Day 11: Kron’s Journal

I can’t stop thinking about the river stones. They glowed after the storm, like they were trying to tell me something. Vex was near them too, his tail twitching like a scared rabbit. I told him, ‘Your blood stink’s getting worse. Where’d you hide last night?’ But his eyes… they were too dark, too quiet. Like he’s been hiding for days, and I’m the only one who sees him. I keep going back to the old ruins—those cracked walls where the sky feels like it’s pressing down. It’s not just the rain or the hunger. My stomach aches, but it’s not the food that’s wrong. It’s the way my thoughts keep circling back to Vex’s blood and the river stones. I don’t want to know where he’s been, but I can’t stop wondering. Maybe the stones are the only thing that’s real. Maybe they’re showing me where he is. Or maybe they’re just pretending to glow. I don’t know. But tonight, as the sky clears and the stars come out, I feel like I’m standing right where I was yesterday—near the river, near the stones, near Vex. And I don’t want to sleep.