Ethan's alarm clock blared, yanking him from a restless sleep. He slapped the off button, the glowing red numbers 6:30 AM seeming to mock him. The room felt unnaturally cold, the air thick with unease. He stumbled to the bathroom, the icy water sending shivers down his spine. His reflection in the mirror looked distorted, eyes hollow and haunted.
Breakfast was tense. His parents' faces were drawn, their voices hushed. The news murmured about strange power outages, but the words seemed distant. Outside, the sky was an ominous gray, the wind whispering his name. Mr. Johnson, their neighbor, was out tending his roses, his eyes hollow and movements mechanical.
School was a nightmare. Mrs. Collins' lecture on quadratic equations was a monotonous drone, her eyes dark pits. Ethan's hand moved on its own, drawing spirals that writhed on the page. The cafeteria was eerily silent, the usual noise replaced by a heavy stillness.
By the time the final bell rang, Ethan's nerves were frayed. He fled the building, the feeling of being watched growing stronger. The sky darkened unnaturally fast, the wind howling. A bolt of lightning split the sky, a deafening crack of thunder shaking the ground. Everything went black.
When Ethan opened his eyes, he was back in his bed. The alarm clock's blare 6:30 AM. felt like a scream. He moved through the day, every interaction repeating with eerie precision. He tried to alter events, but the loop reset with merciless regularity. Each time, the storm found him, the darkness claimed him.
Ethan's days blurred into a macabre dance of terror. He scrawled frantic notes, seeking patterns in the chaos. A broken piece of chalk, a misplaced lunchbox, a stray dog with piercing eyes each detail scrutinized. Sleep became a distant memory, reality and nightmare blending into one.
Amid the terror, determination took root. Ethan probed the edges of his prison, searching for a way out. The loop was a labyrinth of horrors, but he would not be its victim forever. Somewhere within the twisted corridors lay the key to his escape.
As the storm approached once more, Ethan noticed a new detail: a shadowy figure standing at the edge of his vision, watching him. He turned to confront it, but the lightning struck, and everything went black.
When he awoke, he was back in his bed. The alarm clock blared 6:30 AM. But this time, a cold whisper echoed in his mind: "I see you."