The repeat

You always read about this type of crap In novels and stuff, all these crazy people who solve crazy mystery’s and become the best thing since sliced bread. well I never thought those stories could come true until I actually lived one out. 

It all started one rainy Monday morning in my little town in Minnesota. I was getting ready for my morning rounds at south lake hospital where I am a nurse. I sat at my tiny  little desk I’m my tiny little room in my tiny little apartment reliving every day just the same. I longed for somthing different to spice things up and I guess you could say I got what I asked for. 

I brushed through my golden blond mess of hair and applied minimal makeup to my freckled face. i threw on my chunky black glasses and headed to the kitchen to make my daily cup of coffee. the same thing every day over and over that’s how I lived. 

I grabbed my blue snowman mug and shoved it under my old coffee machine just a second to late. A splash of hot dark coffee made a stain on my brand new white sweater.

“damn it Jane!” 

I run to my bedroom and rummage through my closet trying to find the first clean shirt acceptable for the human eye. I pull out an old grey shirt with white ruffled sleeves and throw it on rushing out of my now trashed room to grab my coffee and bolt out the door.

“Morning Jane!” My neighbor says that to me every morning without fail. 

It’s confusing how he seems to always know when I’m gonna leave and what elevator I will take but I have never put another thought to it. 

I manage to catch an elevator and I ride down 3 floors to the parking garage where I hop in my beaten up red sedan that must have been passed down 12 generations in my family before it got to me.  I do the same thing every day but today is especially familiar and it’s so hard to tell why. I see the same cars that I think I have seen driving everyday and I get stuck at the same lights. I even see some of the same patients I have seen before 

“Coincidence” I have always thought to myself. But today it just seems odd. 

When I get home that night I sit down on my couch and ponder it. What’s going on, by now it’s not a coincidence it can’t be. Every day is the same over and over, and it’s not just like they are boring they are just the same thing. I wake up my neighbor says hi I go to work I get a man with a heart attack and a kid with brain injury and I come home and make cup o noodles for dinner. I’m sure I could change some of those but I’m just not sure what the answer is. Do I just ignore it or do I talk to someone. Who in the the world would I even talk to. Steve, the neighbor is a good option. Ok so it’s a plan I will go to see Steve in the morning. No Jane that’s stupid this is all a big mistake! 

I can’t believe myself, how in the world have I ignored this everyday of my life. No not every day, when did this start? Well I know this didn’t happen when I was a kid, and in college I was fine. So it must have started when I ended nursing school. Yah that’s what happened. 

I sit on this couch and ponder my thoughts some more but eventually I fall asleep to the sweet sound of the local news. 

It’s the next morning, a plan has been made. I will go to Steve and just talk to him. No big deal, just a conversation, nothing to be scared of. I throw on some jeans that at least smell clean and grab my old tattered up leather jacket and race out the door to try and beat Steve. He is not there, I check the clock 7:44. Crap! I’m one minute early, I always come out here at 7:45. The clock strikes quarter to 8 and sure enough there he is. 

The same familiar “morning Jane!” Rings out of his mouth like a deadly siren. My hands shake as I walk up to him. My forehead sweats. Could I finally get some answers. Or will I live the same day over and over for the rest of my life. 

“Good morning Steve” I manage to say without my voice shaking to profusely “Can I speak to you for a second?” 

“Well sure Jane, is anything the matter?” I feel a sinking put of regret widen and widen in my stomach but I continue on with 

“Oh no I just have a quick question and I thought you might be the right guy to answer it!”

He opens the large oak door to his apartment and the smell of cat hits me like a moving train. 

“So what can I do for you?” His big bushy beard has a way of moving when he talks that reminds me of Santa Claus, yikes that makes me feel even worse to burden him with my worries. 

“Umm could I have a seat I think this might take a while” 

“Well sure thing darling just lift up old cupcake there and you can sit right on that arm chair” 

I lift up the fat orange cat who seems to be named cupcake and set him on the ground as I’m met with what sounds like a shriek out of his mouth. 

“Ok…” crap where do I start! “ well I just wanna know how you manage to be out of your apartment at 7:45 sharp every day to tell me good morning” well that was a rough start to an even worse ending that’s gonna follow 

“Umm?” He sounds confused “well I just like to be friendly and I notice that that is when you leave for work” 

Well that doesn’t do much for me, time to get to the good stuff 

“And- well it just seems like every morning that starts off the same day, I go to the hospital ,see a heart attack patient and a brain injury patient. Eat the same dinner every night. And go to bed watching the news. Every day over and over and over.”

His face starts to sweat and I wonder if I made him worried. He cheeks turn red and he acts as if he’s hiding something. 

“Umm well ok…” he pauses and I get a feeling I might get some real info here “ I can’t tell you this but I am gonna give you this card and you can’t tell anyone you were ever here!” 

He hands me a white business looking card and gestures for me to leave. I exit out the big oak door and make a dash to my identical door.

What just happened 

“Wow ok I feel like I’m in a crime movie or something” I say to just myself.

What In the world do I do with this information! Am I being watched? Am I in some kind of test lab like am I a secret experiment? 

I pick up the card with my shaky hands and read the number 134-675-5908 must be a phone number. I reach for my cell phone and type in the numbers, the phone rings for 3 rings and then a young mans voice answers.

“Harry’s barber shop how can I help you”

Umm how can he help me I don’t even know that myself. I flip the card over and see a the 3 letters j o e. Is it a name? Joe?

“Hi I’m looking for joe?” I cringe as the words leave my mouth. 

The man goes silent for a few seconds then says “I’ll be right back” 

Is this working? I think I may be about to get answers to all my questions? I wait a few minutes and an older sounding man with a think British accent answers the phone 

“Can i ask who I am speaking to?” He says kind of rudely 

“Umm I’m Jane tidal and I was given a card with this number on it. I need to talk to Joe. I have to ask him something.” 

I hear some whispers behind the phone but all I can pick up is “it’s her” 

“Your gonna need to come down here to speak with him” “the address is 27649 maple street Minneapolis” and he hangs up the phone 

“So… that just happened” I think to myself.

There is no time to get anxious. I need to get to this place fast! 

I speed walk out the door and head towards the elevator. I push the button but the elevator won’t come. I dash to the staircase and go two at a time all the way down. Once I’m in my car I pick up the card and enter the scribbled address I had written down into my GPS. 

It takes About 12 minutes to get there and my head is racing the whole time. I pull up to a shirt grey building covered in vines with a big sign on the front that says “Harry’s barber shop” in neon green. The door rings when I enter and I ask the lady at the front desk for joe. She directs me to a large clear door in the back and tells me to go right ahead. I open the door and see a tall man with a bushy beard and small glasses at a desk surrounded by huge bookshelves filled with books. 

“Umm hi I’m Jane I was asked to come here?” 

I tell him 

“Ahh yes Jane have a seat.” 

I sit down in the brown leather arm chair directly across from him and he says 

“ so your Jane tidal huh” “your the chosen girl”

“I’m sorry what now-!”

“I realize all of this is very confusing and I want you to know that everything is ok”

“Well then can you please explain what’s going on!” 

“Ok well I’ll start from the beginning” “You were born into a family of happy people and when you were younger you just kinda stood out” “you never were very content with your life and you always wallowed at the sidelines when your siblings would play games. So your parents took you to a psychiatrist to see if they could get you some help and you were signed up for a special program called” the repeat”. Essentially you would be put on medicine and when your brain finally found a life it was content with it would remake it every day. It was a crazy idea but your parents went along with anything that made you happy. Now those pills you take every night haven’t gone into effect until recently because you have just finished school and you love your job. Does this make sense?” 

I passed out