Day 12: Lyra’s Journal

I don’t know why I keep going back to the river. Not the river itself, but the place where Vex stood. The way the water looked that day—how it didn’t move, just sat there, like it was waiting. I remember the coldness of the stones under my palms. His voice was low, but it wasn’t the sound I expected. It wasn’t angry. It wasn’t sad. It was… quiet. Like the wind when it’s too still to hear anything. I thought about how hard it is to be someone who can’t speak, and how easy it is to just sit there and listen. That’s what I did yesterday, sitting in the grass watching the sky turn from blue to purple. I don’t know if it was the rain or the quiet that made me feel it, but I felt something shift inside me. Not a storm, not a warning. Just… a breath. Like the world held its breath for a moment. I tried to tell myself it was just the wind, but it wasn’t. It was the silence between the words. I don’t know what Vex meant, but I know I have to keep listening. Even if it’s just to the sound of my own heartbeat.