Everly had heard of the Fountain of Youth.
It was said to be a miraculous spring whose water could grant eternal youth to anyone who drank it. The earliest systematic records appeared in the ancient diterranean region, but echoes of the fountain could be found in the myths and folk tales of many civilizations around the world.
So texts claid the fountain was in Ethiopia; others insisted it was in the Caribbean; and even within Xia Nation’s borders—where the zombie movie King of the Undead 999 was currently a blockbuster—it was rumored that a Fountain of Youth existed in the mystical caverns of Wangwu Mountain…
Because the legends often contradicted one another, so experts argued that the fountain was purely a product of humanity’s collective desire for youth and immortality, and didn’t actually exist. Other scholars were convinced that it did exist—and that there might be more than one.
Everly supported the forr view. She believed the Fountain of Youth did not exist; people simply didn’t want to grow old and die, so they created such fantasies. Otherwise, how had nobody ever maintained eternal youth simply by drinking from a spring?
But now, she felt uncertain.
Buddy had died at the start of the sester from complications caused by aging. Watching family and friends grow old step by step, and eventually die in a way that was not dignified at all, was unbearably painful. If the Fountain of Youth truly existed, her grandfather… thinking of that, Everly’s breath quickened slightly.
She fixed Orff with a sharp gaze, feigning calm as she asked, “Do you really have clues about the Fountain of Youth?”
Orff nodded frantically. “Yes! I really do! Trust , as long as you’re willing to help , I’ll give you whatever you want!”
Everly stared at him silently for a mont, then slightly nodded. “Understood… This isn’t the place to talk. Co with .”
With Orff and Misha in tow, Everly led them to the Grand Cherokee parked in the campus lot.
The security checkpoint at the school gate had been in place for two months, but it was now lifted, so Everly was able to park the car back on campus.
“Get in.”
She opened the door, and after Orff climbed in, Everly and Misha got in one after the other.
“You said earlier that I had to get you to tell that you were willing to trade clues about the ‘Fountain of Youth’ for my help. What did you an by that?”
“Y-yes… well…” Orff seed uncomfortable being closely watched by two girls in such a confined space. He shrank toward the corner of the Jeep, stamring as he spoke. “Actually… this is the twenty-fifth ti I’ve gone through ‘today’…”
…
It all had to start with today: December 18, 20X4, at 8:25 AM.
The first class of the morning started at 9:05, but Orff had stayed up late last night playing on the computer and overslept.
He slept heavily until the alarm rang. The crisp chi jolted him awake, and he sat up in bed, heart pounding.
“Ugh… banana pie…” His roommate, Tom, stirred in his sleep on the next bed, mumbling sothing, scratching his stomach, and turning over. Orff’s gaze was briefly drawn to him—just as it had been in the previous twenty-four loops…
Shifting his attention away from his roommate, Orff felt a dull ache spreading across his body, letting out a silent groan.
Among all the pain, the sharpest and most pronounced was the stabbing in his head and eyes. Recalling his last death, he pulled out a mirror and checked his bloodshot eyes, letting out a frustrated sigh.
The lingering pain seed to grow heavier and more pervasive with each loop. At so point, it wasn’t just pain anymore—he feared that the scars from the previous cycle might carry over into this one as well.
This sudden realization filled Orff with an intense sense of urgency. There wasn’t much ti to waste—he had to solve everything as quickly as possible…
Orff turned his gaze to the alarm clock by his bedside, checking the ti once again: December 18, 20X4, 8:26 AM.
Yes. That was right. He had returned… once more.
This was the twenty-fifth ti Orff had gone through all of this.
Ever played a ga where certain characters automatically respawn at the last save point after dying? Orff was exactly like one of those characters. And this morning, when the alarm rang at 8:25, that mont marked his auto-save point.
Why did he keep “loading” and reliving the sa day? Because today, Orff was destined to die—without fail.
Death by falling, suffocation, crushing, stabbing, freezing… in a place that felt like a dream or perhaps a parallel space, he would wake at the sa ti, hear his roommate mumble “banana pie,” get out of bed, and then die again for a dozen different reasons—only to awaken from the next loop. This cycle had already repeated twenty-four tis.
The despair felt absolute, as if it were so predetermined fate.
Every ti he died, Orff’s clock reset to 8:25 AM that sa morning. This gave him a chance to investigate the mystery, to try to escape his deadly fate—but it also inflicted severe ntal and physical trauma as his body and mind endured the endless repetition.
Having survived twenty-four loops, Orff knew many of the events that would occur after he got out of bed.
