[Intro — the sound of waking up, stone floor, total silence] I am awake
[Verse 1] I know this ceiling I know the exact weight of the dark in this room I know the way the cold comes in from the left Not the right Always the left
I know this place
I know this place because every wound I was ever given Was given to me here Every thing that was taken Was taken in this room
I am in the north I have always been in the north I just did not know that was its name
[Pre-Chorus 1 — she tries her voice] I opened my mouth And nothing I tried again Nothing
The voice that I was learning to reach toward the light — Gone The shock took it Or Lust took it Or the room took it Something took it
And I am here with no sound And no map Except the one I left behind
[Chorus — the realization] The map I left behind Is everything I knew Everything I learned before they brought me here Every name, every gate, every note, every clue I left it where she’d find it If she came looking
I left it so she’d know And knowing — I hope she stops I hope she reads my words and turns around I hope she finds the edge of what I left behind And decides that I am not worth what comes next
Please Let the map be enough Let it be enough to turn her back
[Verse 2 — she takes stock] I have my hands I have my eyes I have everything inside my head Which is where all of this will have to live from now on
No one can hear me Which means they cannot stop me With a word Or a name Or a warning
Silence is not nothing I am learning that right now
I have been taken But I have not been finished And no one in this room Knows the difference yet
[Pre-Chorus 2 — Elara] She is out there I know she is out there She moves like a storm and the world notices
She found my notes and she is reading them Right now Somewhere out there in the west or the south or the gap between — She is reading what I left And I am asking the only person who cannot hear me —
Stop Please stop This is not a place for you This is not your war
[Chorus 2] The map I left behind Was meant to end the search Every note I wrote was pointing somewhere else Somewhere far from here, somewhere that hurts less I left it like a door I hoped she’d close behind her I left it like a last word I left it like — please let this be enough Please let her read it and decide That I am not worth what this door opens into
[Bridge — she stands up] But she won’t I know she won’t She is Elara
So I will have to be out of here Before she arrives No voice No map No record of what this room has done
Just the door And whatever is on the other side of it And me Going through it In silence
[Outro — internal, resolve forming] I will not call for her She cannot hear me anyway
I will not leave a trail I will not leave a mark I will not give this place one more thing to use against me
I left the map behind I am not leaving anything else
I am going to get out of here myself And when she arrives at the door I came through —
I hope it is empty I hope she finds nothing I hope she turns around
But if she doesn’t —
At least I will have tried