It's cold, my umbrella's gone, and I'm on the bench. Again. I frown. The loop is annoying.

I rush over to the store, and hurry inside. Willow stands there, just as she did last time, asking, "Hey, uh, can I buy these?" The cashier pays more attention to me, glaring, as he answers, "Sure, that'll be eleven dollars and two cents." Willow looks into her purse. What should I do?! I wonder. 

"Uh, hey! W-Willow!" Willow turns around. Good. I have her attention.

"Hi. Um. You might not remember me... I think we were in the same class a few years back at school? Hey, I saw some umbrellas on clearance in the back... Want to look for one with me?"

I laugh nervously and gesture toward the "50% OFF!" sign. 

===Pancake===

I stare at the paper for a moment. Then I pick it up. I run home and throw the note into the fire. It burns for a moment, then vanishes. I've failed yet again. I go upstairs and pick up my cat. He stares at me and meows. I smile at im and get him some food. If I couldn't do anything else, I might as well feed him.

Suddenly there is a knock on the...wall? How? Someone would have to be inside the wall. I went over and knocked back. They knocked again, but in a pattern. Morse code! Of course! I get my morse code thingy and listen. It makes a message. Y O U A R E T R A P P E D. Y O U N E E D T O E S C A P E. H U R R Y. B E F O R E I T R E W I N D S, A N D I D I S A P P E A R.

I look over the message several times. I ran out to the pudde. I put my umbrella over it. I also drop a pencil in it. I run home and knock a message to the wall. I A M T R Y I N G T O B R E A K I T N O W. I D O N T K N O W H O W L O N G I T W I L L T A K E.

No answer. Hmmm. I sit down on the couch and wrap a blanket around myself. I don't turn on the tv. I sit in silence until I fall asleep. I wake up from the rain. I turn and see the puddle...covered by my umbrella with a pencil in it. I run home and knock a message to the wall. A R E Y O U T H E R E?

I W A S. Y O U H A V E N O T F A I L E D Y E T. G O O D B Y E. I W I L L N O L O N G E R H E L P Y O U. 

===Pancake Yet Again===

I stare at the wall for a moment. Why can't you help me? I wonder. I turn and run to the puddle. If I could change somethings, why not others? I grab a whole bunch of towels from home, just as it resets. I don't have the towels anymore. Suddenly, I get an idea. The clothes I'm wearing stay the same. So maybe... I run home and put on a watch. Then I wait for it to reset. Success! The watch stays on my wrist. I decide to memorize the area, then when I come back, I will observe if there's any differences.

Long after I have memorized it, the reset happens. As soon as I wake up, I start my watch timer. Now, I observe. There are slight differences.The puddles have moved about 4 inches from where they were. The stores have people coming in a minute before last time. So there are differences, but not many. When the reset happens, I stop the timer. The time was one hour. Now I know how long I have. I start a timer for 1 hour and make it so it will reset every hour. Now, I dry up the puddle I had put my pencil in and keep it covered with my umbrella. I wait. Near the reset, someone leaves the store. She looks familiar. I stop her and say, "Who are you? Are you in the reset?" She looks at me like I was crazy. She shakes off my hand and runs. The reset happens. I am no longer looking at the puddle. The pudle no longer exsits.

---

I'm inside the convenience store, in the card aisle. Again.

I look around. It's the same familiar, not-familiar setting: the girl buying melon soda and pencils, the strawberry-blond cashier, the rack of Milky Ways next to the counter. It's like a song I know by heart, but only when somebody else is singing it. 

I don't know how many times the loop has repeated, or if you can even count them. Maybe it's an infinite cycle with infinite convenience stores and melon soda girls and cashiers with eyes the color of limes, or maybe this is technically still the first time. Time is twisted, broken, melting, frozen, and I don't understand, don't know why.

I hear the girl and the cashier's half-familiar dialogue from between racks of Christmas cards: "Hey, uh, can I buy these?"

"Sure, that'll be eleven dollars and two cents."

There's the clink of coins on the counter, and the girl leaves the store, passing another customer in a blue sweater, drinking a a bottle of Coke in one long draft.

I emerge from the card aisle and glance at the cashier, who frowns slightly. I look away and walk through the automatic doors into the freezing rain.

I run to catch up with the girl, pulling my secondhand coat tighter around my shoulders, and say breathlessly, "Hi."

She stops, thank goodness, and gives me a strange, searching look.

I realize, only too late, that I might have made a mistake. Just because other people appear to loop with me doesn't mean they're aware of it. But I barrel on anyway: "Are you in the loop too? Do you know who - or what - put us here? Or why?"

---

I frown at the cashier. Then I think of something that would be really interesting. And weird. And probably pretty stupid. I stroll around the store a bit more. There's a section with plastic utensils. I grab a pack of exactly 236 spoons and see what I was looking for behind it. A jar of clear jelly. Time is like jelly, I think. There is a label on it. It reads "3:30 AM-4:00 AM-3:30 AM-4:00 AM-3:30 AM-4:00 AM," and so on. I smile, and reach out to grab it. I open the jar and the pack of spoons, pull out a spoon, and take a big bite of the jelly. It tastes like melon soda. 

I look at my watch. It reset, but I should have reset. I quickly turn it off. Someone is walking down the street. Usually, this person was at home. I ran over to talk to them. "Why didn't everyhing reset? Why are you here?" I ask. "The loop has changed. It will put you back, but somethings stay the same. This shop has answers. Find them." she said pointing at an old shop that no one ran anymore. It looked horrible, but it was standing. I decided to wait for the reset.

****

There we go! My watch was back on track. I ran to the store and pulled the door open. It was dark except one light in the back. I shut the doo quietly. "Hello? Anyone in there?" I called. "Come here. You want answers right?" answered a voice. I slowly walked over. A person sat there. It was too dark and they were under a cloak, so I couldn't tell their age. "Here. This can change the times of the loop. It can't break it, but maybe you can add time to it. I was never able to, so for now that's all you can do with it." said the person. Then they handed me a watch. I put it on and handed over my old watch. this watch was almost exactly like mine. "Oh, also, take whatever you want. All the items could help you. There are lables on them. You ony have five more minutes." I nod and run to the main room. There are lots of cases. I ajust the time to give me fifteen minutes. I see a keychain. To protect you from hidden monsters and those who created this. It looked like a ball of light. I pick it up and attach it to my bracelet. The next is a hat: To keep memories of others. I put it on. A necklace with black swirling orbs. To collect the loop. I put it on. The last thing I took was a knife. It's blade was made out of some material i had never seen. It changed color. It's lable was this: To cut the loop when the blade of pure magic and the handle of diamond turn white with power. I put it on just as it resets.

****

It worked! I still have them. Perfect. I take the watch home and work on it. Finally the other buttons lights up. I press one. How long is the loop? I put in 4 hours. I press another one. What weather is it? I set it to sunny. I press the last one and it says: You set: the loop is 4 hours and it is sunny. Do you want to make other changes? I say no. The other buttons was to have the regular clock face, and to ajust the times, such as 6:00-7:00. I sigh and lean back. I watched a movie in my last 3 hours while eating pizza. Then the reset happens. And I'm not standing next to where the puddle would be. I'm at home. At the kitchen table. Eating dinner.