[Cold Open | completely dry whisper | no music] A waltz has three steps. If you hear a fourth - do not turn around. [Intro | decayed piano | distant summer cicadas] One... Two... Three... [one footstep] One... Two... Three... [footstep closer] [Verse 1] The hall was closed for summer, the chandeliers were blind. A record kept on turning with no machine behind. A glove lay on the railing, still warm along the seam. Then something took my left hand from somewhere in between. [Pre-Chorus] Heel. Toe. Turn. Keep your eyes above the floor. One. Two. Three. Why do I keep hearing four? [Chorus] One, two, three - there's a fourth step following me. One, two, three - it falls where my shadow should be. Round and round, the room grows small, no face in the mirror, no door in the wall. One, two, three - don't let the fourth step lead. [Post-Chorus | whispers circling the listener] Not mine. Not yours. Not three. One more. [Instrumental Waltz | 8 bars] [Each fourth footstep grows louder] [Verse 2] It learned the weight of my body. It learned the drag in my shoe. Each time I missed a heartbeat, it wore that heartbeat too. The empty sleeve grew fingers. The cold hand found my spine. The mirror showed us dancing - but only one was mine. [Pre-Chorus] Left. Right. Turn. Something breathes beneath the floor. One. Two. Three. Now my feet are counting four. [Chorus] One, two, three - there's a fourth step following me. One, two, three - it falls where my shadow should be. Round and round, the ceiling falls, wet hands in the curtains, teeth inside the walls. One, two, three - don't let the fourth step lead. [Breakdown | all instruments stop] I stopped. The music didn't. I screamed. My mouth kept smiling. I fell. My body finished the turn. [Low Choir Rising Beneath the Floor] Beneath the boards, beneath the dust, a hundred dancers wait for us. Bent little ankles, borrowed feet, all keeping time without a beat. They do not want my blood or breath. They only want my final step. They need one pulse, one open door - to teach the dead the number four. [Instrumental Horror Waltz | increasingly violent] One - Two - Three - FOUR. [Final Chorus | distorted choir | overwhelming] One, two, three - now the fourth step dances me. One, two, three - my body bows; I do not breathe. Round and round, the walls are gone. The floor opens wide and the waltz goes on. One, two, three - I am what comes after three. [Final Refrain | almost whispered] One, two, three - there's a fourth step following you. One, two, three - it already knows what you will do. Keep on turning. Do not fall. Do not look behind you when it starts to call. One, two, three - now let the fourth step lead. [Outro | absolute silence] A waltz has three steps. [FOOTSTEP] [FOOTSTEP] [FOOTSTEP] [FOOTSTEP] [whisper directly beside the listener] Count again.
