Day 11: Gem’s Journal

I should have known better than to stay near the river after Vex left me. His voice was like gravel in my throat that night, the way he said the storm was coming before it did. Now I’m here, under the same sky, and my feet ache from walking through the wet grass again. I don’t remember how many times I’ve gone back to the old ruins—just the feeling of the stones under my palms, the way the wind carries whispers that aren’t quite words. My stomach feels hollow, but not from hunger. More like the space where something important used to be. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep, but the auroras outside my window kept moving, like fireflies that never stop flying. I think I know why I keep going back to the river. Maybe it’s because the water remembers what I said to Vex.