**Dead-End Echoes** *(Haunting mid-tempo ballad / dark indie-folk. Slow acoustic fingerpicking into swelling electric layers, raw vulnerable vocals — spoken intimacy in verses, aching melody on the chorus.)* **[Verse 1]** Do you remember me? Back when we were so sweet? Young and dumb, chasing fire that felt complete. Feelings burned pure, no shadows at our feet, Every touch a promise, every heartbeat bittersweet. We laughed like fools under endless summer skies, Built fragile dreams where truth and fantasy collide. Then silence crept in through the cracks we couldn't see, We started losing pieces of who we used to be. **[Pre-Chorus]** We lost ourselves… Created a gulf… Wandered our paths… Where the dead-ends meet. **[Chorus]** How was yours? Mine was so dark… I shouldn’t speak, but the silence tears me apart. Words we never said still echo in my heart, Fading like your shadow in the rearview from the start. Do you remember me? Or has the dark won again? Back when we were sweet, young and dumb, feeling no pain… Now the gulf between us feels like an endless chain. **[Verse 2]** You fought your storms, I sank in my own seas, Both pretending strength while falling to our knees. I raised up walls from reasons piled too high, You smiled through the wreckage, hiding tears you’d cry. We swore we’d cross to the other side one day, But the map was burning and the compass led astray. Now I’m calling echoes at the edge of what remains, Whispers in the void just to ease the constant pain. **[Pre-Chorus]** We lost ourselves… Created a gulf… Wandered our paths… Where the dead-ends meet. **[Chorus]** How was yours? Mine was so dark… I shouldn’t speak, but the silence tears me apart. Words we never said still echo in my heart, Fading like your shadow in the rearview from the start. Do you remember me? Or has the dark won again? Back when we were sweet, young and dumb, feeling no pain… Now the gulf between us feels like an endless chain. **[Bridge]** Sometimes I wonder if you still hear that melody, The one we spun at 3 AM on your floor so free. Or if time rewrote the lines we carved so deep… I shouldn’t speak… but the ghost of you won’t let me sleep. **[Final Chorus – building softly then raw]** How was yours? Mine was so dark… I shouldn’t speak… but tonight I’m breaking the dark. If you ever chase this memory through the spark, Know a flicker lingers where we left our mark. Do you remember me? Back when we were so sweet? Young and dumb… feelings felt so sweet… **[Outro – whispered over fading pick]** We lost ourselves… created a gulf… Wandered our paths… where dead-ends meet. I shouldn’t speak… But damn… I still remember. ---
