At 9:50 PM, James just got out of work and arrived at his apartment building. He was going to knock on the door but since he got out earlier that day, he wanted to surprise wife. Then he remembered that they hid a spare key under the front door rug just in case of emergency, so he tried to look for it but couldn’t find anything. He continued to look for it a little more and finally found it under a plant pot. He was being stealthy and opened the door quietly entering his living room. Suddenly, he heard the light switch flickered and his wife, Daisy, walked out of the bedroom. She was surprised at his appearance, so she asked, “You got out early today? Why didn’t you tell me anything?” James explained that his boss released him early today because it’s Christmas Eve. Daisy then went up to hug and kiss him, “Wait here I got a big surprise for you today”, the husband smiled and said “Wow I can’t wait to see it, let me fix us a little dinner before you show me though”, “Sounds great” Daisy left to their bedroom to get his gifts. James also got up and walked to the kitchen, he was deciding on what to make for them before remembering there’s some leftovers in the fridge. He looked at the fridge that was being covered almost entirely with their photos and opened it; inside was just some cold food stored in little containers. He took out some and separated the food equally on two plates, then put them in a microwave and reheated them. James opened the cabinet above the sink and took out some glasses then filled them up with the water from the faucet. He arranged them on the table nicely then sat down waiting for Daisy. A few moments later she came out, and put a big gift box on the table. She sat down with James then they started talking about their days. Daisy told him this Christmas Eve is her 10th year moving to New York after her father passed away shortly before that, and it was also the day they first met each other at the coffee shop where James was just an autonomous photographer college student. She stopped him from talking to give him the box, so he took it and opened it. Inside there were a pair of baby socks and a positive pregnancy test. James was so happy about the news but in his head he knew that they can’t afford to have a baby at that point, yet he still celebrated with her. All of a sudden, they heard some knocking on the door, “Open up! It’s the police, I have a warrant to search your place” the man was speaking in a benign manner. Both James and Daisy were confused, “Stay here I got it!” Daisy said then stood and walked to the front door, she looked at the peephole and saw that outside was a bald man, in his mid 50s, full grown beard, and he was wearing a full black suit. She then opened the lock and the man barged in, “You have been arrested for the murder of your father” the cop shouted and tackled Daisy to the ground then handcuffed her. James got up aggressively and yelled “LET HER GO”, the cop turned around and punched him. James got hit and fell to the ground on his face, the cop then kneeled on his back and asked Daisy, “Where is the watch? If you won’t tell me I’m going to kill him”, Daisy was confused about his question and asked, “What watch? I don’t know what you’re talking about”, “Quit lying to me, where is it?”, but Daisy kept refusing to answer the question, so the cop started strangling James. James was running out of air and turning purple. “Fine you win, I will say it but let him go please. It’s in th-”, it was too late James had run out of air and died.

                James woke up at the moment he entered the apartment again, and he thought it was just all a dream. However, the same thing happened again, his wife came out asking him the same question and he immediately said, “You have a surprise for me and it’s a box with a pregnancy test with a pair of baby socks inside”. Daisy was flabbergasted and asked how did he know about that, James then told her everything that happened a few minutes ago, he said in about 10 minutes there’s going to be a cop knock on the door and accuses her of murdering her dad; her mood changed capriciously. Daisy told him that it was ridiculous to say that since her dad died of a heart attack not getting murdered. “How about the watch? The cop asked you about some watch you’re hiding. Where is it?” Daisy made a confused look again, “What watch? I don’t know what you’re talking about” then they heard the knocking on the door again and it was the same man so James what happened was all real. He told Daisy to go hide somewhere and he’s going to get the door, James walked up to the door nervously and replied, “What are you here for?”, “I have a warrant to search your place, now open up” James was stuck and didn’t know what to do but he still opened the door. The man barged in again and instantly handcuffed and pushed him to the ground, “Where is your wife?”, “I don’t know” the cop grunted angrily and smacked James’ face with his gun. Then he walked around the place trying to find Daisy for a few minutes while James was trying to crawl behind him, and finally he found her in the bedroom. “Where is the watch?”. Suddenly, James bit his leg; the cop turned around and shot him in the head. James woke up and finally understood that he’s being stuck in a time loop, therefore the moment when he just got resurrected again, he hid in the closet next to the entrance door so he could find out what this whole thing was about. Daisy came out just like the last two times but couldn’t find anyone, James right now was dawdling in the closet waiting for the cop to come. After a few minutes, the cop came and knocked on the door again; Daisy came out to get the door and he pushed her to the ground and handcuffed her. He started investigating her again “You have been arrested for the muder of your dad. And tell me where you hid the watch!”. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Daisy nervously said, “I was a close friend of your father and I know that after you killed him, you ran away and took a valuable watch with you. Tell me and I’m going to set you free!”. “You promise?” Daisy asked, the man nodded, and Daisy started speaking “I hid it in a vent under the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. Go get it and let me go”. The cop smiled, stood up and walked to the bathroom. After a few minutes, he came out with a watch, “You got it now let me go” Daisy said, as soon as she finished her sentence; the man pulled out a gun and shot her dead. “NO” James yelled, but the time passed 10:00 PM and he got back to where he was again. James then realized that it doesn’t matter if he dies or not, as long as the time gets past 10:00 he’s going to die, so he thought that the only thing he can do to stop this time loop is to solve this mystery about his wife’s past. Daisy came out and tried to hug him like usual, but got pushed away. James without any hesitation said “You’re pregnant, you killed your dad and hid a watch in the vent under the medicine cabinet. Daisy was so surprised but still asked him how he knew about those things, James replied “I know this is weird, but I have been stuck in a time loop and I’ve been experiencing the same thing over and over again. So, tell me did you kill your dad?”. Daisy started crying and said “Ever since I was a kid, my dad was always being abusive to my mother and me. He would beat her every day when she did something wrong and was so strict to me. I remember my mother took her own life after finding out he cheated on her with my granny. So, on this day 10 years ago, I tried to sneak out of the house to hang out with my friends, but he caught me and started hitting me. There were guns everywhere around the house, so I grabbed one and shot him. I ran away after that, and I grabbed the watch that was passed from my mom after my grandfather passed it to her and now to me. Then I drove Virginia to New York on the same night, and when we met it was after I came here for like 2 hours.”. James reassured her and held her, but after a moment he let go and went to the bathroom to look for the watch and told her to hide again. He used the kitchen knife to unscrew the vent. He finally found the watch; it was just a banal looking watch but was made out of pure gold. The cop came again, and James hid in the closet next to the entrance door, then after a few moments of knocking on the door without any responses; the cop got mad and started kicking the door down. He took it down on his tenth kick and entered the place, “Is anybody home? I’m the police and I got a warrant to search your place! “James still stood quietly in the closet. When there were no answers, the cop started searching the place and he went to the bedroom first, which was also where Daisy was hiding. He looked down under the bed, and finally when he went through the closet, Daisy was in there. He grabbed her and shoved her down the ground, she tried to fight back, but instantly got put in a handcuff position. James heard the noise coming from the bedroom, so he left the closet and began walking quietly to the bedroom. I snuck behind the man and put him in a chokehold, so he stopped him from handcuffing Daisy. “Get his handcuff!” James yelled to Daisy, she quickly grabbed it and put it on him. James threw him to the ground, “Let me go you don’t know what you’re doing” the cop yelled at both of them, “I know what you’re here for, to arrest my wife for killing her father and the golden watch! “James told the cop. “Your wife is a criminal, she shot her father once and decided to go back to when he was being hospitalized and finish him completely on Christmas Night”, “That’s not true, I ran away to New York after shooting my father once. So, he didn’t die after getting shot the first time?”, “Quit acting stupid, you know what you’ve done to him” the cop said angrily at Daisy. James then remembered when they met the first time, he took a polaroid picture of her and it’s still on their fridge door, “Wait here I’m going to prove it to him that you’re innocent” James said as he grabbed the cop’s gun and gave it to Daisy, “Point it at him while I go get the photo”. He quickly ran to his kitchen and looked for the photo, when he found it he quickly ran back and his wife was still pointing the gun at the cop. “Look, this is the photo I took of her, an hour before Christmas here in New York”. “It can’t be, wait I remember your father told me about a secret affair he had with your nanny, he got her pregnant and she died after giving birth to your half-brother” the cop told Daisy, she was so confused since she never knew anything about her half-brother, “He also treated him bad and abandoned him when he was just a kid”. They finally understood everything, and James asked, “So why are you looking for the watch?”, “My daughter has cancer, but I don’t have any money left to get her treatments. Daisy’s father told me about a valuable watch that her mom passed to her, so I wanted to get revenge for my old friend and find the watch at the same time”. James then looked at Daisy and took the watch out of his pocket and said, “If we give you the watch, you’re going to leave and none of this has ever happened”. The cop nodded and James opened his handcuff, he stood and took the watch from James. “I’m sorry for what happened to you and your mother, but your dad was also a good friend to me”, those were some of his last words before leaving their apartment. James held Daisy in his arms again and said, “It’s going to be okay”.