[ WP ] Your friend tells you they are living through a Groundhog Day experience .

[ Loop 89 ] 
 
 
 
 The heavy din of the coffee shop enveloped all of us and distracted me from what Conner was saying. None of it made sense anyway. He was always one to come up with wild and crazy theories, and this latest one was bizarre but certainly no stranger than anything else he ’ d come up with in the past. The main difference was that he dragged us out here at nine am on a saturday morning to rant and rave. Sarah didn ’ t have the slightest interest in what was going on and had her nose buried in her phone. We were both pretty worn out from the friday night house party we were at last night. 
 
 
 “ I ’ m not crazy, this really is happening, ” Conner said, “ We ’ re living the same day over and over, but for some reason I ’ m the only one that remembers. ” 
 
 
 I took a long drag on my coffee hoping it would help wake me up; so far it only made me have to use the bathroom. 
 
 
 “ Wait, slow down, ” I said, “ this doesn ’ t make any sense. ” 
 
 
 “ Slowing down won ’ t help, I just have to prove it to you. Every time I have to prove it to you. Here, watch this, the next woman in line is going to order an espresso and the woman after her will order a tall frappuccino, and the man at the end will order an EggNog latte. But after he takes one sip he ’ ll demand a new one and swear that he didn ’ t order it that way. ” 
 
 
 “ This is -- ” I started to say, but Conner cut me off. 
 
 
 “ It ’ s not nuts, just watch. ” 
 
 
 Sure enough, each person ordered their drinks just as Conner predicted. Almost. 
 
 
 “ Hey, wait, you said that he would take one sip before complaining and he took three. What ’ s up with that? ” 
 
 
 “ Well, that ’ s the weird part, each loop is slightly different. Quantum fluctuations or something like that. I haven ’ t figured that part out. ” Conner glanced down at his watch and then continued, “ Some things will be slightly different. Like this; out in the parking lot there ’ s a near miss accident and sometimes they actually hit each other. And 3… 2… 1… ” 
 
 
 Outside I heard a sudden sharp screech of tires followed by silence. The silence was broken by the shrill scream of one driver cursing the other out. 
 
 
 “ See, I ’ m not crazy. Things are repeating. And SHE ’ S at the center of it all for some reason, ” Conner said pointing at Sarah. She glanced up from her phone; I had almost forgotten that she was sitting with us. 
 
 
 “ Say what? I was just reading about… ” 
 
 
 Conner cut her off and said, “ You were reading about the latest Star Wars movie, that ’ s what you were going to say, right? ” 
 
 
 “ Uhh, yes. ” 
 
 
 “ But you ’ re not, you ’ re looking at facebook photos of the party you were at last night, weren ’ t you. Looking at photos of *him* weren ’ t you? ” 
 
 
 I ’ m not normally one to be paranoid, or overly invasive of my girlfriends privacy, but there was something about the way Conner stressed the word “ him ” and the way she turned red in response. I quickly pivoted on my chair to look at her cellphone. Sarah tried to snatch it away so I couldn ’ t see, but I grabbed her hand before she could hide it from me. 
 
 
 Sure enough, there was a facebook picture on the screen of some guy pouring beer from a keg. I had no idea who he was, but I knew his type; muscular, kind of a “ bad boy ” type, but friendly and gregarious. Strangely I recognized the background, sort of. It looked just like the porch in the back of the condo we were at for last night ’ s party. Trouble was, I didn ’ t recognize anyone in the picture. Then it hit me, there was another party two doors down. Sarah also disappeared for a good hour last night and I couldn ’ t find her. 
 
 
 “ What does this mean…? ” I choked out. 
 
 
 “ She ’ s the key to this somehow, ” Conner said, “ She breaks up with you and every time she does the cycle loops. ” 
 
 
 
 Sarah scowled at Conner and said, “ Thanks a fucking lot. Frank, I didn ’ t want it to be like this I… ” 
 
 
 I couldn ’ t take it. The comfortable din of the coffee shop abandoned me and everything was crystal clear and quiet. The only sound was Sarah ’ s fumbling words in my ears. My brain refused to process them and everything went white. I couldn ’ t breathe and had to get out of here. Run, just run, end this madness. 

