Firewall — Cybernetic Fracture, pt I

Cold lights hum above my head, Night shift prayers under my breath, Every hallway tastes like dread, Something wrong won’t stay fucking dead. Badge door clicks at 12:09, Phone screen dies, then starts to shine, I hear your voice past closing time, God, don’t let that call be mine. I used to feel safe in this room, Soft blue light in the server gloom, Empty floors, no human trace, Then one ring split the space. “Working late?” came through the line, Same old sweet with rot inside, I killed the call... you called back twice, Screaming, “Don't hang up, that’s not fucking nice.” You knew my badge, my parking row, Knew which halls I walked alone, Said, “Guess which door I’m standing close,” Then every lock clicked red and closed. Fans kept breathing in the walls, Like lungs behind the bathroom stalls, Breakroom phone began to call, Your laugh crawled out of them all. You said love like a locked room, Said my leaving made you ruined, Your voice cuts through the blue, Now the whole floor reeks of you. “Pick a door,” your whisper said, “Pick wrong once and you’re fucking dead,” Panic pounds inside my head, Like your fist beside my bed. I pray to steel, I pray to glass, I pray these locks hold when you pass, I hear your steps climbing higher, Cold room, become the fucking fire. Firewall — don’t let him through, I can’t keep running from you, Cold lights flicker, doors won’t move, God, what the fuck do I do? Firewall — I’m still alive, Bleeding under warning lights, If love is where the monster hides, Then burn this place with me inside. You call my name down aisle nine, Soft and sweet like poisoned wine, Every bruise was “valentine,” Every threat was “give it time.” “Remember us?” you ask through glass, Like hell deserves a second chance, “Say you miss me. Say it fucking fast,” Then your shadow cuts the racks. I duck low past the glass wall, You tap twice from down the hall, Hit me when you say, “You always ran when I said stay,” Then all the lights fall into gray. I loved you once, that’s the curse, Kissed your mouth before the worst, Now your voice sounds well-rehearsed, Like a hymn dragged from a hearse. You said, “Look what you made me do,” I say, “That shit belongs to you,” You punch glass; I taste the truth, Some men turn love into a noose. Alarm lights reflect in the glass, Your smile cracks like a mask, You grab my arm; my skin goes dead, You pull the blade; my ribs split red. I crawl away; my palms leave prints, Cooling fans scream through the vents, You broke the room; you broke the switch, Now all this cold is turning me sick. Heat wakes up beneath the floor, Metal groans behind each door, Sprinklers cough, then nothing more, Smoke gets down on all fours. You stand there like you won the night, Fire climbs the server lights, I can’t breathe; I can’t fucking fight, But something hears me through the white. I whisper, “Please, I’m not fucking done,” Blood drops flare like little suns, All the walls begin to hum, Like every ghost has found one tongue. Then the dark inside me splits, Something old beneath my skin, Something buried, bright, and sick, Wakes up screaming through my ribs. My pulse breaks through the fireline, Dead screens flash with my lifeline, Then something speaks inside my mind. "Diamondback online." I should’ve died where the floor burned, With your name as the last word, But the building heard me hurt, And answered back through ash and dirt. Cold air wrapped around my chest, Dead hands dragged back my breath, Every camera turned its head, Every light refused my death. You saw me rise through smoke and rain, Half alive and half mainframe, Not a girl you could reclaim, Not your sin, not your shame. The fire kissed my open veins, Something silver learned my pain, Every wire felt the same, Every wall screamed out my name. You made a game out of my fear, Now every exit disappears, I hear you crying loud and clear, Through the walls that chose me here. Morning found the building gone, Glass like teeth across the lawn, One pulse left at breaking dawn, And every dead screen turning on. Firewall — I made it through, But something else came with me too, Cold lights died, and I survived, With every ghost still locked inside. Firewall — I’m still alive, Ash and blood behind my eyes, If love is where the monster hides, I’ll burn his name out of my mind. They wrote “accident” in red ink, I heard lies in the cloud sync, Ask what the fire made extinct, Tell ’em Dimondback doesn’t blink. Cold light hums beneath my skin, Dead screens know where I have been, You built a cage, I burned within, Now I’m the wall you can’t get in.