirrors.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDi6s5hk68l
Afraid of the reflection.45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwTOCvWUtOq
Afraid she’d see someone who’d gotten used to all of this.
Someone who belonged to it.
45Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXMAl5RqYig
and then Add to home screen.