Adrian does not take notes.
He never does on the first day.
Not because he doesn’t care.
But because he already knows the lecture.
Professor Imani will talk about memory formation. About trauma imprinting itself onto neural pathways. About how the brain protects itself by rewriting painful experiences.
Adrian almost laughs at that.
If the brain could protect him, it would have done so seventeen deaths ago.
Instead, it remembers everything.
Every scream.
Every last breath.
Every version of Luca looking confused at the end.
Except this time… Luca had said something different.
“I keep dreaming about dying.”
Adrian stares at the edge of Luca’s notebook.
The handwriting is neat. Slanted slightly to the right.
Same as always.
But Luca’s pen pauses too often.
His foot taps against the floor.
His jaw tightens at random intervals.
He’s anxious.
More anxious than any first loop version.
“You’re staring,” Luca whispers without looking up.
Adrian forces his gaze away.
“In every lifetime,” Adrian says quietly, “you sit two seats over.”
Luca turns slowly.
“What?”
Adrian stiffens.
He hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
He’s slipping.
Loop 18 and he’s already slipping.
“I meant,” Adrian corrects smoothly, “most people don’t sit next to strangers on the first day.”
Luca studies him.
There’s something unnerving about how observant he is.
Like he’s cataloguing Adrian.
“Maybe I don’t like sitting alone,” Luca says softly.
In Loop 4, Luca hated sitting near people.
In Loop 9, he specifically avoided Adrian for three weeks.
In Loop 13, they didn’t speak until October.
Adrian’s pulse spikes.
Too many small differences.
After class ends, students flood into the hallway.
The noise is overwhelming.
Adrian normally leaves immediately.
In Loop 6, lingering caused Luca to trip down the stairs.
In Loop 11, lingering meant they met near the vending machines and skipped lunch together.
Small choices branch into catastrophic outcomes.
Today, Adrian stands.
He doesn’t move.
He needs to see what Luca does.
Luca packs slowly.
Too slowly.
Then—
“Hey.”
Adrian doesn’t look at him.
“Yes.”
“You said something weird earlier.”
“I say many weird things.”
Luca smiles faintly.
“No. You said ‘in every lifetime.’”
Silence.
The hallway empties.
Adrian’s throat feels dry.
“Freudian slip,” he says flatly.
Luca tilts his head.
“I don’t think so.”
Adrian finally meets his eyes.
Big mistake.
Because there’s fear there.
Not curiosity.
Not amusement.
Fear.
“I’ve been having dreams,” Luca says carefully. “Since… I don’t know. Since I got my acceptance letter here.”
Adrian’s fingers tighten around his bag strap.
“What kind of dreams?”
Luca hesitates.
Then: “I die.”
The word lands heavy between them.
“How?” Adrian asks before he can stop himself.
Luca blinks.
“That’s a weird question.”
“Answer it.”
There’s sharpness in Adrian’s tone.
It makes Luca flinch.
Adrian regrets it immediately.
“I’m sorry,” he says quickly.
Luca studies him again.
“You look like you already know.”
Adrian’s heart slams painfully.
“I don’t.”
Lie.
Luca exhales slowly.
“In some dreams, I’m drowning,” he says. “In some, there’s blood. Once… I think I fell.”
Adrian’s stomach drops.
Drowning — Loop 7.
Blood — Loop 2, Loop 5, Loop 16.
Falling — Loop 1.
His first failure.
“You’re pale,” Luca whispers.
Adrian takes a step back.
This is wrong.
This is dangerously wrong.
The loop has never bled like this before.
“Dreams don’t mean anything,” Adrian says, but his voice lacks conviction.
“They feel like memories.”
That sentence nearly breaks him.
Memories.
No one else has ever remembered.
If Luca is starting to—
No.
That’s impossible.
If both of them remember, then the loop is destabilizing.
And if the loop destabilizes—
What replaces it?
“Walk with me,” Luca says suddenly.
Adrian stiffens.
“In Loop 12,” he thinks, “we walked together on the first day.”
Luca died three weeks earlier in that loop.
Butterfly effect.
Small changes.
Massive consequences.
“No,” Adrian says immediately.
Luca looks hurt.
It’s subtle.
But it’s there.
“You don’t even know where I’m going.”
“Exactly.”
Silence stretches between them.
Then Luca does something unexpected.
He laughs softly.
“You’re strange.”
Adrian almost says: You fall in love with me in thirteen days.
Instead, he says nothing.
Luca shifts his bag higher on his shoulder.
“Fine,” he says gently. “But if I die in one of these dreams, I’m haunting you.”
Adrian freezes.
Because that line—
That line never happened before.
Not once.
Luca turns to leave.
Then stops.
Without facing him, he says quietly:
“Do you ever feel like you’ve done something over and over again?”
Adrian’s pulse roars in his ears.
“Yes,” he whispers before he can stop himself.
Luca looks back.
For a split second, their eyes lock.
And something passes between them.
