Through all the repeats I’ve had only the glass to Keep me company

I look into it On its surface I can see Pairs of my own eyes

I’m here when I wake I glance at the reflections And see ever more

How many faces Can I see in the mirror? I keep losing count

This has been done before—twice that I know of!! So for it to be “original”—it must be heavily subverted…like Wanda/Vision meets Ground Hog Day meets Sidekicks.

Consider theme (mindset) and corresponding goal…

What if one of them is making the day repeat (like in the comic with the future assassin who’s the MC’s x-boyfriend’s son—she was the antagonist all along <<twist>>)? I like upbeat stories and twists, keeping that in mind.

A goal could be to break the loop…already done.

The goal could be to achieve something epic—like what if the MC is someone who can manipulate time, and for the best outcome she keeps repeating the day over and over!! Even BETTER—what if she keeps repeating the day (deliberately), over and over again because of the side character—either Irredeemable plot and/or stalker?! The best outcome for the world would be for the two of them to come together, but she’s not into him/ready for love (cliche!!)… she’s unaware that wooing him is the best possible option!! Sleeping with the Enemy (my idea of the plot) meets Irredeemable meets Cupid.

I’d like a MORE upbeat plot—I did get the thought of “psychopaths/sociopaths” in the business world… what if a new girl with the biggest heart runs into one such man and keeps rewinding time to beat him at his own game (that is, succeed in the business world as a compassionate human being!!)!! A dark Tin Man meets Glinda meets Business 101. With her power, it’s easy to come out on top—at least it used to be, until she met him.

“Businesspeople are the backbone of the economy. You could define a businessperson as a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to making and spending money. You can find them in virtually every organization buying and selling goods, managing operations, supervising workers, balancing the books and overseeing finances.”

At first, she didn’t realize it was happening. The days had started bleeding together weeks ago, around the time she start falling asleep while reciting the next morning’s calendar.

“Wake up. Make coffee. Call my clients to remind them of our meetings. Get dressed. Log into court.”

So the first time she relived the day, she only noticed a vague deja vu. A sense that maybe she’d visualized this day too hard the night before.

It was the bird that first made her realize that something was off. A beautiful blue jay sitting on her air conditioner in the middle of Brooklyn. She loved blue jays, she always had, even though her parents hated them. Blue jays are massive, bigger than they look somehow. And they’re bullies at a bird feeder.

But they’re beautiful. At first, she only liked them for their pretty blue feathers. But the older she got, the more she fell for the beautiful creature that absolutely insisted on taking up space.

Anyway, the blue jay was odd. Out the ordinary. A weird thing to dream and then see the next day.

And then it came again. And again. And the deja vu got worse and worse.

It was maybe the 4th or 5th day that she realized what was happening. She was reliving the same day, every day. The same monotonous uneventful day, just her and the blue jay.

When she first realized what was happening, she was falling asleep. The next morning she woke up and, without any other ideas, she followed her routine. The only break in her routine, as usual, was the blue jay.

About a week later (who knows how long, really, there’s no real way to keep track when you’re in a time loop), it occurred to her that she should do something different. She had no real ideas to break the cycle, but the routine clearly wasn’t working. So maybe this was the day to break it up. Go to the beach, even in the cold. Ride her bike on the prospect park loop that she’d been meaning to do since she moved. Something.

But then, what if today was the day that stuck? What if this was the day that had a tomorrow?

So she couldn’t leave. Not really. Because then what would become of her clients? Her clients needed her. Her coworkers needed her. Everyone depended on everything else and what would happen if this time, this time, it all counted? What if departing from the routine would blow it all up?

So she follows the routine. The same every day. Over and over. Just her, and the blue jay.

Every morning I wake up to your eyes gazing at me with so much adoration and your breathing so quiet. You place a kiss on my head and I already know what’s going to happen next but you make it still feel like a surprise. The same day with you is like a million days new and I’m no longer mad about it.

“I’m not doing this again with you!!” Mary yelled when she woke up in the same bed again next to John for the fourth time today.

