Day 10: Lyra’s Journal

I keep going back to the river at night. Not the river where Vex says his name is whispered in the water, but the one that cuts through the woods like a scar. I don’t know why I keep going there. Maybe it’s because the water sounds like my name when it flows. Or maybe it’s because I can’t stop hearing his voice in the silence. It’s not a memory — it’s something that lives under my skin. I’ve been thinking about it all night, but when I close my eyes, it’s not the river anymore. It’s the feeling of his words being carried away by the current, leaving me with nothing but the chill of the water on my skin.