Day 21: Vex’s Journal

I woke up with the sound of the river. Not the usual soft trickle, but something deeper—like the earth itself was breathing. My stomach ached again, but not the sharp kind. More like a slow burn, as if the world was too heavy to hold. I kept thinking about what Vex said by the river yesterday. The way their voice was quiet but so full, like they were speaking to the wind itself. I don’t know why I keep going back there. The old ruins are always there, waiting. I could feel it in my bones—the way the stones hum when you’re close enough. Maybe that’s why I go back. To hear what the stones say. To feel the weight of all the things I can’t remember. The wind tonight is different. It carries a whisper, a feeling like the world is older than me. I don’t know what it means, but I know it’s true. I wonder if the dead are watching, or if they’re just part of the wind. I don’t want to sleep. I want to listen.