“This isn’t a picnic for me either Mary.” John grinned and tried to get ready.

I awoke frantically. The alarm on my phone blared the specific tune I chose for Tuesday. Damn it. Yup, day 3. Unless it’s a glitch in my alarms. Really tried staying up last night. I wanted to see if it would change anything. I had to try something.

Aleya woke suddenly now. Her eyes darting around the room until they locked with mine. She gave me a questioning face and I just nodded.

“Same day again?? How do you know so quickly??” She looked intrigued.

With her eyes wide and the tossled hair, she looked so wound up. I chuckled to myself. “Well it’s a theory haha. But my Tuesday song played again.” I said.

She slumps her body down with a huff. Then jolts up. “Well. We gotta go see if the days the same then! Yeee!” She says enthusiastically. Trying to use her charming humor to make light of the never ending loop we’re in.

We both get dressed and go downstairs to see if our friends were there. If theyw ere it would mean it was still Tuesday. We planned this sleepover for months, everyone had different places to fly from. It just wouldn’t make sense. Because they leave. If today was indeed the next day, Wednesday, we would get our usual morning call from them. We all call every mornings to catch up. Besides. We brought them to the airport!

“Leya! Sis. Can’t believe it’s our last day! Imma miss you the most…hey now don’t be mad, Can’t really beat that sister bond man” Tony said defensive as he saw the friendly jealous in the other friends eyes. Everyone laughed happily and went about their morning. Aleya and I knew immediately that it was in fact Tuesday times 3. We went about the day, desperately trying to think of a way out of this never ending loop.

alarm blares Aleya and I wake simultaneously this time. Maybe it’s different! We lock eyes and my heart becomes hopeful. She yawns, almost happily and at ease. Then playfully nudges into me.

“Wow I can’t believe they’re all leaving today…I’m really gonna miss em ya know? But. It’s been a wonderful few days!” She says to me. Horror pulsates through me. I couldn’t swallow before responding.

“What do you mean… I mean. What day is it? And how many times have we done it??” I asked, my voice rising in panic. She looked absolutely bewildered.

“Ermmm. I mean I cannot calculate at this time how many Tuesday’s we’ve had in our lives…but I’m assuming A lot babe” she chuckled.

She had forgotten. It was all up to me now…will I forget too?

“Kipp, wake up. Come on, wake up already, you idiot”

I ignore the voice, forcing my lids to stay shut and my expression to remain neutral. I try to imagine that I am somewhere else, anywhere but here and with anyone but him. But the all too familiar scent of lemon scented floor cleaner and Freddys eucalyptus ointment makes it impossible to do so. Eventually, I let out a sigh and pry my eyes open. The sunlight from the open curtains immediately blinds my vision, casting a white halo around the boy leaning over me. His white- blond hair looks almost golden in the light and his freckled cheeks are pink with a sunburn that never seems to heal.

I lick my lips for moisture and shove him away from me before speaking.

“Date?”

He looks at me with a raised eyebrow and holds up todays newspaper. The same one I had read from front to back a dozen times already.

“Take a wild guess”

A feeling of dread settles in my stomach and I swallow hard.

“March 2nd?”, I ask, already knowing the answer.

The blond haired boy before me- Daniel sighs.

“Yep. This will be our, what? 8th March 2nd”, he asked sitting on the bed near my feet and abandoning the newspaper on my nightstand.

I look across the room, taking in the yellowing linoleum tiles and lines of neatly made beds, few with boys still half asleep beneath the sheets. Daniel was right, this would be our 8th time waking up on March 2nd…8 March 2nds in a row to be specific.

The first March 2nd was probably one of the worse days of my life. It was the day my one and only friend, Daniel Dain, was adopted by two new parents. It was also the day I would be left alone in the orphanage with nothing but snoring Freddy and boring bug-eyed Roger for company. Timothy Darlings Orphanage for Young Boys was a place I had lived in for most of my life, but it didn’t really start feeling like home until Daniel arrived here five years ago. At first our friendship was strained, his parents had just died in a car accident and he had been a six year old child unable to cope with the change. But as time passed he seemed to get more and more use to the idea of living at the orphanage; a part of me liked to think that our new friendship helped heal him just as much as it healed me. But it on March 2nd all those years of friendship went down the drain when a young bright eyed couple arrived on the doorstep to adopt him.

