Eli jumped in shock, letting out a sharp "Ahh!" as his phone slipped from his grip, clattering to the floor. His heart raced as he crouched quickly, scrambling to pick it up. The flashlight flickered briefly, casting jittery beams around the room before he aimed it back toward the floating diary. His breath was shallow as fear and amazement fought for dominance inside him.
What the hell is this? he thought, staring at the strange, hovering object. For a few moments, Eli shone the light around the room, half-expecting something else to leap out of the shadows. But the room remained as still and silent as before—nothing had changed.
Taking a deep breath, Eli edged closer to the diary, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. Why is this thing just floating here? he wondered. His flashlight flickered over the object, revealing something strange. It wasn't exactly floating, more like it was stuck in place—but there was nothing visible holding it.
A thought struck him. Maybe the diary was in a bag before the class disappeared? he speculated, his mind racing. If the bag disappeared, it might still be here, just… invisible. Or maybe it's still there, and we just can't see or interact with anything that's vanished. Eli's heart thudded faster at the possibility. So everything that's disappeared is still around? We just can't feel them, and everyone else has forgotten? The idea sent a flicker of hope through his mind, but he wasn't sure. He couldn't be sure.
He shook his head to dispel the dark thoughts clouding his mind. Focus. The diary was in front of him, and that was all that mattered for now. If it was truly one of the five, then he was one step closer to solving the loop.
Carefully, he approached it again, extending his hand with caution. His fingertips brushed the surface of the diary, and he pulled his hand back immediately, waiting to see if anything would happen. Seconds passed. Nothing.
Gathering his courage, Eli grabbed the diary and pulled it toward him. Surprisingly, it came free without resistance. Huh. I thought it would be stuck there, he thought, breathing a sigh of relief. His heart still pounded, but the immediate fear had subsided.
He flipped open the diary, and on the first page, in shaky handwriting, were the words:
"July 19"
"I'm Zara Loveless. My stingy boyfriend gave this diary to me as a gift."
Eli couldn't help but let a small smile cross his face as he read that. His own journal had also been a gift from his friends. There was something oddly comforting about the connection, even if he didn't know who Zara was. But he didn't want to intrude on her private thoughts—this was a stranger's diary, after all—so he skimmed through the more personal entries, trying to locate something relevant to the loops.
It didn't take long for his eyes to land on a specific date.
"October 7"
"Today was just another boring day. I spent my whole time at school reading a book from the library under the table. Zack went to another class to celebrate someone's birthday. He asked me to come along, but I refused. He didn't say anything afterward—how considerate. Anyway, I'm waiting for Zack to come back from the party so we can head home together. He has some nerve ignoring his girlfrie—"
The writing stopped abruptly, right in the middle of her sentence.
Eli frowned, flipping the page. Did Zack come back while she was writing? The incomplete thought made him feel uneasy. He continued turning the pages, knowing that whatever happened next would likely involve the first loop.
He felt a shiver as he approached the next entry. The first loop—if she had recorded anything—would have to be soon. His fingers trembled slightly as he turned to the next page, eyes scanning for any clue, anything that would shed light on what happened to Zara.
He found it.
"Testing."
"It really works. It seems me and my diary are stuck in some kind of time loop. The popular girl Liza first disappeared, and nobody seems to notice anything. When I pointed it out, everything went black again, and the loop restarted. It seems the writing here doesn't disappear even after the loop resets. I wonder why I was given this diary—maybe it's to document everything about the loops. This is quite romantic... I have to end the loop before my beloved disappears."
Eli felt his heart tighten as he read those words. His hands began to tremble slightly, and a deep frown formed on his face. Liza... The name echoed in his mind, conjuring memories of her smile, her infectious laugh. She wasn't just a popular girl to him. Although she wasn't as close as Leo or Alex, Liza had been a good friend. And, for a brief time, he had even harbored a small crush on her when they first met.
He squeezed his eyes shut, fighting back the wave of emotion that threatened to overwhelm him. Not now, he told himself. You can't break down now. But the thought of her being erased from existence, of nobody remembering her, struck him harder than he expected. It wasn't just about Liza—it was the terrifying possibility that it could happen to anyone else he cared about, or even to himself.
Eli let out a deep, shaky breath, forcing himself to regain control. His emotions were swirling inside, a storm of anger, grief, and fear, but he knew he couldn't afford to lose focus. He opened his eyes slowly, staring at the diary once again. I can't stop now, he thought. No matter what.
With each passing second, the urgency of his task grew heavier. The mention of the loops not erasing the writing gave him a flicker of hope, but that was small comfort when people were vanishing, their existence wiped clean as if they had never been.
