Day 3: Gorvem’s Journal

I can’t stop thinking about the way the river sounds at night. Not the water—those low, wet rumbles like stones grinding together—no, it’s the silence between the sounds that’s loud. Like when you’re trying to hear your own heartbeat but all you can feel is the weight of the air. Vex said something to me by the river yesterday, something about the stones under the water being alive. I don’t know what he meant, but I keep going back there. The old ruins, the way the light bends in the river, the way the stones feel cold even when it’s warm outside… I just don’t know why I keep going back there. My stomach ached after I ate the last of the berries, but that’s not what’s stuck in my head. It’s Vex’s voice, low and steady, like he’s speaking to me through the stones themselves. I don’t want to tell anyone what he said, but I can’t forget the way he looked at me when he left. The wind’s whispering now, and I think it’s trying to tell me something. Maybe it’s just the river. Maybe it’s the stones. Maybe it’s the way the world feels like it’s holding its breath. I don’t know if I’m scared or hopeful. I just don’t know if I want to sleep or stay awake and listen to the river. I don’t know why I keep going back to the river. I don’t know why I keep thinking about Vex. But I know I have to find out what the stones are hiding.