And then came the explanation.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlDxgWfu90p
The daily boss fight.
Her hardest task, every time:25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp5XM03wFHE
Convince someone in under five minutes that she wasn’t crazy, the world wasn’t broken—just... cracked.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPzl8rWCcFB
A little.
Claire had it down to an art now.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6F1FdfnRVt
She’d practiced.
Step one: start with “I had a dream.”25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoDZEuAI4ov
Then ease into “The dream was real.”25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh92aYIOSDC
Follow up with “You were here yesterday too.”25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQhG0WVm9pY
And finally close with “You all forgot, but I didn’t.”
Boom. Five minutes.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrTh79PlBtW
Scripted, rehearsed, and repeatable.
She’d even gotten used to asking Nightwing or Robin for their earpieces directly.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEgy3GPdS4D
Why waste time relaying info like it was a game of telephone? Batman was usually already online.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF51wO9H1M3
It was more efficient to just brief everyone at once.
She could feel herself becoming part of their workflow.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVEvEWmosA9
A new kind of muscle memory.
Alfred always started with, “Oh dear, Miss Claire, terribly sorry we forgot you again.”25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRVUKTPvqrL
Batman, on the other hand, delivered every voice message like it was a field command.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxi5ES79AnJ
Concise. Authoritative. Meant to be followed.
Then came the status update.
Usually the same:25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ51ZDb7nTAk
“Nothing changed today.”25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu6kPACbK3b
“Sky hasn’t cracked.”25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdJm71ZFbjZ
“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.”25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAIj3GhEDuT
He’d said it like a doctor warning against too much caffeine, calm and clinical.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEISZokM4Ph
But it had kept her up all night.
He told her once a week was enough.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL2CG8zkRkz
“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—25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmxCqOd1ZDO
this wasn’t something she was observing.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRH0fSRnEZB
It was something that could observe her back.
This was her fourth report.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7SbzRC4NCT
Still nothing.
No updates.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ79ozzanhTj
No signs.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrnYLuqtl2T
Just that eerie nothingness that made her more anxious than any actual event.
Was nothing a good sign?25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqFUgfrHtCx
Or was it just... waiting?25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZtXXVKUj5X
Watching?25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5AoswtzQKh
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.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhsIV5idmKp
Sometimes she sneakily Googled manuals to understand what they did.
Now, she could switch between three different surveillance modes,25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwuFIN1Rdtq
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.
25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMCbjWlzK4v
Claire thought everything would keep repeating.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNqYLjC9M1d
She'd come to see the infinite loop as some kind of twisted safety net—a bizarre, but reliable routine.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡugCP8D6GR1
No surprises.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpORvtSIoT1
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.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNNMzsvkWcd
This lifestyle gave her a kind of mechanical calm.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqBwBZUd0TV
Predictable.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Z2vkTZIN8
Stable.
Every day, reintroduce herself.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdvjl5jIDti
Control her tone.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhUmrl97nrV
Deliver the optimal info load to minimize questions.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmiTjIaHcho
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.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ270d5VjtY5
Which screen was for surveillance.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOJF990USxz
Which device disrupted signals.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpeJ92hvA43
Which red light meant “don’t touch.”25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2nXyoSYrcJ
Muscle memory, baby.
And then the fissure check.
Take out the telescope.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ywmG045pn
Angle it just right.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ay966KVSQ
Deep breath.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8XjiZ1czXU
Close the right eye.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD9wishFF8D
Don’t stare too long.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEQonfM39Jo
She knew better now—25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtVXJpQoiDW
something out there might stare back.
That was the routine.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡygSlujdxF4
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.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡechWIIqDCS
She stared at it.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡThKeAYas6v
296.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg0m4cQS0SD
Too close to 300.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEBmBRXEufv
She didn’t know why, but it made her uneasy.
She opened her café.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNzwkuHTlnP
Same as the previous 295 times.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjdMxpwrVSQ
The air was damp.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFYEOsL02qe
The coffee machine hissed to life.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVgsM7mZaSg
She could smell a bit of machine oil in the steam.
It felt like a ritual.
She grabbed the newspaper from Nightwing.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4hIO5TOB53
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.”25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU2q7dLYFaV
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.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQbvd8MaqFI
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.”25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGw9VKrTXOv
Weird enough to raise eyebrows.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYd6UxWxht6
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—25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyEr22TdkSy
her eardrums exploded with a boom.
A deep, subterranean rumble shook the ground.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWxTQu4UFhO
Low. Prolonged.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYgNquAcrua
Like something ancient was groaning awake beneath their feet.
An earthquake.
Claire had no time to think.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY9s1cXrC8c
The floor pitched sideways.
She lost balance.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ69o2ovNaJO
Grabbed the edge of the bar—25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmaAEqIxL3Q
but it moved too. Everything was moving. Bag dropped.
The officer caught her.
One hand on her shoulder.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnqvjVLXaTg
One on her waist.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG87YOjCAsf
Pulled her back from the quake, held her steady.
She caught a hint of detergent on his shirt.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqYmIwwtXHU
And something else—something sharper.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmn8aaDxqJW
Almost like panic.
They balanced each other.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaKtLe3sM1y
Her against his chest.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLowO93ZFp5
Him braced against the wall.
Two magnets wobbling in chaos, finding brief stability in contact.
Things crashed around them.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoocuv5Fxt3
Mugs.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdOgNmCFW5f
Spice jars.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5PYV5ZNvX5
Her precious collection of weird spoons.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTsQolmdWl
All shattered, ringing like breaking glass in a cathedral.
The sound pierced through her thoughts.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhWBC7Nin41
Claire flinched instinctively.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡud73FOpBCE
That noise—25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUxI04Wi3Uc
that had never been part of this day before.
The ceiling light above spun wildly.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZwhGjeozc2
Shadows on the wall flailed like ghosts.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBucCgy5oyd
Her vision swirled.
Then—25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZZJLe2EJBy
a hand on her head.
Firm. Protective.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡirv9RCO8Mu
Not planned. Just reflex.
His palm cradled her crown.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsGnnytWb85
Like making sure her skull stayed intact.
He pulled her closer.
Not just to keep her upright—25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡilDwU3AMEA
but like he needed to.
He guided her to a corner.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7SLkt2mAs7
No shelves. No glass.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS6gGo4payv
Just two bare walls.
A temporary shelter.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSzYv4EwHMV
A makeshift haven.
And then—25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmCBC4zhrVx
after nearly a minute—
The shaking slowed.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ZscCdrIUM
The walls stopped growling.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ90PrmITQvo
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.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZUvFGGfWEe
Trying to see her face.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ47BkWj5CAO
Check her expression.
Brows furrowed, eyes scanning—25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0kZIb46hv9
forehead, cheek, neck.
Was she hurt?
Then—25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqoavGITak5
he froze.
His eyes locked on a spot on her face.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoit5w0BxGe
Still. Wide.
Like something familiar had just torn open.
A single line of blood was dripping25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0agzjaLXY7
from the golden-brown eye25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgRrsCBnIOF
on her left.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3SAHDZAnpr
and then Add to home screen.