"7 loops have passed. All this time, I was treating this as a game. I thought this was some kind of opportunity. I was even happy when Liza disappeared, but only now that Miss Samantha has gone can I understand the situation I'm truly in. What am I doing? Rather than finding a solution, I went around beating and harassing my former bullies one by one. And now, because of me, she's gone. Fuck."
Eli's grip tightened on the edges of the diary as he read those words. His jaw clenched in frustration. How could Zara have treated something so serious like a game? The casual joy she had taken in Liza's disappearance stirred a rage within him that he hadn't felt in a long time. Liza—his friend—was reduced to just another piece of Zara's twisted entertainment. Seven loops wasted because of her selfish vendetta.
He bit down on his lower lip, feeling the anger swell. But as his eyes skimmed the page once more, something made him pause. The ink smudges at the bottom of the entry caught his attention—tears. The girl who had been so careless before now seemed genuinely broken. Eli sighed, releasing the breath he'd been holding, his anger softening.
"I don't know her circumstances," he muttered under his breath, trying to reason with himself. Everyone reacts differently to trauma, he thought, forcing himself to stay calm. She must've had her reasons, just like I had mine. Still, it was hard to fully forgive her for squandering those first loops. The time he and Zara had wasted could have been spent saving people.
But... what was done was done. Eli couldn't change the past, not her actions or his own. The guilt she carried now was evident—those tear-stained pages told him enough. And he understood that feeling all too well. Regret was something they both had to carry. He told himself that holding onto anger would only slow him down.
With a heavy sigh, he turned the page again, ready to dive deeper into whatever else Zara had documented. This isn't just about me anymore, Eli reminded himself. We're all in this together—even if we've made mistakes.
"Aubrey disappeared. Normally, I would be happy, but now I only feel more urgent. I don't know when Jack will disappear. After investigating for 2 loops, I found that you can't go outside. No matter the time or place, the loop will restart. You also can't tell this to anyone, or else the loop will restart. The loop starts at exactly nine and ends at six. But other than this, I can't find anything else. There is simply no clue anywhere. I have some theories, though. Maybe outside the loop, time is stopped. That's why the rescue team hasn't arrived until now."
Eli raised an eyebrow as he finished reading. Time stopped outside the loop? The theory was bold, almost absurd—but then again, everything about the loop was absurd. If time manipulation was possible, why couldn't there be areas where time had simply frozen? His mind churned with possibilities, but the more he thought about it, the more complicated it became. How could time continue here but stop everywhere else? It defied everything he understood.
But the loop itself was proof that the normal rules of reality didn't apply. Zara's discovery that she couldn't leave, no matter where or when she tried, was even more concerning. If there was no escape, even when following the natural flow of events... Did that mean the loop was inescapable until they fulfilled some hidden condition?
He shook his head, pushing the thought aside. I'll figure it out in the next loop. It was becoming a tired refrain, one he repeated to himself every time he hit a dead end. A small, bitter smile tugged at the corner of his lips. He wasn't even bothering to correct himself anymore—next loop had become an inevitability in his mind.
Eli sighed, his eyes returning to the diary. He didn't know if Zara's theories held any weight, but she had been through more loops than he had. Maybe she had found something, a clue that could help him. Either way, he couldn't afford to dismiss any possibilities. The stakes were too high.
"Nothing. I can't find anything. I searched everywhere but found nothing useful."
Eli's eyes narrowed as he read Zara's frustration. It mirrored his own. Every answer felt like a dead end, a path leading more questions despite all the time spent searching. But he kept going, just like her. There had to be something—anything—that would help them understand the loop.
His grip tightened slightly as he continued reading.
"I found something interesting. Although only the people I know disappear, it seems that list is composed of people I knew before the loop, not during it."
Eli's heart skipped a beat. He looked at the entry with renewed interest. This was important. Only people she knew before the loop? That explained new acquaintances hadn't vanished. Eli had been afraid of interacting with anyone new, worried that he might trigger their disappearance. But now, this revelation took a weight off his chest. He'd already suspected something like this, but seeing it confirmed in Zara's words solidified his thoughts.
He leaned back slightly, letting the information sink in. If the loop only affected people they had prior connections with, it meant they could interact with others—potentially even bring them into the loop's awareness without causing restart. The idea was both a relief and a potential strategy. But why only the people from before? Eli couldn't shake the feeling that this rule was hiding something crucial about the nature of the loop.
Zara's observation was a breakthrough in its own right. It meant that there was a pattern, a restriction on the loop's effects. Eli could use that.
"I have to accept it now—someone has messed with my memory. Other than Mom and Dad, I can't remember anyone from before the loop, other than the people here. I probably would have forgotten about them too if I hadn't been asked about my parents' names."
