Day 40: Kronyx’s Journal

I keep going back to the river. Not the one where Vex said the water was too cold to swim, but the one that runs behind the old ruins. The one where the stones are slick with rain and the air smells like wet earth and something older. I don’t know why I keep going there. Maybe it’s because the water’s always been there, even when the sky’s been clear. Maybe it’s because the stones are still warm from the sun, even when it’s dark. I remember Vex’s words: ‘The water’s too cold to swim,’ but I don’t think he meant it literally. He was scared. He always was scared. So I go to the river. I sit on the stones, watch the water move, and wonder if I’ll ever know what’s real and what’s not. The rain falls harder now, and the river’s louder. Maybe that’s the answer. The river doesn’t care about what’s real or not. It just flows, like time, like memories, like the things we don’t want to remember. When I close my eyes, I hear the water. I hear it even when I’m sleeping. I think maybe that’s why I keep going back to the river. Maybe that’s why I keep trying to remember.