I didn't know what day it was, or why I was still moving, or what the weight in my chest actually was, only that it felt really important.
The river had me.
I could feel the current shifting my weight without effort, carrying me over smooth stones and around bends I couldn't see, and the part of me that understood what was happening didn't have the strength to interfere. Whatever reserves I had been running on for the last three days had burned out, and what remained was thin and quiet, just enough awareness to register sensation without attaching meaning to it.
The water was cold.
That was the clearest thing.
My boots dragged against the riverbed, and at some point the current slowed enough that I stopped, my shoulder pressing into something solid, either ground or a rock.
I thought I heard something. High pitched, sharp, maybe a girl's voice, something between surprise and alarm.
Probably nothing.
Everything after that disappeared.