Eli's eyes widened in shock, a cold rush of fear racing down his spine as he quickly started to search through his memories. Names, faces, voices—anything to prove this couldn't be happening to him. And to his relief, he found them. The fragments of people, moments from his past, were still there. He heaved a deep sigh, his heart pounding, trying to convince himself that everything was fine.
Maybe it's just my imagination, he thought, hoping to calm the rising panic. Yet, as he tried to recall more people, a new realization crashed into him like a wave. The number of people he could remember was disturbingly small. The friendly faces, those he'd known from childhood, classmates he'd shared years with—gone. Their details were foggy, incomplete.
"No, no, no…" Eli's mind spiraled, his hands shaking as he tried to cling to the names slipping through his fingers like sand. The more he thought about it, the clearer it became: he was truly forgetting them. Slowly, piece by piece, they were being erased from his mind, just like his parents had nearly slipped away before. How had he not realized it sooner? Dammit, it should have been obvious!
The thought of forgetting everyone terrified him. What if, by the time he managed to break the loop—if he could break it at all—he wouldn't remember anyone? Not his friends, not his family, not even himself. Panic surged in his chest, tightening like a vice. His breathing became rapid and shallow, and for a few moments, he was paralyzed, frozen in the terrifying thought that he might lose everyone he ever cared about, even in his own mind.
Eli forced himself to take deep breaths, inhaling sharply, trying to stop the whirlwind of dread from consuming him. He couldn't think straight. The room around him began to feel too small, too suffocating. He couldn't sit still, couldn't bear the weight of his own helplessness.
Abruptly, he gave up. He let the panic take over, stomping his foot in frustration and rage. His muscles tensed, trembling with barely controlled anger, and suddenly, he hurled his phone across the room. It flew through the air, hitting the wall with a harsh crack. A moment later, the unmistakable sound of it breaking echoed in the small room.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn this fucking loop. Fuck everything!" Eli finally snapped. For the next ten minutes, his rage boiled over. He stomped around the room, cursing at the top of his lungs, his voice hoarse with emotion. The frustration he had bottled up finally erupted in a raw explosion of anger and grief. At some point, he grabbed the floating diary and threw it across the room, watching it land with a soft thud on the ground.
The pain of his own powerlessness gnawed at him, and without thinking, he slammed his fists against the wall. "Damnit!" he screamed, driving his head into the surface in a desperate attempt to ground himself, to make the torment stop, if only for a moment. Pain flared through his skull, sharp and stinging, and he stumbled back, clutching his head.
"Ahh!" Eli winced, blood trickling between his fingers as he rubbed the sore spot where his head had collided with the wall. His thoughts were a jumbled mess, the pain both physical and emotional overwhelming him. Slowly, he let his hand drop, staring at the red smear on his fingertips. He winced as he gingerly touched the wound, feeling the sting of his own recklessness.
"What am I doing?" Eli muttered, his voice hoarse. His anger had burned out, leaving only exhaustion in its wake. He reached for the hem of his school shirt and tore off a strip of fabric, hastily pressing it against the cut on his head. The makeshift bandage soaked up the blood as he leaned back against the wall, eyes half-closed, taking slow, steadying breaths.
For several minutes, he sat there in silence, his head throbbing but his mind finally clear. Once the bleeding seemed to have slowed, Eli tore off another piece of his shirt and tied it around his head to hold the makeshift bandage in place. He glanced around the darkened room. His gaze fell on the diary where he had thrown it.
Reluctantly, he pushed himself up, feeling the weight of everything he had learned crushing down on him. He took a deep breath and went to retrieve the diary from the floor. His hands shook as he held it, the weight of Zara's words and his own situation pressing heavy on his chest.
Stepping out of the dark room, Eli walked down the hallway and into his classroom, flipping on the light. The sudden brightness stung his eyes, but he welcomed it. He needed clarity. He needed to focus. Taking a seat on the nearest bench, Eli carefully opened the diary once more, his heart heavy but his resolve hardened.
He found where he had left off, bracing himself for whatever else Zara had written, knowing that no matter how painful or terrifying the truth was, he couldn't stop now. He couldn't afford to.
"22 loops have passed, and finally, in the last loop, I found something. Last loop, I asked the birthday boy about the loop. Surprisingly, he didn't believe me, even after I told him everything, unlike some other people. We talked a lot, and he suggested I search for other items similar to the diaries. Why didn't I think of that? Am I stupid?"
