Intro – soft, slow strum] …yeah… early autumn… ⸻ [Verse 1 – spoken, calm] Was out back… trimming hedges… Halloween comin’ up… you could feel it in the air… Chimney smoke hangin’ low… that kinda sweet smell… Cold… but not too bad… ⸻ [Strum… slow… steady] ⸻ [Verse 2] Leaves just startin’ to turn… quiet mornin’… Didn’t feel like nothin’ was wrong… Just… one of those days… ⸻ [Pause… then softer] ⸻ [Verse 3] Then… suddenly… …the sky lit wrong. ⸻ [Strum – slight tension] ⸻ [Verse 4] Not like sun… not like lightning… Just… too bright… Stopped me right there… shears still in my hand… ⸻ [Chorus – low, reflective] Yeah… the day the sky lit wrong… that’s when everything went wrong… ⸻ [Verse 5 – instinct kicks in] Didn’t think… First thing I felt… was the cats… ⸻ [Strum quickens slightly] ⸻ [Verse 6] Called out… One of ’em ran… gone… Other one… …I grabbed it… Held it tight… ⸻ [Verse 7 – movement] Didn’t look back… Just ran… Door slam… down the steps… Cellar… dark… ⸻ [Chorus – softer, shaken] Yeah… the day the sky lit wrong… I didn’t even know how long… ⸻ [Verse 8 – quiet, heavy] Sat there… cat in my arms… Didn’t breathe too loud… Like the world might hear me… ⸻ [Long pause… guitar barely touched] ⸻ [Verse 9] When it stopped… I waited… Didn’t trust the quiet… ⸻ [Verse 10 – hollow] Went back up… Sky was wrong… air was heavy… Ash fallin’ soft… Like snow that didn’t belong… ⸻ [Chorus – grounded, final] Yeah… the day the sky lit wrong… that’s the day everything was gone… ⸻ [Bridge – whisper] Sweet smoke in the mornin’… burnt world by noon… ⸻ [Final Verse] One ran… one stayed… Don’t know which one had it right… ⸻ [Outro – slow fading strum] …still smells like that sometimes…