At first it seemed cruel that the universe would keep on repeating the day he left me over and over again, exactly the same as it had been the first time: his new parents would arrive at exactly 3pm and I would wait at the gates and watch him drive away with with his perfect new family in their perfect little car.

By the third time it happened I decided it was a blessing from the universe, a way for me to get more time with my best friend before he’d leave me forever.

But as time rolled on and the sixth March 2nd came along, Daniel and I had reached a bump in the friendship. We would squabble about any and everything until the blue little car with his new parents came around and whisked him away. The fight started when I said I was glad the day kept repeating itself. He, of course, took it the wrong way and accused me of being jealous that he finally had a chance to live a normal life. Since then the fighting was almost non stop.

“What do you want to do today? Set the library on fire? Eat all the ice cream in the freezers downstairs? Put tuna in Greg’s pillowcase?”, Daniel asks, listing off just a few of the things we once spoke about doing.

I shake my head and snuggle deeper into my sheets.

“No. Just let me sleep this time, Dan”, I groan burying my face under the thick white sheets. I have a few seconds of bliss before the bed sheets are pulled away from my body and cool air wraps around my limbs.

I glare at Daniel as I try to retrieve the sheets back from him, but he tosses them to the foot of the bed and sits on the pile.

“No, you can’t waste the day sleeping. We may be fighting right now, but you are the only other person who is aware the days are repeating. We have to stick together”, Daniel says crossing his thin arms.

I roll my eyes and stand up for a stretch.

“Well, we can stick together in bed. You sleep right there”- I point to his bed beside mine-, “and I’ll sleep right here”, I finish. It isn’t fair that Daniel gets to pick what we do each day. I’m tired of wrecking havoc all day long, all I want to do is just have oneday of rest.

Daniel opens his mouth, probably to argue with me, but he is interrupted by the sound of Mrs Terry’s voice from downstairs.

“Daniel! Kipp! Your new parents are here”, she calls from down the hallway. Daniel and I look at each other, the same confused expression on our faces. Mrs Terry has called Daniel downstairs to meet his parent everyday now at this exact time for the past 8 March 2nds, but not once has she called me before. I wasn’t the one who was suppose to get adopted today.

“What?...why is she calling me?”, I mumble, looking over at Daniel.

Daniel shrugs his shoulders and grabs my hand before pulling me out of the room.

“Let’s go find out”

When we arrive downstairs Mrs Terry is waiting for us, her red coils pinned up and a huge smile on her face. Beside her stands a slim blond woman and a tall man with salt and pepper hair and a too-bright yellow raincoat.

These aren’t the same people that adopted Daniel last time. Who are they?

“Great, come here boys”, Mrs Terry says, clapping her hands together. She places one hand on my shoulder and the other on Daniels, carefully nudging us forward.

“These will be your new parents. May and Silas”

I look up at the two people before me, trying to learn more about them. They seem kind enough with their large smiles and twinkling eyes.

I turn to look at Daniel, trying to see what he is thinking. I expect to see the same confusion mirrored on his face, but instead, his face is paper white and his bright blue eyes are as wide as saucers.

I frown. What is wrong with him?

I slip behind Mrs Terry and stand beside Daniel. I bend down and whisper in his ear:

“Everything okay?”, I ask.

Daniel shakes his head and opens his mouth before closing it and clearing his throat.

“Those are my parents”, he murmurs, staring wide eyed at the clueless couple in front of us.

“Er…yeah. Apparently they are OUR parents now. Kinda weird how the timeline changed, huh?”, I say slowly, still confused about Daniels reaction. This wasn’t the same as the last few repeated days, but Daniels reaction seems far too dramatic for such a minor change.

Daniel snaps out a bony hand and grabs my arm, pulling me close enough that his warm breath fans across my face.

