Karina slowly opened her eyes, blinking a few times against the gentle glow of morning light creeping into the classroom.

She was well-rested, as though she'd had the best night of her life; her mind, however, was in total disarray. She let out a low groan and stretched across to grab her phone. The screen lit up, displaying the same date. The same day.

A frustrated sigh escaped her lips, as she banged her head lightly against the desk: wooden surface would take on all of her confusion.

What was going on here? Why was she living this over and over? Her mind was spinning around in circles, trying to make sense of it all; nothing seemed to add up.

She felt that her body was full of energy, but she didn't have a heavy spirit. Karina shoved herself up from the desk with her shoulders slumped as if they carried some thousand unsolved mysteries. Taking a tired breath, she dragged herself towards the locker, knowing there was no other choice but to get through the motions once again.

The locker creaked open as she pulled out her last spare uniform. She vaguely felt strange in herself as she headed to the school's bath area, a routine she had already lived through more times than she wanted to count. Removing her clothes, she stepped into the cold shower in an attempt to have the water shock her mind into clarity.

But even as she felt those droplets splash on her, all this gnawed inside of her. Was it going to stop ever? Was she stuck in this circle forever?

She stood under the spray just that little bit longer and let the frigid water ground her, took a deep breath, and finally rinsed off, dressed herself, and headed back to class.

Maybe this time things would be different. Or, at least, she could determine what was causing that stubborn cycle.

Karina sat in complete silence in her favorite chair while the soft buzzing of birds chirped outside filled the quiet air. Her mind was in motion, trying to rationalize her current state of affairs. Her elbow rested on the desk while her hand supported her head as if pressure alone could produce an answer.

Why was it? Why her? And why this particular day, lodged into her memory like a repressed merry-go-round?

Her eyes wandered across the page to the pen that had scrawled the number 8 over and over again. She hadn't even noticed it, but now that she was, it seemed strange that this should matter so much.

She woke up at 8 AM. She fell asleep about 8 PM. There had to be some correlation-something about this number was binding her to this day.

She muttered to herself, "Why 8?"

She slumped in her chair, staring out the window with a faraway look, surveying what lay beyond those school walls. It was all so ordinary-seeming.

Sky was a soft blue, breeze blowing leaves on swaying trees. Everything seemed right except for this nightly nightmare that seemed to plague her every step of the way. The pieces wouldn't fit no matter how hard she tried.

When a student's heel scraped, Karina came out of her trance. Students continued filing into the classroom now, voices and laughter piercing the otherwise empty silence. Karina glanced at her notebook one last time.

She quickly closed it up before anyone noticed the strange musings which filled the pages. She never wanted anyone to know what she was going through-not until she figured it out herself.

She took a deep breath and sat up straight, trying to control herself.

Karina leaned back into the wall of the hallway, arms crossed over her chest, waiting to see Giselle walk toward her, carefree smile in place.

Even from where she stood, Karina could see the way Giselle carried herself-easy, like nothing was wrong in this world-and confident and good-humored.

Much like yesterday. The same greeting, the same smile. This time, though, Karina was prepared.

"Good morning, Miss President-"
As Giselle began, Karina cut her off, completing her sentence.

"-Miss President," Karina said dryly, mimicking her.

Giselle blinked, surprised, and then laughed at the sudden mimicry, but the way Karina looked so serious-made her pause-like a cute, angry cat.

"Yesterday was-" Giselle tried again, but this time, Karina beat her to it.

"-Wild," Karina said, expressionless.

Giselle stopped in her tracks, laughing awkwardly as she tilted her head, trying to figure out if Karina was messing with her.

"Okay, now are you a mind reader?" A crooked brow accompanied her question, steeped in confusion.

She stared back at her with that severe face. Karina knew what Giselle was going to say next. She had those lines from yesterday seared into her brain. She couldn't help herself, completing Giselle's next line before she could even speak.

"The summer festival probably was the best one we've ever had. I don't know how you managed to pull it all together, but wow," Karina said lowly, observing as Giselle's expression transformed from confused into something almost like concern.

Giselle's smile began to falter, and she stared at Karina as if seeing something absolutely foreign.

"Okay, you're being super weird right now," Giselle said in a laugh, nervously trying to shake off the weird vibe. She sped up her pace toward the classroom, feeling unsettled by Karina's unusual behavior.

Karina followed closely in her footsteps, keeping step, afraid to lose sight of Giselle.

"Oh look," she said quietly as they passed by a group of students.

"They are going to greet us."

And, indeed just as she warned, the students cheered them when they walked past, while some of the students almost shrieked at the sight of them. Giselle looked up at Karina as if trying to put together the missing pieces in a puzzle and the confusion in them deepened.

"You detest them, don't you?" Karina further said as she stepped into the class.

Giselle paused, looking around, then threw her head back, her face full of incredulity.

"Okay, what's going on with you today?" she asked, her voice quieter now, clearly worried.

Karina let out a dry laugh.

"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you."