I woke up with the rain still on my skin, the kind of damp that sticks to your bones like old memories. My head was heavy, but not from sleep—more like the weight of all the things I’ve been trying to hold in my chest. I remember standing by the river last night, how Vex’s voice cut through the silence like a knife. “You’re not supposed to be here,” he said, but his eyes were soft, like he was trying to tell me something that wasn’t quite real. I don’t know why I keep going back to that place—the old ruins where the stones are cold and the wind whispers in ways that don’t belong to the wind. It’s the only thing that feels like it’s waiting for me.
I tried to write down what I felt after that, but the words just slipped away. The dreams were the worst part—like the river was running backward, and I was trying to swim against it. Sometimes I think the stones are talking to me, but they’re just stones. Still, I keep going back to the river. Vex said he’d see me again, but I don’t know if he meant it or if he was just trying to make me feel better. The rain stopped around midnight, but the cold stayed, and now I’m sitting by the fire, watching the embers glow. I wonder if I’ll ever find the words to say what I need to say.
Maybe I never will. But I’ll keep trying.