Recognition.
Not full.
Not clear.
But there.
Then Luca walks away.
—
Adrian skips his afternoon classes.
He sits on the campus steps where Luca once died in Loop 14.
A random shooting.
Wrong place. Wrong time.
Adrian had been five feet away.
Five feet.
He presses his hands together to stop them from shaking.
If Luca remembers even fragments, that changes everything.
Because the rules were simple before:
Only Adrian remembers.
Luca dies.
Time resets.
But if Luca remembers—
Then the system isn’t stable anymore.
And unstable systems collapse.
His phone buzzes.
Unknown number.
He knows this.
He has seen this.
In Loop 15, Luca texted him first.
Adrian didn’t reply.
Luca died in December.
His thumb hovers.
The message opens.
Unknown:
Hi. It’s Luca. I stole your number from the class group chat. Hope that’s not creepy.
Adrian’s chest tightens.
There’s another message.
Luca:
Be honest. When I said I dream about dying… you didn’t look surprised.
His breathing becomes shallow.
He could ignore it.
He should ignore it.
Changing patterns accelerates unpredictability.
But his fingers move before his logic can stop them.
Adrian:
What else do you remember?
The reply comes almost instantly.
Luca:
So I’m not crazy.
Adrian stands abruptly.
This is spiraling.
Luca:
I don’t remember everything. Just… feelings. Like I’ve sat next to you before. Like I’ve known you longer than today.
Adrian’s throat burns.
Luca:
And in one dream, you were crying over me.
His vision blurs.
That wasn’t a dream.
That was Loop 3.
Hospital room.
Flatline.
Adrian gripping Luca’s lifeless hand.
Luca:
Why does it feel like you’ve lost me before?
Adrian can’t breathe.
Because he has.
Seventeen times.
His hands tremble as he types:
Adrian:
Meet me behind the humanities building. 5 PM.
He stares at the sent message.
He has never done this before.
Never confronted the loop this early.
Never allowed Luca awareness.
The oak tree waits.
The same tree from his dream.
The one that always precedes disaster.
The sky is calm.
Too calm.
At 4:58 PM, Luca arrives.
Alive.
Smiling nervously.
“You picked a dramatic location,” Luca says.
Adrian studies him carefully.
Memorizing him again.
Just in case.
“I need to ask you something,” Adrian says.
Luca nods.
“If you could change your future,” Adrian says slowly, “even if it cost you something… would you?”
Luca doesn’t hesitate.
“Yes.”
Adrian swallows.
“What if the cost was me?”
Luca’s expression falters.
“That’s not fair.”
“It’s hypothetical.”
“No,” Luca says softly. “It isn’t.”
The wind picks up.
The tree creaks.
Adrian’s chest tightens violently.
Not again.
Not this soon.
A car horn blares somewhere distant.
Adrian’s instincts scream.
“Step away from the curb,” he says sharply.
Luca blinks.
“What?”
“Step back.”
Luca steps back automatically.
A car speeds past the street beside campus—
Way too fast.
Way too close.
But Luca is safe.
The car doesn’t swerve.
Doesn’t crash.
Doesn’t hit him.
It just passes.
Gone.
Adrian stands frozen.
That car—
In Loop 1—
That was it.
That was how Luca died the first time.
But this time…
It didn’t happen.
Because Adrian warned him.
Because Luca stepped back.
Because he listened.
Silence fills the space between them.
Luca looks shaken.
“You knew,” he whispers.
Adrian doesn’t answer.
Luca’s breathing becomes uneven.
“That wasn’t random.”
“No.”
“Adrian,” Luca says carefully, “how many times have I died?”
The question slices through him.
Adrian feels something break open inside his chest.
He could lie.
He should lie.
But he’s so tired of carrying it alone.
“Seventeen,” he says.
Luca goes still.
“…What?”
“I remember everything,” Adrian continues quietly. “Every loop. Every death. Every reset.”
Luca stares at him like he’s trying to decide whether to run.
“Say something,” Adrian whispers.
Luca takes a slow step closer.
“You’re serious.”
“Yes.”
Another step.
“You watched me die seventeen times.”
Adrian’s voice cracks.
“Yes.”
Silence.
The world feels fragile.
Like glass.
Then Luca does something impossible.
He reaches forward.
And cups Adrian’s face gently.
“You must be so tired,” Luca says softly.
Adrian’s vision blurs.
That is not the reaction he expected.
Not fear.
Not anger.
But compassion.
For him.
“For seventeen lifetimes,” Luca continues, “you’ve been alone with that.”
Adrian’s composure shatters.
His breathing becomes uneven.
“I tried everything,” he whispers. “Avoiding you. Loving you. Controlling you. Leaving you.”
“And?”
“You always die.”
Luca studies him carefully.
Then, with quiet certainty, he says:
“Then this time, we break it together.”
The wind stills.
The world holds its breath.
Somewhere deep inside the fabric of reality—
Something shifts.
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