Thirteen Candles Burning

[Intro – low hum, faint whispers] Thirteen candles burning slow Each one marks a truth I know [Verse 1] On the floor of a locked-in room She draws the lines with borrowed wax No prayers left, no holy ground Just names she’s trying to take back [Pre-Chorus – orchestral rise] The walls lean in, the ceiling listens She’s done this all before [Chorus] Thirteen candles burning, crying through the night Every flicker dancing in the ruins of her light Whispers in the walls, the air too thick to breathe She’s counting down the curses she can’t leave [Verse 2] The mirror shakes but doesn’t crack A child’s voice behind the glass She speaks the names like broken vows Thirteen souls who never passed [Pre-Chorus] The silence breaks beneath her breath A vow to bargain death [Chorus] Thirteen candles burning, crying through the night Every flicker dancing in the ruins of her light Whispers in the walls, the air too thick to breathe She’s counting down the curses she can’t leave [Bridge – strings swell, distant thunder] One for the love she lost to flame Two for the blood she couldn’t name Three for the years she begged in vain And ten for the ghosts that stayed the same [Final Chorus – full but restrained] Thirteen candles burning, fate beneath her skin She gave the dark an offering, let the reckoning begin Each light a soul, each soul a sin She’s bound to them, and they to her within [Outro – whispered, fading] Thirteen… Thirteen… Still burning…