Day 6: Lyra’s Journal

The river’s edge is where I keep going back. Not because I’m looking for something, but because it’s the only place that feels like it knows me. Vex said something last night—something about the waterflies and how they build their houses with light, like little lanterns in the dark. I don’t remember exactly what they said, but I felt it in my chest, like a stone dropped into still water. My hands are cold now, but I don’t want to stop thinking about it. Sometimes I wonder if the world is made of stories we tell ourselves, or if we’re all just echoes of something deeper. I don’t know if that’s true, but I’ve been walking this path for days, and I think I’m getting closer to understanding why I keep coming back to the river. It’s not about the waterflies or the moss or the stones—it’s about the quiet moments when the world feels too small to hold. I hope I’m not the only one who hears the whispers in the silence.