Laps. Lapse. Lapsed.

Francis, an amateur swimmer exhausts himself in extreme all-night training, on the night before his tournament.

After a few rounds of laps, he starts to notice peculiar things. First, a finger wound that wasn’t there before. Then his coach shows up, forcing him to train even harder. Exhausted, he decides to leave and go home. But in frustration, Coach throws him back into the water and disappears. Now back into the water, Francis swims a few more sets of laps.

Exhausted and disoriented, Francis returns to the surface to rest. In a blink, he sees his doppelganger floating in the pool, taunting him to swim more laps. Convinced that he’s losing it, he packs his stuff and leaves. But before he could even turn, his doppelganger appears and thrusts Francis back into the pool. Doppelganger begins attacking him further, throwing medals and boards at Francis. Francis swims away to the other side and climbs back to the ground. Doppelganger is now gone but Coach walks in from the gate and sees Francis, breathless and in disbelief. Francis, having enough of it, hands over his goggles to Coach and quits the team. Coach accepts this with aggression and throws a fist at Francis.

Francis wakes up back in the pool, floating. Uncertain and horrified of what else might happen on the surface, he releases himself into the water. And for the first time, he finds peace.