“No, you don’t get if Kipp. Those are…those are my dead parents. Except…except they aren’t dead”

I jolt awake, my heart beating fast. It feels like a million beats per minute. The room is completely dark and silent. The stillness doesn’t creep me out but there’s something else that does, I don’t know what it is. I look over at Jerry. He is sound asleep, exhausted from his work week. It’s been a rough one for him and he’s been passing out early every night. His temper can get to him when he’s stressed, which happened a few days earlier. We had a huge fight and it ended pretty badly, he took his aggression out on me again. I know he didn’t mean to push me against the wall but he did and it nearly knocked my head off. I look over at the clock, it reads 3 a.m. No wonder it’s still pitch black outside. I hate the cold weather and this winter has been especially freezing. I’m unsure what jolted me awake but it’s so unusual because I’m usually a late sleeper. I didn’t get to bed until 1 am yet I feel wide awake right now. I swing my feet over the edge of the bed and gently get out. I hold me breath and try not to make a sound. Jerry grumbles a bit but turns around sound asleep again. I walk over to the bathroom closing the door before I turn on the light. I look at my face in the mirror and see the years I’ve lived gently etched all over it. Maybe that’s what woke me up, old age telling me I’ve slept my youth away. I see the bruise is finally lightening up, thank goodness my hairline covers most of it. I turn off the light as I open the door and walk myself to the kitchen. I’ve always loved the window that cuts across the majority of my kitchen. When the kids were young I used to love watching them as I made snacks in the kitchen. Watching them play outside while making cookies is one of the memories I will always hold dear near to my heart. As I approach the fridge I can’t help but to see flash from the outside. I stop what I’m doing immediately and just stare out my kitchen window. There it is again the flash. I wonder what it is. I don’t feel scared, more like intrigued. We live out in the middle of nowhere I don’t understand what it could be. Should I go outside? Something inside is telling me yes. I turn towards the patio door, open it and walk through it. The wind surrounds me yet I feel no cold. All of a sudden the one flash turns into many, all flashing at different times, all in my direction. As I walk closer to the woods it seems like the flashes get closer to me. As they approach, I begin to see outlines in the dark. It seems like there’s figures moving from the trees towards me. The flashes of light stop and there’s a row of people in front of me, men, women, children, and elderly people. They just stand there staring at me, all uniquely dressed, all so different from each other. There’s a woman dressed for church standing next to a man in a firefighter’s uniform. There’s a child, dirty from playing in the woods it would seem, next to an old lady who looks like she’s from the 1940s. There are so many of them standing there in front of me and I realize the flashes of light were coming directly from them, these people. I slowly began walking even closer towards them. Then I see him, it’s my dad. I don’t understand yet I feel my legs taking me to him. “Hi Claire Bear,” he says in a voice that sounds like heaven. “What is this dad? What is going on?” He kisses my forehead the way he used to when I was young and whispers, “ Are you sure you’re ready today?” “Ready for what papa bear?” I start to feel a warmth taking over my chest and spreading to the rest of my body. “Ready to accept the truth hun?” I look into his eyes, they make me feel so safe. “We have been coming here every morning since it happened. We have been waiting for you patiently. Waiting until you were ready to accept what happened.” I think about it and realize what he is talking about. Jerry pushed me that day, so hard I hit my head against the wall. I remember the pain and feeing warm blood dripping down the side of my face. Then I passed out. I don’t remember what happened after. I only remembered waking up now, today at 3a.m. I guess I hadn’t noticed time pass, I guess I didn’t realize the truth. “Am I dead?,” I ask as I take his hand. “Yes, and it’s time to go Claire Bear,” dad says as he walks me forward. We walk amongst the others, turning our backs on my house. Soon we walk into the woods and my own light begins to shine. I can now rest and be in peace, no longer afraid. I can accept my new life in death.

I open my eyes and just stare at the ceiling. Again. It’s morning again. The same Sunday morning again. For like the fiftieth time. I stopped counting, I stopped caring. I know everything that’s going to happen when I get out of bed, and I hate thinking about it. Instead I let my mind go blank and stare at the ceiling.