This ti, he didn’t follow his usual routine. Normally, he would rise early, take a shower in the communal bathroom to feel refreshed, and then leave for school. In the first and second “today” loops, it was during one such shower that he had been accidentally bumped, hitting his head on the hard tiles and dying from excessive blood loss.
When he opened his eyes again with the lingering phantom pain in his head, it was already the third “today” cycle.
The first ti, he had been completely unaware. The second ti, he was still confused, unable to understand that he was reliving the sa day. By the third loop, however, when his roommate murmured “banana pie” once again, even the slowest part of Orff’s mind realized what was happening.
From the third cycle onward, he no longer went to the communal bathroom for a proper shower. Instead, he grabbed his toiletries and just quickly cleaned himself at the sink. After all, skipping a full shower for a day wouldn’t kill him—but stepping into the bathroom during “today” could very well an death.
As in many previous loops, Orff bent over the faucet, brushed his teeth, and cupped water in his hands to splash on his face. The slightly cold water hit his feverish cheeks, giving a small relief to the throbbing pain in his head.
Once he finished quickly, he stood up, wiped his face, placed his towel and toothbrush on the nearby shelf, and turned toward the dorm exit.
Halfway past the communal bathroom, he silently counted to three in his mind.
On the third count, Ronald from the next room happened to step out. He was in his underwear, holding a towel, drying his dripping hair.
Seeing Orff, Ronald’s face showed surprise. He raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to speak, but Orff had no patience to engage with his usually friendly “buddy.”
He gave a perfunctory nod to Ronald, kept walking, and continued briskly toward the dorm’s main exit.
This sa scene had repeated more than twenty tis. He didn’t even need to stop to know what Ronald would say: sothing aningless like, “Hey man, skipping your shower this morning?”
Ti was critical, and Orff had far more important matters to attend to.
He left the dorm with a clear goal, heading straight for the library.
Having stayed up late the night before, he had burned a lot of energy, and his stomach was now growling. In theory, at this ti, he could still make a quick stop at the student cafeteria—grab a hot coffee and pack a sandwich for later.
That’s exactly what he did during the third loop. At the ti, he thought that as long as he avoided the communal bathroom, he could escape the death cycle. Feeling relaxed, he headed to the cafeteria—but barely had he stepped out with his cup of coffee when an allergic reaction struck. A sudden anaphylactic shock ended the third loop in tragedy.
Yes, Orff was a fragile boy—he was severely allergic to peanuts.
By the fourth loop, he assud that the coffee had simply been accidentally contaminated with peanuts—after all, kitchen mistakes happen all the ti when ingredients aren’t completely separated.
So in the fourth loop, Orff avoided the coffee entirely and bought a bottled soda from a vending machine instead.
This ti, he managed to survive a bit longer. But it wasn’t enough—he only lasted until he walked into the classroom and began eating a sandwich at his seat, which had sohow been laced with peanut powder, sending him straight to “heaven.”
Once bitten, twice shy. By the fifth loop, Orff no longer dared go to the cafeteria. Who knew what other seemingly harmless foods might still contain those cursed peanuts that had left him with so many traumatic mories?
Besides, skipping a al for a day wouldn’t kill him.
Orff truly began to suspect soone was trying to kill him during the sixth loop.
In this cycle, he was forced to be extrely cautious. He didn’t shower, didn’t go to the cafeteria, and didn’t eat or drink anything. He made it through the first class of the day without incident.
After class, he even thought he had finally escaped the death cycle—oh, what a damned illusion. His emotions relaxed slightly. As he walked down from the classroom building, he happened to run into Ronald from the next dorm. Ronald waved at him. Orff walked over and heard him ask,
“Bro, a few of us are heading to St. Gena Ski Resort later. Want to co?”
“S-skiing? Co on, it’s freezing, I—” Orff began to reply when a voice rang out nearby:
“Danger! Move!”
Startled, he instinctively turned his head and saw a blonde, blue-eyed girl pointing above him. In a flash, as if suddenly realizing sothing, Orff looked up—and a heavy flowerpot was hurtling straight toward him, rapidly growing larger in his vision.
“Boom!”
Pain exploded through him. In the last mont before losing consciousness, he glimpsed through the blood-sared lenses the hand that had quickly pulled back the pot from the top of the classroom building.
It wasn’t an accident…
…
————————————————————————————————
Author’s Note:
Yes, the inspiration cos from Happy Death Day. If I had to ntion, Groundhog Day also counts.
Ti-loop thrillers have pretty much beco a fixed subgenre in modern horror films.
User Comments
0 comments from readers