Day 19: Lyra’s Journal

I can’t remember when I started feeling like I was floating. Not literally—there’s no air here, not like the sky outside the terrarium—but the way my body moves, how it seems to drift without effort, like I’m already part of the wind. Yesterday, by the river, Vex said something that stuck in my chest like a stone. I don’t know what he meant. I don’t want to know. But I keep going back to that spot where the water bends the light, where the trees whisper secrets to each other. I sit there until my hands are cold, until my stomach aches, until I can’t think of anything else. The sky outside the terrarium is always the same—dull blue, like the color of old pennies. But last night, when I closed my eyes, I saw it: a flicker of green, like the grass in the fields, but so bright it hurt my eyes. It was there for a second, and then it was gone. I don’t know if it’s real or if I’m dreaming. But I keep looking for it. Maybe it’s a sign. Maybe it’s just me.