"Grrrrrrr!" came the blaring sound of a small yellow alarm clock on a wooden cupboard beside a large bed. Covered in a pink flowery blanket was a young lady dressed in white pyjamas who immediately the sound of the alarm came on, used a pillow to cover her ears to prevent hearing the sound. It wasn't helping. She stretched her hand lazily to switch off the alarm and then lay still on her bed staring blankly at the ceiling above her. She turned to look at her phone which was also on the cupboard beside the bed. With her heart racing, she picked it up and turned the screen on. "It's Monday again?" she shouted with teary eyes and threw the phone away from her. This was her third Monday in three days.
[Meta AI]
Sofia had been job hunting for about two months now and was finally selected as a qualified applicant amidst the numerous applications she had made to different organizations. The day scheduled for the interview was Monday, the Monday she has been in.
On the first Monday, she went to the interview alongside other applicants. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't part of the selected applicants at the end of the interview. She was shattered. She was angry, because she felt she had done the possible best one can do for an interview, and frustrated, because she didn't know when next she's going to have another opportunity after the time spent before obtaining this. She got home, cried her eyes out till she slept. During her sleep, she dreamt of coming across a faceless man dressed in a white robe. He kept repeating one thing. "You're missing something. Better luck next time," he kept saying in a very calm tone. These words kept echoing in Sofia's dream till her alarm rang and she woke up.
She prepared like it was Tuesday, the next day. She ate breakfast, took shower, did the house chores and finally decided to surf the internet only for her to pick up her phone and saw Monday as the date. At first, she thought it was her mobile phone that was misbehaving. But later on, she came to realize that it was truly Monday. She couldn't comprehend what was happening to her. She didn't know the right words to use during explanation to her close pals even if she wanted to run to anyone. Panicking, she decided to spend the rest of the day with the hope she'd wake up to Tuesday and this was all an illusion. That night, she had another dream of the faceless man again. "This is a time loop. You can't escape this until you're able to pass the interview." the man said, still in his calm voice. She made to ask him questions but he went back to repeating "You're missing something. Better luck next time." And then came her alarm, waking her up to her third Monday.
Out of fear and confusion, she couldn't get herself to do anything aside eating and taking shower. When night came, she went to bed still with the hope it was all an illusion. Unfortunately for her, she had the same dream of the faceless man in white robe again and woke up to her fourth Monday after the sound of her alarm. It was at this moment she knew she had to overcome her fear and do something to end this time loop. For now, she had to believe the faceless man was saying the truth about the interview being the cause. She showered, ate breakfast, dressed up and headed out for the interview. After the interview ended, unfortunately for her, she wasn't selected again. This loop went on and on until the tenth Monday.
[Meta AI]
After the sound of her alarm on the tenth Monday morning, she woke up, sat on her bed and didn't even bother checking for the date this time around. "What am I missing?" she asked herself quietly and kept on pondering on the question. Then it struck her. She hadn't been smiling during the interview. "What a silly thing. Can this truly be the key?" she said to herself, smiling. Sofia had always been someone who hardly smiled. Especially in formal settings. She believed that anything that's job related is something that had to be taken seriously and not realizing that since the position she was applying for required her to actively interact with clients physically, the interviewer had some conditions to be satisfied and facial expression and interaction with people was part of them. She went for the interview again, ensured she put on a smiling face during and after the interview and made friends with some of her fellow applicants since they were being monitored in the room they were being kept. Thirty minutes after the end of the interviews, the interviewer stepped out of his office to announce the selected applicants for the job. Sofia heaved a sigh of relief as she heard her name coming out of the interviewer's mouth. Is this the end of this time loop? Am I finally free? So many questions ran through her mind at that moment. Filled with joy, she left for home. And when night came, she slept with a strong hope that the time loop had come to an end.
"Grrrrrrrr!" came the sound of her alarm. She got up immediately she heard the sound. With a racing heart and shaky hands, she picked up her phone from the cupboard, turned on the screen, and stared at the screen with her eyes wide opened. She threw herself back on the bed and hugged her pillow, smiling broadly. It was Tuesday morning.