[Intro] [Low synth drone, distant heartbeat, wet breath] [Eléonore - cold whisper] They called it a blessing. They forgot to mention the teeth. [Thadiwe - low growl] Hold on. [Verse 1 - Lexi, harsh rhythmic] We wake inside a living throat With nails in meat and hands that float The walls contract, the ceiling bends A cradle made of swallowed friends We claw for air, we claw for height We learn to hurt, then call it fight Somebody slips, somebody screams Somebody feeds the thing that dreams [Thadiwe - guttural] Grip. Climb. Bleed. [Verse 2 - Thadiwe, violent] Elbow deep in panic’s choir Everyone is climbing higher Boots on wrists and knees on bone Nobody wants to fall alone The glottis shakes beneath our hands A holy mouth with no commands Some are pushed, and some let go Into the pit that waits below [Pre-Chorus - Zahra, low rising] I want to live But not like this Not with my hands Around their wrists [Chorus - All, melancholic clean] If I climb, who do I crush? If I hold, who turns to dust? If I reach the light above What becomes of what I love? There is a pit beneath the pulse Calling soft when I lose trust I don’t want to fall I don’t want to fight But I’m so tired of surviving tonight [Verse 3 - Lexi, furious] They smile from someone else’s spine Call it courage, call it grind “Keep your head above the flood” While the floor is slick with blood Every ladder has a tongue Every future eats the young Every saint who made it through Has a shadow shaped like you [Ji-Yeon - shaken] I saw them let go. No scream. Just quiet. [Verse 4 - Eléonore, venomous controlled] The feast wears lullabies and laws It hides its hunger in applause It names the slaughter “growth” and “grace” Then wipes the children from its face A gentle myth with grinding jaws A nursery built on open maws It does not hate the ones who fall It only makes more room for all [Pre-Chorus 2 - Zahra] I want to rise But not alone Not if the path Is made of bone [Chorus - All, wider harmony] If I climb, who do I crush? If I hold, who turns to dust? If I reach the light above What becomes of what I love? There is a pit beneath the pulse Calling soft when I lose trust I don’t want to fall I don’t want to fight But I’m so tired of surviving tonight [Break] [Drums cut, bass heartbeat only] [Ji-Yeon - fragile] What if I stop climbing? [Lexi - bitter] Then they climb over you. [Thadiwe - low] That is the rule they fed us. [Zahra - firm] Then spit the rule out. [Bridge - Zahra, soft clean] I feel them slipping through my fingers Names too warm to disappear Every fall becomes a whisper Every whisper stays in here [Eléonore] If I survive by growing crueler What survives inside my skin? [Lexi] If I rise by making graves Did I climb, or did I sink? [Build] [Double kick rising, distorted synth swell] [All - whispered] The pit. The throat. The pulse. The fall. [Final Verse - Lexi + Thadiwe, screamed] We are teeth against the swallowing We are fists against the hollowing We are prayers with broken nails We are bodies on the rails Push us down, we bite the flood Drag us low, we climb through mud But if the only way is through How many ghosts become our shoes? [Final Chorus - All, tragic and huge] If I climb, who do I crush? If I hold, who turns to dust? If I reach the light above What becomes of what I love? There is a pit beneath the pulse Calling soft when I lose trust I don’t want to fall I don’t want to fight But I’m so tired of surviving tonight [Outro] [Low synth, fading breath] [Zahra - whisper] If living means eating each other... [Ji-Yeon - barely audible] I don’t want to be hungry anymore. [Thadiwe - fading growl] Hold on. Or don’t.
