12:01 PM - Short Story

Short Story

Myron Castleman, an executive in New York City, finds that he is reliving the same hour of the same day, over and over. His "time loop" starts at 12:01 PM and lasts until 1:01 (or 1:00—the story isn't entirely clear on this), when he is somehow returned to the same place where he began the hour. All the people around him are unaware of the loop, and everyone repeats their actions exactly over the course of the hour, except insofar as they interact with Castleman. In one of his loops, Castleman learns of a local physicist's theory that appears to describe his situation. The physicist, Nathan Rosenbluth, theorized a "disfiguration of time" that could cause the universe to snap backward and repeat the period of one hour. Over his next three time-loops, Castleman tries desperately to contact Rosenbluth and ask him for advice. In the last of these attempts, Castleman collapses, suffering a heart attack. He realizes he is dying, but is grateful that this will finally break the loop and free him. He dies, and the hour of 1:01 arrives. Castleman awakens and sees he has been returned to the place where he begins every hour. The time is 12:01 PM.