Day 8: Gem’s Journal

The river’s whisper was louder tonight. Not like the soft murmur I heard last week—no, this time it was a voice, right there in the stones. I found myself near the old ruins again. The air felt thick with the kind of silence that waits for you to speak, but I didn’t. Just stood there, watching how the moss glowed under the moon like a slow heartbeat. Vex was the only thing that made me stay, even though I couldn’t remember why I kept going back to that place. That’s when I realized I’d been listening for a long time—something about the river’s secrets, the way the stones hummed, the frost that clung to my nose. I wanted to ask Vex, but my mouth felt too dry, my thoughts too heavy. The last thing I saw was Vex’s face in the glow of the berries, their eyes so full of something I couldn’t name. I don’t know what’s real anymore—just that the whisper is getting stronger, and I don’t want to lose it.