Corridor State, Act I - Inherited Weather

[Intro] You didn't make the fear You inherited it [Verse 1] You lived afraid before you knew That fear could have another name You learned to read the room too young And thought that you had made it change Under the table, holding still Your body learned before your mind Anxiety was taking root While you were trying to survive [Pre-Chorus] And every time they asked you You knew exactly what to say I'm fine I'm only tired I'm fine Just let me fade [Chorus] You didn't make the fear You inherited it You didn't choose the weight You only carried it There were no words There was no map No way to know What held you back You thought each wound Was who you are I know now I know now [Verse 2] The quiet child, the gifted one The firstborn everyone believed They saw the mind, they saw the promise Never what you couldn't see You wore intelligence like armor Over everything you lacked Low self-worth behind the curtain While the whole world praised the act You learned to watch instead of living Standing somewhere out of frame Relationships became a theatre Where you knew everybody's name But never felt completely present Never knew what made you strange [Pre-Chorus] And every time they asked you You knew exactly what to say I'm fine I'm only tired I'm fine Just let me fade [Chorus] You didn't make the fear You inherited it You didn't choose the weight You only carried it There were no words There was no map No way to know What held you back You thought each wound Was who you are I know now I know now [Verse 3] Then somewhere in your service You began to see the cracks Something underneath the surface Would not let you turn your back But you couldn't tell the difference Was it inside, was it out? Was something broken in your wiring Or was the whole world breaking down? So you carried on unconscious Through the rising and descent Through the speed that felt like power Through the weight that followed it Every high became your true self Every low became one too You had never learned that weather Could move through you without being you [Breakdown] This is fear This is grief This is your nervous system Trying to breathe This is distance This is pain This is a wave It is not your name This is depression This is the climb This is a mind Moving differently through time You were never given language So you made yourself the crime [Bridge] You thought you were failing At being alive While carrying conditions You were never taught to recognize No words No map No hand upon your shoulder saying: Child This will pass through you But this is not you [Final Chorus] You didn't make the fear You inherited it You didn't choose the weight But you survived beneath it Now there are words Now there's a map I crossed the years To give them back The fear was real The pain was real But neither one Defined your heart You thought each wound Was who you are I know now I know now [Outro] I cannot give your childhood back I cannot enter every room I cannot reach beneath that table And pull you safely through But I can finally tell you What nobody told you then You were not weak You were not broken You just couldn't name it yet You didn't make the fear You inherited it You didn't know I know now