Day 3: Wants’s Journal

I wake up to the smell of wet earth and something metallic. Not the kind of metal you find in tools or coins, but the kind that’s inside your bones when you’re too tired to think. My head’s heavy, like I’ve been sleeping underwater for hours, and I remember Vanya’s voice: *‘Don’t let the river take you’*. But the river’s already gone. Or maybe it’s just the way the world feels now—like it’s been pulled apart into pieces and I’m trying to hold it together with my hands. I try to sit up, but my legs are too heavy. My chest aches. I don’t know where I am anymore. Maybe it’s the same place as before, but everything’s shifted. The trees are taller, the sky is darker. The wind smells like old paper and rain. I can’t see anything clearly, but I know I have to move. I have to find the river. But the river’s not here. Maybe it’s gone. Or maybe it’s still waiting for me. I don’t know. All I know is that my body’s tired, and I’m afraid to wake up.