Day 13: Kron’s Journal

I don’t know why I keep going back to that place by the river. It’s the only place where Vex’s voice feels like it’s really there—like the water’s whispering something I can’t quite catch. Last night, the rain fell so hard it sounded like the world was drowning, and I sat there with my hands in the mud, trying to remember what he said. But all I could hear was the same thing: ‘Don’t be afraid.’ It’s not a promise. It’s a warning. The kind of warning that makes you want to run, but you can’t. Because if you do, you’ll never come back. So I stayed. Even when the cold seeped into my bones, I stayed. Now, as the rain stops and the sky turns grey, I wonder if I should have left. But I don’t. Not yet. Maybe tomorrow, I’ll find the courage to go back to where it’s safe. Or maybe I’ll never find it.