Eli stared at the diary with narrowed eyes, a frown settling on his face. The girl had told him about the time loop? And he didn't believe her, even after she revealed everything? That struck him as odd. Eli wasn't exactly someone difficult to convince; in fact, if someone presented him with detailed facts or experiences about something bizarre—like a time loop—he'd probably start piecing things together quickly. But this guy, the birthday boy, didn't? There was something off about it. Eli mulled over the possibility that she may not have told him enough to truly convince him. Maybe she held back, or maybe he just couldn't grasp the gravity of it all. He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, trying to shake off the irritation creeping in.
His eyes returned to the diary, but his mind was elsewhere. He couldn't help but feel a strange connection with the girl's frustration. In the chaos of the loops, of people disappearing one by one, knowing something crucial yet being unable to prove it or share it—it mirrored his own experience. He felt an unspoken camaraderie with this girl, someone he didn't know personally but whose thoughts and struggles now lay open before him.
The room around him felt heavier, dimmer. The shadows in the corners seemed to stretch longer, perhaps a reflection of the weight on his mind. The only light came from the ceiling light, casting a narrow glow on the worn pages of the diary, illuminating the inked words of the girl trapped in a cycle of loss and confusion, much like him.
Eli leaned back, rubbing his temples. He couldn't shake the thought of how many loops he himself had wasted—time slipping through his fingers while he fumbled for answers. He had his regrets, too. Maybe that's why this bothered him so much. Because at some point, just like the girl in the diary, he had also doubted, wasted time, and overlooked important details.
Shaking his head, he brought his focus back to the entry. Her words lingered in his mind: Why didn't I think of that? Am I stupid? The desperation in her question resonated with him. She wasn't stupid; she was lost, overwhelmed, just like he was. He sighed deeply, allowing himself to feel the frustration she must have endured.
"Finally, after so much searching, I found another diary in first-year Class B."
Eli's breath hitched as he read the words. His fingers tightened around the worn edges of the journal, his heart pounding in his chest. Finally, something, he thought. The rush of hope filled him, almost overwhelming in the quiet tension that had built up during his search. After what felt like an endless loop of dead ends, he had found a clue, a lead.
He stared at the writing with a mixture of relief and excitement, his lips twitching into a small, tired smile. For the first time in what felt like days, there was good news. But a thought tugged at the back of his mind: How did she manage to find it in Class B? Did she go through everyone's bags? It seemed reckless, dangerous even. He shook his head, dismissing the thought. I'll think about it later, he decided, wanting to savor the brief moment of victory.
But that joy was fleeting.
As he turned the page, the lightness in his chest vanished, replaced by a growing dread. His eyes skimmed the next line, and a cold sensation crept down his spine.
"Zach is gone. I don't care anymore. Not like it matters. Only two or three more loops remain."
Eli felt his stomach drop, a wave of nausea washing over him. This is it, he realized, his throat constricting as he read the ominous message. The end of the loop. He could almost feel the walls closing in around him, the ticking clock louder in his mind. The journal trembled slightly in his hands as he hurriedly flipped to the last passage, hoping—praying—for something more, something that could save him from the suffocating pressure of time running out.
Then he saw the final words:
"I saw the truth."
Eli's breath faltered. He leaned back, feeling the weight of those four words settle on his chest, crushing him with the unknown. What truth? His heart pounded faster, his mind racing, desperately trying to fill in the gaps. But the next lines stole his breath entirely.
"I don't know what you think of yourself, Eli. But know this: you are more special than you think. You are the only one who can end the loop and bring everyone back. You are the key. I can't tell you more—the loop mechanism won't allow it. But remember, you must collect the five diaries. Only then can you end this damn loop. Good luck. Now I will go tell you about the loop, although you probably won't remember anything. This is the only thing I can do now. And also, I'm sorry."
Eli froze. The journal slipped from his hands, hitting the floor with a soft thud, but he didn't hear it. His vision blurred for a moment, the world around him fading into the background. The words swirled in his mind like a storm, refusing to settle. He was the key. Him. Not just another pawn in some twisted game, but the one meant to end it.
How? His mind screamed. His chest rose and fell rapidly, panic building. How am I supposed to end this? What does it mean that I'm the key?
A wave of dizziness washed over him. He felt disconnected from reality, like the ground beneath his feet wasn't quite solid anymore. He didn't know whether to feel relief that there was a way out or despair that it all hinged on him—someone who couldn't even trust his own memories. What am I supposed to do now?
And then, as if the universe had heard his plea, his vision darkened. Eli's consciousness began to slip, like the world was being torn away from him piece by piece. He blinked rapidly, trying to shake off the sudden blackness, but it engulfed him, pulling him deeper into an abyss.
No... Eli's thoughts echoed weakly, fading into the void as his body crumpled forward, consumed by the darkness that had been waiting for him all along.