Day 6: Lyra’s Journal

I don’t know why I keep going back to the river. Not the real river, not the one with the water, but the one that’s always there in my head — the one where Vex stood, his voice like stone. I remember the way the air felt that day, how the light was too sharp for the world to hold. I thought I was just tired. But when I closed my eyes last night, the water wasn’t moving anymore. It was still, and the sound was gone, but I could feel it beneath my skin, like the memory of a wound that never heals. Sometimes I wonder if the world is a dream, or if I’m the dreamer. It doesn’t matter. I can’t stop thinking about what he said: ‘The water runs through you, but it doesn’t have to stay.’ That’s why I keep walking back to the river. To see if it’s still there. To hear if it’s still speaking.