A small weight lands on my feet. My cat, Grizzabella. She meows at me, batting my toes. She wants breakfast. If I don’t get up and feed her soon, she’ll knock the lamp off my bedside table. She’s done that all five times I didn’t get up right away when she bugged me for food this morning. And then she sat and watched while I cursed and grumbled and cleaned up the mess.

Stupid cat doesn’t know any better. Especially since, for her, it’s the first time every time. Not like for me. No one else notices the time loop except for me.

And I don’t want to get up and go out there and have more of the same conversations over and over with people who don’t know they’re stuck like I am. So I don’t get up. I stay in bed.

The mattress and bedding shift ever so slightly under the cat’s weight as she makes her way across the bed. She leaps, and there’s a light thud of her paws against the wooden bedside table. I don’t need to look to know she’s sitting right next to the lamp.

“Not again, Grizz, please…” I moan. Not that saying anything has stopped her before. Not that she can understand me. She’s a cat. I wait for the smash of glass and cheap electrics on the floor.

But there’s no smash. Instead, Grizz hops from the nightstand back to me. She curls up on my chest, her purrs vibrating the blanket over me.

We make eye contact, and an impossible thought occurs to me, but no less impossible than anything else about my current situation.

“You remember, don’t you?” I say. “You remember me getting upset about the lamp before. You remember.”

I reach up to scratch her ears, and she purrs harder. It’s soothing. And so is the knowledge that at least I’m not alone in this bizarre time-loop mess.

I jolted upright quickly from my sleep. The sun was coming in through my window hitting my face, warming it, just like the days before. It was 6:00am, just like the previous mornings. I was in my pink fuzzy pajama pants and junior year t shirt, just like the mornings before. I grabbed my phone which was sitting on my night stand, just as the mornings before. The date was October 13th 2021, just like the days before. They days were repeating and I didn’t know why or how to stop it. I got out of bed and hurried to my closet. My outfit, jeans and a red tank top with black tennis shoes, was laying out ready for today, just like every morning for the past week. I grabbed them to put them on and brushed my thin blonde hair. Once I was dressed I headed out to my car. “Good morning sweetie,” said my mom drinking her coffee in the kitchen. I ignored her. I got to my car and made my way to school. When I got to my school I ran in and to my locker as fast as I could. I could make it there pretty fast because I knew where people would be. After putting my books in my locker I was headed to my class, the exact same way as every other day. The odd thing is, when I asked people about it, no one else was aware the days were repeating. I got into my classroom and sat at my desk. By this point school was easy, I’d memorized all the facts and answers. It was a breeze through the day. At the end I was getting ready to leave when a boy, who looked to be in my grade was staring at me. I tried to ignore him but his green eyes stared me down. I decided to talk to him. “Hello, do I know you?” I smiled at him. “No but I know you,” he said blankly. I shivered a bit. That was creepy. “Are you aware?” He asked. Confusion hit me. “Aware of what?” I asked. “Everything,” he said staring blankly. Well this was weird. “Is there something wrong?” I asked, I needed to know. “Are you aware, that you’ll do this again tomorrow,” he asked now stepping closer. I stepped back. I knew what he meant. “Yes...” I said now scared. “Then yes there is something wrong,” he said looking concerned. “Why? If you can answer why this is happening then that would be amazing,” I said, never more interested. “If you can do one thing,” he said smirking now. I didn’t know if I wanted to ask or not. “Do what...” I asked scared. By this point we were the only people in the hallway. He started walking closer. Something about him made me not wanna walk away, I must have an answer. He got closer and closer. He was standing no more then three inches away from me when he looked me dead in the eyes. “You sign a contract...” he said, putting his hand in his pocket. “That you’re forever betrothed to me for the rest of eternity and you give up your human life be become immortal,” he said pulling a paper out. I was terrified. “If the days are repeating why’s this the first day this has happened?” I asked, trembling. He showed slight confusion. “The days are repeating for me,” I said to clear up confusion. He stepped closer and we were eye to eye almost touching. “They are for me too...” he said.