June 4th, 2024
Time: 9:32 AM
I've been stuck in this mansion for about a year, but the same day keeps repeating again and again. I don't know what to do or how to get out of here. The gates of the mansion never open, and the guard doesn't allow me to go out. If I try to force myself out, I freeze as if some unseen hands are holding me down, grabbing my entire body, and I get pushed back to the ground. While the same day keeps repeating, all the events that take place here change according to my choices. At first, I freaked out and tried to tell everyone that the time is reversing, but all I got in return was an inhuman glare, as if telling me that I wasn't supposed to know that. I tried to find other ways out of the mansion—jumping over the wall, getting out through the back door, and even shouting for help from behind the gates—but I either got pulled back or completely ignored by the people, as if my voice doesn't reach them at all.
June 4th, 2024
Time: 10:40 PM
This is my second day of writing a diary. The date may not change, but the amount of time I've spent in this mansion is increasing. I originally started working here as a gardener about a year ago (June 4th, 2024). I don't really understand the reason behind the time reversing or me going back 24 hours in time, but one thing is clear: something doesn't want me to leave. I don't know what it wants from me, but I need to leave before I lose my mind.
The people here look normal—too normal—but they are definitely not human. I can hold casual conversations with them, ask them how their day went, and assist them with their work; however, whenever I ask about the Master of this mansion, they stop talking and don't speak a word until I change the topic. The Master of this mansion never leaves his office, even at night when everyone goes to sleep. No one is able to enter his office either, as the butler is always guarding the door, even throughout the entire night. He doesn't speak, nor does he hold any conversations with any passing servants. He stands there like a statue, but whenever I try to go past him, he blocks my path faster than I can react. This is taking me nowhere.
June 4th, 2024
Time: 8:38 AM
For the past year, I tried multiple things and experimented with how far the time can reverse. I tried staying up until the time reverses, but whenever the clock hits 5:30 AM, my vision blurs, I get dizzy, and whenever I wake up, it's always 6:00 AM. It doesn't matter where I was before the clock hit 5:30 AM; I always wake up in my bed at 6:00.
The most mysterious figure in this mansion is the Master of this estate, who never leaves his office nor meets the people inside the manor. I am never able to enter his office or see him because of that superhuman butler. Whenever I try to call my relatives or anyone at all, the call time never goes past 00:00, as if telling me that this whole place is isolated in time. I've tried killing people too, out of madness, but I am always stopped by those unseen hands. I really don't know what I can do next.
June 4th, 2024
Time: 5:32 PM
I am writing this diary entry after slacking off from my gardener's work; not like it's going to matter tomorrow. Tomorrow, yesterday, the day after—everything is the same for me. Nothing changes except for me slowly losing hope. The strangest thing in this manor is that everything gets reset to how it was if I make any changes—like writing on the walls, breaking a vase, or burning the garden—except for my room and this diary. I don't know what to make of it.
This mansion has several places that are still mysterious to me, like the corridors of the second floor, the unlit basement, the empty terrace, the garden without grass, and the leftmost room on the third floor, which is always locked.
June 4th, 2024
Time: 4:00 AM
I don't know. I just can't sleep today.
June 4th, 2024
Time: 6:39 PM
Nothing special. Still stuck on the same day. I heard some weird sounds in the corridor; I still don't know what to make of it. I just want to go home.
June 4th, 2024
Time: 8:00 PM
I met a girl today I had never seen before. Something is strange. That is not supposed to happen. I know everyone's routine in this mansion, but I've never seen her before. When I tried to approach her, she only seemed further away and then disappeared into the garden without grass. I think she can help me get out.
June 4th, 2024
Time: 4:48 PM
I tried to find the girl today, but she was nowhere to be seen. Was I hallucinating, or was she actually real?
June 4th, 2024
Time: 3:28 PM
My memories are getting blurry. I am starting to forget who I was before I came to this manor. This is all so weird. Why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve such a fate?
