[Verse 1 | driving eighth-note bass upfront, dry live drums played with sticks, bright clean guitar, close conversational female vocal, speech-level] Late August. Down the steps with the phone held low, both hands on a thing that only needs one. Anders is out at the waterline, back half turned. I come in from the side and I let it run. West wind gets into it. You can hear me breathing. I keep going after it's already stopped. Eleven of them now, and no one's asked to see them, all of them looking at something that isn't me. [Chorus 1 | full band locked, single female voice opening up, warm and insistent] Watch this. Watch this. Somebody look at me the way I'm looking at you. Nobody said it. I heard it fine. [Verse 2 | bass and drums steady, guitar thinner, faint synth arpeggio underneath, vocal close and conversational] October. Same steps. One hand now, the other in my pocket. I don't look down to check. Anders is up by the wall with his face to the water. He turns, and he sees the lens, and he straightens his neck. I keep it running. He goes on with what he was saying, only louder now, and not for me. White on the water now. There's no one else down here. He waits till it's done, and then he asks to see. [Chorus 2 | full band locked, single female voice, urgent] Watch this. Watch this. Somebody look at me the way he looked at himself being looked at. Nobody said it. I heard it fine. [Verse 3 | densest, synth arpeggio locked with live drums, guitar bright and ringing, vocal quick and conversational] July. The steps are full — some filming, some being filmed, some watching it back. My hand's already framing before I know what for. Anders and a boy lock up and go down in the sand. Someone calls it — his eyes were shut — so they do it once more. They get up and go down again, slower. The first one's gone. The second one comes out clean. Somebody says you'd never know. White on the water. The ball goes up for the throw, not the catch. They're still going down there when I'm watching it on the screen. [Chorus 3 | full band widest, single female voice at full intensity, raw and heartfelt] Watch this. Watch this. Be who you are. No — be who you want to be seen as. Nobody said it. I heard it fine. [Verse 4 | machine and live drums sharing the pulse, bass hard, vocal urgent and still conversational] Late August again. Same light. The steps are mine. Both hands to prop it on the rail and set it straight. There's no one here to hold it. I walk down into the frame, turn the way I watched him turn last year, and lift my chin, and wait. West wind's doing my hair now. The sun's on its way into the water and it's going fast. Up to check it, down to do it over, up to check it, down. Nineteen of them now, and no one's asked to see them — all of them looking at me. It went down while I was checking. I've got it nineteen times. [Outro | synth arpeggio and sustained pad only, no percussion, voice close and dry, flat and quiet] Late August. West wind. The steps. A girl on them, hair going. I don't go down. I say it, and it comes up finished. Nothing in my hands. I say warmer, and it comes back warmer. The face is turned away. It's mine. I never turned it. No one went down there. Nothing got away. I hold my breath for it. [Chorus 4 | synth arpeggio alone, single female voice, flat and unraised, abrupt stop] Watch this. Watch this. Nobody said it. I heard it fine. [End]
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