[Intro] Can't breathe. Don't panic. That's what they tell you right before the walls begin to move. [Verse 1] Pressure in my chest like a hand through the sternum, Air gets thin when the room starts turning, I count every breath but the numbers keep burning, Something in the vents keeps whispering, "Keep working." I crack the window. Nothing comes in. Just black on black where the outside should've been. My lungs keep pulling, My throat keeps closing, Every little second feels borrowed and broken. Pulse in my teeth, Cold sweat on my skin, I can feel the ceiling slowly caving in. No fire. No smoke. No warning. No sound. Just less and less oxygen with nowhere to go. [Chorus] Asphyxiate, Every breath tastes like rust. Asphyxiate, Something's tightening around us. I fight for air, But the air won't stay. My lungs are screaming while my body obeys. Asphyxiate, I can feel my heartbeat fade. Take another breath, Watch it get taken away. [Verse 2] I crawl through the hallway, Hands on the floor, Every door I open leads to another door. Same room. Same clock. Same stain on the wall. I hear somebody breathing, But there's nobody at all. The vents start laughing. The lights start bending. The walls contract like something's body-ending. I claw at my throat, Try to force it apart, But there's nothing there except the shape of a handprint pressed against my heart. I scream, But the sound comes out microscopic. The silence gets louder. The pressure gets toxic. I see my reflection at the end of the hall. It isn't breathing. Neither am I. [Chorus] Asphyxiate, Every breath tastes like rust. Asphyxiate, Something's tightening around us. I fight for air, But the air won't stay. My lungs are screaming while my body obeys. Asphyxiate, I can feel my heartbeat fade. Take another breath, Watch it get taken away. [Bridge] Hold it. One. Two. Three. The room gets smaller. Four. Five. Six. Something is breathing inside of me. Seven. Eight. Nine. I can't feel my hands. Ten. And suddenly I understand. The thing in the walls was never trapping me. It was teaching me how to breathe without them. [Verse 3] Now the silence feels warm, Like it's crawling down my spine, Every breath I take belongs to something else this time. My chest still rises, But I don't control it. My mouth opens wide, And something speaks through it. "Stop fighting." I hear it from the walls. I hear it from the floor. I hear it in my bloodstream like I've heard it before. The room disappears. The ceiling turns black. I reach for the door, But my hand reaches back. No oxygen. No heartbeat. No fear. Just a presence standing impossibly near. [Final Chorus] Asphyxiate, Every breath tastes like rust. Asphyxiate, Now the air belongs to us. I fought for air, Now I don't need to breathe. Something took my lungs and left nothing underneath. Asphyxiate, Let the heartbeat disappear. Take another breath. Nothing comes. Nothing's here. [Outro] Can't breathe. Don't panic. The voice was right. I never needed air. I needed permission.
