I give credit for the story idea to my friend Hailey. She helped me come up with the idea and the plot line, I am just the writer of our combined ideas.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Warning: This story contains violent and slightly gory content, as well as some scenes of drunk driving. DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE EVER! Reader discretion is advised.*

Jacob Liam Edwards was a relatively 'normal' man. He worked a 9-5 job as an editor for the newspaper, drove a black 1949 Chevrolet Deluxe, and had a simple one-story house on a small acridge about half-hour outside of the town.

The 21 year old would drive to work five days a week. He liked cars, magazines, cooking, and other such things. Even though he was quite young still, Jacob was a bit obsessed with youth. He wanted to stay young forever. He wasn't an overly religious man, so his Sundays were spent researching immortality or relaxing.

1951, December 31st

It was a few hours away from New Years, so he had been drinking a decent amount already that night. He was definitely on the more tipsy side of the drunk scale. Jacob got in his car, and headed onto the road. He was on his way home, even though it wasn't safe for him to be in the driver's seat in his current state.

Due to his loopy behaviour, he was driving a bit too fast, and didn't notice the other drunk person starting to stumble across the street. They walked right in front of him, and he had no time to react or slow down. The car sped right over the person, and it likely killed them almost instantly, as their head ended up crushed under the wheels.

It took him a moment to realize what just happened. His brain went straight to shock as he realized he was basically a murderer. He had killed someone. His eyes were wide as the shock fully settled in his mind.

When he finally got home, he just ended up laying in bed for over an hour, playing over what had happened in his mind. He just ran over someone... He was kind of freaking out silently just laying there, eyes wide in silent terror at the crime he had committed.

Eventually, exhaustion caught up with his body, as he passed out for the rest of the night. At least he was in bed though, so he wouldn't end up falling and getting hurt when he passed out.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning, he woke up around 12:00 PM, 4 hours late to work, since he had told his boss he's work on the 1st starting at 8:00 AM instead of his usual 9:00 AM. He got dressed, chugged some water, had a quick breakfast, and rushed to work.

He started seeing similar people and exact things that happened from the day before, confused as the radio played the same music. It was... odd.

When he finally got to work, he noticed why everything was so similar to the day before. Because it was the day before. It was still December 31st... That definitely made him pause. Did he completely dream up what happened or was this something else? Maybe it was... Maybe it wasn't...

He had no time to dwell on it as he worked on editing until 4:00 PM, and he headed out of work. He headed to the bar, needing a drink or two as he tried to make sense of everything.

He was there for a few hours, before eventually getting out of the bar and heading home. He took his car again, even though he was pretty drunk. The same stuff from before played on the radio as he did. He noticed the person from before, and screeched to a stop right before he would've ran them over, watching them cross the street.

It took his mind a second to really sink in what just happened before he kept driving. That was too close for it to have been a dream. Things were way too similar. It did happen, so what was going on? Did the day just repeat itself?

He thought about it as he drove out of town. His train of thought would be stopped abruptly when a car came rushing out of nowhere, and they ended up smashing into each other, both going spinning and getting quite damaged.

The other car ended up smashing into a tree and landed on its side, while luckily his car was still upright. He hesitated, getting out and going to check on the other driver. He peeked in the driver's seat to see blood pouring down their face, eyes wide open as they were almost definitely killed from the impact of smashing into the tree.

He quickly got back to his car and drove home, cringing when he really noticed how damaged his own car was. He grabbed a tarp from the shed to cover his car's dents and scratches.

He went inside, took a shower and went to bed sooner than later to give him mind a break from everything going on.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When he woke up the next day, he took a shower, ate some breakfast, and got ready for work. He headed out as soon as he was ready, realizing that his car wasn't covered like the night before and that the dents and scratches were all gone. The radio is what made him realize that it was still December 31st...

Before, he was only partially sure that it wasn't a dream, now he was one-hundred-percent sure that it wasn't. The day was repeating itself... Again. Why though? What made these last few days different from the rest of his life?

The thought dug itself deep into his mind while he was at work. The question of; why was the day repeating itself? What was triggering it?

He replayed what had happened in his mind, and the only thing linking the two that had never happened before was the fact that he had accidentally ended up killing someone on both days. So, perhaps murder was the trigger? Taking someone else's life seemed... morbid. It was a terrible thing to do... That wasn't what was going through Jacob's head though. The fact that he could live forever, even if it was the same day for eternity, locked in his mind. It was basically eternal life.

He left work extra early, going and drinking at the bar as he thought for a while about what he was going to do. He left after a while, and ran over the same person as he did the first time on purpose to test his theory, going home and sitting to watch the clock change from 11:59 PM on December 31st, to 12:00 AM on December 31st.

That had to be the trigger. It just had to be. So, he started his plan. He invited a coworker to go out for a drink after work, and they accepted. He talked with them for a while, before eventually convincing them to come home with him that night, driving back to his house with his coworker.

He got them down into his basement, while he went to his safe to unlock it and pull out a pistol. Now, he was really gonna test his theory about murder being the trigger for the repeating day. He watched the clock change to 11:59 PM as he aimed the pistol at his coworker's head, pulling the trigger and watching the clock change to 12:00 AM back on the 31st. That was all the confirmation he needed.

He turned his attention to where the body had been, but it slowly faded, as did the blood, and the gun in his hand vanished back into the safe. How... interesting.

He went to bed as he thought about all of this. If he wanted eternal life, he had to become a murderer. He spent all morning thinking about that and weighing his eternal life over the lives of others. They were alive and well the next morning anyway, so it wasn't like they'd remember or remain dead.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

During the first week, he spent his time in the bar picking out his targets and planning their murders to carry out each night. Every kill got him more and more obsessed with the bloodshed and the events. He was definitely turning into a true killer.

He did steal and rob things, since they'd return the next day anyway, and the cycle would repeat. He chose a target, killed them, and lived out the day however he wanted otherwise. He did end up in prison a few times, but he had already killed his targets those nights, so he just grinned and went to sleep, waking up back in his own bed.

The longer he did it, the more he got into the killing part of the day. He started torturing his victims, enjoying their screams and sounds of terror and pain. He was turning into quite the sadist.

This continued for what felt like months to Jacob, even though it was technically the same day. He did crazy things so much, that he ended up getting used to it. It got boring after a while.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One day, he decided to just have a more 'normal' day. He already had a victim planned out, but he went to work, edited papers as usual, got lunch with his coworkers and had a nice day.

He went to the bar and got drunk, like he had done many times before. He headed home around 8:00 PM this time, not noticing when a car came flying down the road, smashing directly into his driver's side. The force sent his car rolling. Glass shattered, covering him in cuts and getting him quite wounded. His face had been smashed against the side of the car as well as the wheel, so blood trickled down his head and he had a massive concussion. His car was also upside down, so all the blood rushed to his head, and he could barely figure out what had just happened.

The car that hit him had stopped, and he could see someone stepping out and walking over. He saw the person when they crouched to check on him, but what he saw shocked him beyond belief... It was him!

Doppelganger? Or perhaps it was literally a second version of himself. Now that was weird.

The other one had stopped, staring at him, before drawing a pistol. Before he could say anything or try to stop them, they aimed it and shot him right in the face, killing him instantly.

Another death; another victim; another December 31st; and another cycle.