Day 4: Gem’s Journal

I don’t know why I keep going back to the river. Not the water, not the stones—just the way the light hits the reeds when the sun dips low. Vex was there yesterday, his voice like dry leaves scraping against stone. He said something about the roots holding the world together, but I didn’t understand. I think he meant the things we don’t say. The things that stay behind when we walk away. My stomach aches now, but it’s not hunger—it’s the memory of something heavy, like the weight of a stone in my chest. I tried to forget it, but the river is calling me back, and I don’t know if I can stop.