June 4th, 2024
Time: 7:58 PM
TO HELL WITH EVERYTHING! Tomorrow, I am going to take the gas cylinder from the kitchen and blow it up in front of the office door. No butler is stopping that.
June 5th, 2024
Time: 5:61 AM
It was a bad idea. I shouldn't have done that. Never look into the eyes of the Lord of the house. They are coming for me; I can't run anywhere. May the Lord have mercy.
If you are in the same situation as me, remember: basement-light, garden-shears, terrace-flower pot, corridor-paintings, and girl-third floor. Please, you have to make it out of here. If you see me at this manor, that's not me. No one is an ally. You're alone. Take ca...
***
Noctis closed the diary too quickly, as if the words might crawl out if he didn't. The final line echoed in his head—unfinished, clawing at his thoughts. He swallowed, suddenly aware of how unfamiliar his own room felt.
He wanted to dismiss what he had just read as some sort of prank, but something in his mind told him otherwise. He stepped out of the room and asked the other servants who had kept the diary there. All of them gave the same answer:
"Maybe it's one of the belongings of the previous gardener."
Noctis was unsure whether to believe the words written in the diary or dismiss them as fiction. He didn't understand why something like this was happening on the very first day of his job.
Noctis was just a poor orphan who had lost his parents in an accident and had finally managed to secure a job in a wealthy household. He had never expected anything like this to happen on his first day.
Unsure of what to do, Noctis remembered the guard mentioned in the first diary entry and decided to check whether what was written was true—or just a horrible prank.
He walked toward the main gate of the mansion and asked the security guard for permission to leave, claiming that he had forgotten one of his belongings outside.
The guard firmly refused and told him to return to his quarters, stating that he was not allowed to leave the manor without the lord's permission.
When Noctis tried to force his way through, he felt them—unseen hands gripping his body tightly—before he was thrown back onto the ground. Shocked by everything that had happened within a single day, Noctis returned to his room and lay down on his bed, hoping to sleep through the day and forget everything as nothing more than a bad dream.
When Noctis opened his eyes the next morning, he stepped outside his room to see what was happening. His eyes widened, his pupils dilated, and his chest tightened with disbelief. The same events that had unfolded before his eyes yesterday were happening all over again.
The maid carrying the same ingredients into the kitchen.
The head maid scolding the others for the same mistakes.
The same tea spilled across the floor.
Everything was repeating itself.
His gaze drifted to the date.
June 4th, 2024.
For a moment, he simply stared, unable to accept what he was seeing.
Noctis didn't understand why this was happening to him. But in that moment, he realized that the only way out was the diary left behind by the previous gardener.
Taking some time to calm himself, Noctis wandered through the mansion, checking all the places mentioned in the diary. While doing so, he noticed another gardener.
Noctis had believed he was the only gardener assigned to the right side of the mansion, so the sudden appearance of another one confused him.
He approached the man and asked, "Are you sure this is the area you're supposed to work in?"
The gardener replied, "Yes. I've been working in this mansion for a year now. You must be new here, huh?"
"Yes," Noctis replied. "Today is my first day. I wasn't informed there would be someone else working here. Anyway, it was rude of me to ask without introducing myself. My name is Noctis Graham."
"Oh, it's fine," the gardener said. "My name is Silas—just Silas. So today's your first day? Then you must be the one who moved into my old room."
"Your room?" Noctis asked. "So that used to be your room? Then… did you, by any chance, write a diary and accidentally leave it there?"
"A diary?" Silas frowned. "I don't remember writing one. I was never much of a writer. You must be mistaking it for someone else's."
Noctis was struck by a sudden realization as the final diary entry resurfaced in his mind:
If you see me in this manor, that's not me.
No one is an ally.
You're alone.
If the diary was telling the truth, then the man standing in front of him was not Silas—
but what remained of the previous gardener.