[Intro: detuned music box, low cello drone, one floorboard creak, tape hiss] [Whispered] October keeps the spare key... [Verse 1: sparse organ, slow pulse] The street went quiet after nine Porch lights coughed and called it time I took the long way, bag half full Past the maple, past the school Then the map ran out of road A gate I swore was never there Wet leaves, a lantern, burning low And somebody who knew my name [Pre-Chorus: strings lean in, choir far back] Count the steps, don't count the cost Some doors remember who you were [Chorus: fuller, haunted lift, ghost choir on the hook] The house that wasn't there Still keeps a light on the stair It knows the year, it knows the coat It knows the name you don't say out loud The house that wasn't there Don't answer if it calls you dear Three knocks, then nothing, then the floor And October shuts the door [Verse 2: music box returns, tighter] I stood there like a child again Candy warm inside my hand The paint was new, the year was old A swing moved though the air was cold A voice behind the curtain said You left your shadow on the step I laughed because the block was dead The laugh came back one second late [Pre-Chorus: organ swell, percussion like a slow knock] One for the dare, two for the doubt Three if you want the dark to talk [Chorus: bigger, choir closer] The house that wasn't there Still keeps a light on the stair It knows the year, it knows the coat It knows the name you don't say out loud The house that wasn't there Don't answer if it calls you dear Three knocks, then nothing, then the floor And October shuts the door [Bridge: almost a cappella, then drone] [Spoken, close] I knocked. I don't know why I knocked. The lantern leaned. The swing stopped. Something small said, come in, you're late We've been saving you a plate [Sung, breaking] And the plate was set with my own name In a hand I used to have [Final Chorus: full, then stripping back] The house that wasn't there Took the light off the stair It knows the year, it wore my coat It said the name I don't say out loud The house that wasn't there I answered, and it called me dear Three knocks, then nothing, then the floor And October locked the door [Outro: music box alone, one creak, whisper] [Whispered] Don't look back at the window. It's already looking.
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