text: Paula Johnson gets up at 5 am, jumps in the shower, slips on her stockings, steps into her shoes, digs in the pocket of her raincoat, and walks out the door into the rain. She worked as a waitress at the English Muffin, a breakfast restaurant she has worked at since it first opened a hundred years ago. It's just another day for Paula Johnson, who is trapped in a time loop; time passes around her while she remains the same age and in the same job. Everyone around her goes about their daily lives, either leaving for better opportunities or dying. When the clock strikes, 5 am, everyone who had met Paula Johnson the day before forgets about her. Her first day at the English Muffin sparked the phenomenon. When she arrived for her second day, everyone acted as if they were meeting her for the first time. This has been her reality ever since. She's seen ownership change hands, the restaurant modernized, and longtime customers pass away and are replaced by new ones. This morning, Paula walks into the restaurant, checks in on the computer, and walks into the manager's office. "Oh, you're the new waitress, Paula, right? I'm Bob, the manager." "Do you want me to start at the counter?" "Sure, Angelica has been running around all morning; I'm sure she'd appreciate your help." Paula grabs an apron and approaches Angelica, who is struggling to make coffee. "I loathe this stupid machine," Angelica says as she aggressively presses switches with little effect. "There is a trick: you need to wait three seconds before flipping the brew switch. Bob is aware of it but has yet to have it serviced." Paula says as she flips the brew switch at the right moment, and the coffee starts to percolate. "Oh my God, I'm so glad you're here; that dumb thing has been driving me crazy all morning." "Don't worry, it'll be a good day; tipping is generally higher when it's raining. Is it okay if I take the counter?" "Of course, do you want me to go over the menu?" "I've worked in places like this before; let me know if there's anything else I can do." Paula walks up to Mr. Innes, who has been a regular at the English Muffin for the past eight years. "Has Angelica put your bran muffin and home fries in yet?" "How did you know that's what I always get?" "Word travels quickly, Mr. Innes; I'll have that up for you as soon as possible." "I can see you're going to be one to watch; your future looks promising!" Paula smiles as an underlying sadness begins to wash over her. She overcame it and walked to the end of the counter, where a couple was waiting for their order to be taken. It's not like Paula hasn't attempted to escape her daily life; she's tried to flee town, change careers, and even steal money, but her conscience wouldn't let her keep it. The bottom line is that the English Muffin is the only place where she can make money, support herself, and be somewhat remembered. She's tried almost everything to break the spell in the hundred years she's been living this day-to-day existence. She tried staying awake for 24 hours, then 48 hours; she paid a woman to stay awake with her until morning; at 5 am, she forgot who Paula was and freaked out. Finally, she placed a massive billboard of herself with the words, "I am Paula Johnson, remember me!" Every day the billboard was up, people acted as if it were the first day, and it had little to no effect on the spell. Paula was right about this rainy Wednesday morning; it was busy; she had already made her usual amount of tips by late morning. She took a break, drank another cup of coffee, and struggled to stay awake. Bob exited his office and motioned everyone to the kitchen just as she was ready to return to work. "I'm sorry for doing this now, but I wanted to inform everyone as soon as possible. I just got off the phone with the bank, and the English Muffin will be closing permanently." Everyone is stunned, but no one more so than Paula. She's almost catatonic. "It gets worse," Bob continues, "tomorrow is the last day we'll be open." "The restaurant will be closed after tomorrow!" Angelica said as she threw down a rag on a prep table in frustration. "Okay, everyone, I'm sorry I had to upset you with this, but I didn't want you to be surprised; let's have a good rest of today and tomorrow here at the English Muffin." "You're lucky this is your first day," Angelica said as she and Paula went back to the restaurant. "I've given three months of my life to this job, and now I have to start all over." The rest of Paula's shift is solemn, with a lot of thought on all the time she's spent here, but also worry about the future in the back of her mind. The restaurant is about to close when a man stumbles in, drenched. He walks up to the counter, where Paula greets him with a place setting and silverware. "Is it still raining out there?" "Don't worry; I think the majority of it is on me." As she held out the coffee carafe, Paula laughed. She poured him a cup after he nodded. Paula found the man easy to talk to, and even though the restaurant had closed a half-hour earlier, Paula told Angelica that she would lock up. The man asked Paula why she was sad. Maybe she was tired, maybe the news about the restaurant closing had weighed on her, but she chose to use this chance to express her emotions. "This restaurant I've worked at for a long time is closing tomorrow, and I'm not sure what I'll do after that." "You sound like I did a month ago; I had devoted my entire life to my family's business, and when it closed, I had no idea what I was going to do." "When did you decide to go on with your life?" "I stopped making excuses; eventually, you'll spend all of your time doing things in your comfort zone, but it's beyond your comfort zone where memorable things happen." "I desperately want to change, but I'm not sure I can." "Here's what I'll do; tomorrow morning, I'm getting on a train to start my new life; meet me at the station, and we'll figure it out together. The train leaves at 6 am." The man walked out the door, leaving a tip on the counter. Paula returns to her empty apartment, and the loneliness she has felt brings her to tears as she stares at the bare walls. She has spent the last hundred years living another day after another day and had nothing to show for it. Paula's alarm goes off at 5 am the next morning. She hops in the shower, slips into her stockings, steps into her shoes, and walks out the door. She knew it was a long shot, but she'd go to the train station in the hopes that he'd remember their conversation from yesterday. As she approached the platform, she noticed the man from the restaurant scrolling on his phone while waiting for the train. "Hi." The man was confused; he put his phone into his pocket and looked Paula in the eyes. "Paula! I'm so glad you could make it.