Rishi stayed frozen for a full minute.
The room looked the same… but not today-same.
It was yesterday-same.
His phone wallpaper, the unread messages, the battery percentage — all exactly as they were 24 hours ago.
He checked again.
Then again.
"No, no… this is not funny," he whispered.
He walked to the window.
Even the neighbourhood was repeating itself.
The milkman was cycling past at the exact same time as yesterday.
The aunty watering her plants was wearing the same pink salwar she wore yesterday.
And the newspaper guy tossed the paper onto the balcony with the same overconfident throw — the one that missed and landed on the stairs yesterday.
Rishi's heart dropped.
"This… is literally yesterday."
He grabbed the pocket watch from the table.
The metal felt warm again.
The ticking was soft, almost like breathing.
"Did you do this?" he muttered.
The watch didn't answer, obviously.
But somehow, it felt… guilty.
---
Déjà Vu, but Worse
His mother's voice came from the kitchen.
"Rishi! Wake up, you'll be late for tuition!"
He froze.
Yesterday morning she said—
"Wake up, you'll be late for tuition!"
Same tone. Same words. Same everything.
Rishi stepped out of his room cautiously, like the hallway might explode if he moved too fast.
At the dining table, his brother was munching toast.
"Oi, genius," his brother said, "I borrowed your earphones last night—don't yell."
That was exactly what he had said yesterday.
Word for word.
Rishi stared.
His brother frowned. "Don't look at me like that. You look like you saw a ghost."
I saw yesterday, Rishi wanted to say.
But who would believe him?
He sat down and pretended to eat.
---
Testing the Timeline
He needed proof. Something small.
Something simple.
His father always asked the same question during breakfast.
Right on cue—
"So, any test today?"
Rishi inhaled.
"No," he replied.
Then he added quickly, "Actually, yes."
His father blinked. "Yes? Since when?"
"A teacher announced it late last night," Rishi lied.
His father gave a confused hmm.
Different reaction.
The timeline wasn't fixed like a movie.
He could change small things.
But the world itself was still repeating.
Rishi's brain buzzed.
So it's not a replay. It's more like… I'm the only one who remembers yesterday.
He looked down at the pocket watch hidden under the table.
Its ticking felt louder.
---
The Strange Feeling
All day, he felt watched.
Not by people — by moments.
Every time he walked somewhere he had gone yesterday, a strange tug pulled at his chest, like a memory was trying to reach him.
In the tuition centre, he already knew what the teacher would say.
Which joke a friend would crack.
Which question would be asked.
He answered instantly, perfectly.
People stared at him like he had grown two heads.
Walking back home, he felt the same odd sensation in the lane where he found the watch yesterday.
Like the air remembered him.
Then his heart skipped a beat — literally.
A sudden fast thump-thump-thump like the start of another nightmare.
He panicked and clutched the pocket watch.
"Not again. Not right now."
The heartbeat calmed.
The watch stopped warming.
Nothing happened.
But the message was clear:
His heartbeat was connected to time… somehow.
---
The One Difference
When he reached home again, something new happened.
On the stairs leading to his apartment, he found a small piece of folded paper.
He hadn't seen this yesterday.
He bent and picked it up.
The handwriting was sharp, rushed, almost urgent.
DON'T LET IT NEAR YOU.
Rishi's breath froze.
Don't let what near him?
The watch?
The nightmare-shadow?
The feeling of yesterday?
He looked around.
Nothing but stairs, silence, and the weight of the pocket watch ticking in his hand.
For the first time, Rishi felt something stronger than fear:
He wasn't the only one who knew