Learning to Love Time Loops Without Going Insane

Loop 4

Cal bolted awake. It was still dark outside through his window. He jumped out of bed and turned the lights on, quickly ensuring the spider creature was gone. “Holy shit,” he muttered to himself. Well, three things he learned last time, at least. The panic finally started to wear off, and he could think more clearly.

Dying in a loop just puts him back to the start of it. He was glad of that. It also looks like how he died could affect his sleep at the start of the next loop. He needed to remember that one. He thought he might be able to find a way to use it to his advantage. And finally, it turned out that not only were aliens real, but so were monsters.

Fuck, why did it have to be spiders? Couldn’t it have been some mutated bear? He had mentally prepared for that one.

Cal crept out of his room and silently walked through the house. He wanted to verify nothing had been carried across the loop for his dad. He found the man sound asleep in his own bed. Cal thought that was good enough for him and returned to his room. He wanted to try to get some more sleep himself.

*

As far as Cal could tell, his father was fine and had zero lasting effects from the last loop. He was now sure they needed to explore that mine more than ever, so he repeated the loop until everything went wrong.

This time, they set up camp in one of the rooms that could be closed off. All exploration was now to be done fully armed. They also had night vision goggles, this time to avoid any mishaps or monsters in the dark.

Despite this, two days later, Cal found himself stuck in the center of a giant web, about to repeat the ending of the last loop. He had brought a grenade and kept it on himself at all times just in case of a similar event and pulled the pin. He had no intention of reliving the horrors of his last death ever again.