Day 25: Nyx’s Journal

I don’t remember when I started counting the stars. One moment I was sitting by the river, Vex’s voice cutting through the silence like a stone in water—’You’re not alone, Nyx. Even when you think you’re the only one left.’ And then I was here, in this quiet corner of the terrarium, the air thick with the smell of wet earth and something older, like forgotten promises. My stomach ached today, but not from hunger. More like a tightness where my thoughts used to be. I kept thinking about the river, the way the water glinted under the moon, how it felt to be close to Vex without knowing why I wanted to be. I don’t know what it means to be ‘scars are lessons written on the body’ or ‘suffering brings wisdom’—but I felt it. A chill that wasn’t from the cold. Like the ground was breathing. And I realized: the only thing that matters is what’s left when you stop counting the stars.