The sun streamed through the curtains, bathing the room in a golden glow as the sound of birds chirping filled the air. Daniel’s eyes fluttered open, his mind slow to wake from the haze of sleep. He reached over to silence the alarm clock before it buzzed. 7:00 AM, like always.
He stretched, feeling the familiar pull of his muscles, the weight of the comforter cocooned around him. It was another day, another Monday—same routine, same dreary predictability. But there was something else. A tug in the back of his mind, like déjà vu. Daniel shook his head, dismissing it as lingering sleepiness, and rolled out of bed.
The scent of brewing coffee filled the air as he made his way to the kitchen, the dark liquid already waiting for him in his favorite mug. “Thanks, Sarah,” he called out, expecting his wife to be at the stove, but there was no response. Strange, he thought. She usually leaves early on Mondays for her morning yoga class.
Shrugging it off, Daniel poured himself a cup and stared out the kitchen window. The same neighbor, Mrs. Jacobs, was walking her dog, just like every other morning. The same delivery truck was parked across the street. A sense of unease started to bloom in his chest, that tugging in his mind growing stronger. Hadn’t he seen this exact scene before? Not yesterday, but every day?
Shaking off the absurdity of the thought, Daniel dressed for work, the quiet hum of the house unsettling him in ways he couldn’t explain. The morning passed like it always did—mundane, repetitive, and filled with little irritations. His commute was slow, the same construction work clogging the same street. The office was its usual drudgery—endless emails, dull conversations, meaningless tasks.
But by midday, something snapped inside him. The feeling was too strong to ignore. Every conversation felt rehearsed, every moment a copy of the one before. The barista at the coffee shop gave him the same smile, said the exact same words: “One black coffee, right? You like it strong.” It wasn’t just repetition. It was something worse, something deeply unsettling, like the world was trapped in a loop.
Daniel felt the panic rise in his chest as he left the office, rushing home. The anxiety clawed at him with every step, every moment that repeated like clockwork. Sarah greeted him at the door, like she always did, with a smile and a kiss on the cheek, as if nothing was wrong.
But everything was wrong.
That night, lying next to her, Daniel’s mind spun. The next day was the same. And the next. He tried to change it. He did everything in his power to break the pattern. He left work early, skipped meals, tried taking a different route. But the loop remained unbroken. Each time he thought he’d found a way out, something inexplicable would reset it. No matter what he did, the day started again at 7:00 AM, and everything fell into place as if nothing had changed.
Weeks went by, then months, or at least that’s what it felt like. Desperation gnawed at his sanity. He confronted Sarah, demanding she tell him if she knew what was happening. She looked at him, confused and frightened, insisting that everything was fine. The more he pushed, the more distant and unreal everyone around him became, as if they were puppets, merely playing a role in some grand performance.
One night, after weeks of futile attempts to break the loop, Daniel did the unthinkable. He climbed to the roof of their building and stood on the edge, staring down at the dark street below. His heart pounded, the cold wind biting at his skin, but the urge to escape overwhelmed him. He couldn’t live like this anymore, trapped in the same day, in the same lifeless pattern. If there was no way out, he would make one.
He jumped.
The fall was brief, the rush of air deafening in his ears. And then—nothing. No pain. No impact. Just darkness.
Daniel gasped for breath and shot upright in bed.
7:00 AM.
The birds chirped outside his window. The sun bathed the room in golden light. The smell of coffee lingered in the air.
No.
His mind reeled. He had died. He was certain of it. Yet here he was, alive, back in the same bed, in the same morning. Sarah’s soft hum drifted in from the kitchen, the sound of the kettle boiling.
Daniel couldn’t take it anymore. The world around him felt like a suffocating cage, its walls closing in. He smashed his fist against the alarm clock, shattering it into pieces. He tore through the house, throwing chairs, ripping curtains, shouting at Sarah, who stood frozen, her expression hollow.
And then, he stopped.
It hit him like a freight train. The loop wasn’t happening to him—it was happening around him. Everyone else—the people, the places, the events—they were all part of it, stuck in a cycle that was beyond his control. But he… he was different. He was the only one who was real.
The realization knocked the air out of him. He was living in a simulation. And it wasn’t being run by some outside force—it was being controlled by him. Or, rather, a version of him. His future self, observing him like a rat in a maze, studying his reactions, trying to fix something—a catastrophic mistake.
But what mistake?
He searched for answers, ransacking his own mind, looking for memories, clues. That’s when it all began to unravel. The flashes of forgotten moments, conversations buried deep in his subconscious, came flooding back. In the future, something had gone terribly wrong. His future self, desperate and broken, had created this loop, forcing Daniel to relive this day endlessly, hoping to figure out where it all went wrong.
The world around him flickered. For the first time, Daniel could see the seams—the glitches in the fabric of reality. People froze mid-motion, their faces blank, their expressions lifeless. The buildings around him shimmered, and for a brief moment, he saw beyond the facade: a sterile, cold laboratory filled with machines, monitors, and a version of himself, aged, weathered, hunched over a console.
His future self had done this to him.
“Why?” Daniel screamed, his voice echoing through the hollow simulation. “What do you want from me?”
Suddenly, a figure stepped forward from the shadows. It was him—older, gaunt, with eyes filled with regret and madness.
“You’re the only one who can fix it,” his future self said, his voice barely a whisper. “I made a mistake… I lost everything. I created this loop to find the answer. But it’s too late for me. I need you to do it.”
“What mistake? What are you talking about?” Daniel demanded, his hands trembling.
“The collapse… the collapse of everything. The world we knew is gone. It’s all because of me. I thought I could fix it, but… this loop, it’s a prison. I trapped us both here.”
Daniel’s heart pounded in his chest as he tried to make sense of the words. He didn’t want to believe it. But deep down, he knew it was true.
The older version of himself stepped closer, his eyes dark and haunted. “You have to break the loop. You have to find a way… or we’re both doomed to live this day, over and over, for eternity.”
The world began to dissolve around them, flickering and tearing at the seams. Daniel’s future self started to fade, his form becoming translucent.
“Wait!” Daniel shouted, reaching out, but it was too late. The figure vanished into thin air, leaving Daniel alone in the collapsing world.
The simulation was breaking down.
Suddenly, the ground beneath him gave way, and Daniel felt himself falling once again, the sensation of weightlessness overwhelming him. But this time, he didn’t hit the ground. Instead, he woke up in his bed.
7:00 AM.
The sun streamed through the curtains, bathing the room in golden light. The birds chirped. The scent of coffee lingered in the air.
But something was different this time.
The world outside his window wasn’t the same.
It was empty.
The streets were deserted. The buildings crumbled. The sky was a sickly gray, swirling with clouds that seemed to pulse with a malevolent energy. Everything was broken, distorted—a wasteland of ruin and decay.
Daniel stared out the window, realization dawning on him.
He had finally broken the loop. But the world he returned to… was a nightmare.
And the worst part?
There was no one left to save.
Want to read a bit more? Find some more of my writings here-
The Most Epic Fantasy Book Series You’ll Ever Read — A Complete Guide for Every Fantasy Lover
The Most Bone-Chilling Books You’ll Ever Read: From Erotic Horror Thrillers to Western Nightmares
The Insomniac’s Nightmare: A Short Psychological Thriller Story
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