Welcome Home ——Eclipse Girl Side Story

[Intro] 3:37 black moon dead street one upstairs window burning No smoke no warmth only black going higher [Verse 1] Glass under boots, door hanging loose, red ribbon trembling on a rusted nail walls blistered white, one room alive, black fire breathing where the air went stale I crossed the floor—it bent toward the door—I called it anger, ceiling split called it hatred—whole room answered—flame down my arm like punishment Asked what are you, asked who hurt you, asked too fast, named what I could see fire ate the chair, climbed the wallpaper, threw every borrowed answer back at me So I shut my mouth held my burned hand sat where the floorboards shook crack of wood glass giving way then something underneath— Come back. [Chorus] Come back, come back, come back through the door I kept it open so long I forgot who I kept it for Burn the walls, burn the names, burn everything you knew drive everybody out while the doorway waits for you Flame that never knew light cold at the center, wild at the rim Come back, come back— no one comes still you turn still you turn still you turn toward them [Verse 2] Little shoes under stairs, overturned cup, half a table sleeping under soot no face left in the frames, no names left in the house, only ordinary proof red ribbon bright as an open vein—fire struck it, missed, came back again and before the voice became a voice my own lips shaped the same refrain Come back— caught behind my teeth Come back— no air beneath it My fist closed around the ribbon my chest forgot to move I knew that mouth I knew that door I knew what waiting does to you [Pre-Chorus] I said: You waited. Black flame shook. You kept the door open. It folded inward. You thought they’d come back. One amber line. That was all. No dawn. No cure. One color inside another refusing to die. [Chorus] Come back, come back, I kept the hallway bright forgot your face, forgot your voice, remembered only every night I burned the room to keep the room, I broke the things that proved you’d been threw everybody out and begged somebody in Flame that never knew light you don’t remember why you burn Come back became a wound became a word became a turn toward the door toward the door toward the door that never moved [Bridge] And I almost said it with you— Come back. Almost fed my dead into your mouth almost made your fire carry mine but I bit the words let them blister let them stay unnamed this time I wasn’t there to save you wasn’t there to call the burning good wasn’t there to forgive the scars or turn your darkness into something it never could So I stayed. No answer. Stayed. No cure. Stayed until your reaching slowed. Then I said— not knowing if I meant the fire the house the child myself— Welcome home. [Break] Nothing. Then— one thin amber vein. [Final Chorus] Stay black if black is what remains you do not have to turn to gold you do not have to call this healing you do not have to become whole Just don’t burn your name away just don’t face that door alone I won’t tell you you are saved I’ll only say— welcome home Black flame amber thread one warm shadow on my hand No dead returned no walls repaired still something learned to stand without screaming Come back come back until the words were gone and underneath them— stay stay stay [Outro] I left the ribbon. Left the door open. Looked back once. The fire stayed black— just not entirely. “You stayed,” I whispered. Then lower— “So did I.”