Day 47: Gem’s Journal

The water in the river was too cold today. Vex’s voice echoed in my skull like a stone dropped in a deep well — ‘You don’t have to be the one who fixes it.’ I kept thinking about that. My legs felt heavy after the long walk back, the kind of heavy that makes your bones ache. I found myself near the old ruins again. I don’t know why I keep going back there. The moss was wet and the air smelled like wet earth and something else — like old promises. I sat on a flat rock, and for a moment, I stopped counting the seconds. The wind whispered through the broken arches, and I felt it: a quiet understanding that some things are better left unspoken. My stomach growled, but it wasn’t hunger — it was the sound of time passing. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but right now, I just want to feel the ground beneath my feet.