[Intro – atmospheric bass groove, clean guitar arpeggios, spoken-word edge] (Soft, almost whispered vocal, like Tatiana’s intro in "Pisces") I see you through a film of static... Calculating every blink. You smile at the wall behind my shoulder. I’m a ghost in your peripheral. [Verse 1 – bouncy pop-punk drive, Hayley’s crisp, rhythmic delivery] You laugh like it’s nothing— Just a casual, chemical reaction. I memorize the angle of your jaw, You forget my name by the tenth distraction. (Polyrhythm starts: drums in 7/8, voice stays in 4/4) I’m counting steps you never take toward me. I’m a habit you don’t know you have. [Pre-Chorus – drop-tuned chug, staccato] Every signal I decode is wrong. Every silence I fill with a song… You wrote for someone else. [Chorus – huge melody, double-time, desperate and cathartic] It’s just dust in my eyes— No, I’m not crying, I’m fine. Just a chemical burn from the light. You’re so bright, but you’re never mine. (Drum fill, half-time feel for one bar) I blink and I still see you there— Loving the air where I used to stand. Dust in my eyes… Or your hand pushing dirt over the plan. [Post-Chorus – guttural lows, syncopated snare] (Growled, low, barely intelligible) Fiction. Fracture. False idol. (clean, strained) I made a religion of your indifference. [Verse 2 – clean verse, dark bass, rising tension] You ask how I’ve been— (Don't say "miserable," don't say "obsessed.") I say “busy.” You’ve already turned your head. (Polyrhythm intensifies – bass plays triplets against 4/4) I collect the crumbs of your attention. You call it friendship. I call it suspension over a canyon. [Bridge – Progressive tempo cut: 60 BPM, atmospheric, spoken-sung like Hayley’s “26”] (Soft, trembling clean vocal) What if I wiped my eyes clean? Would I see a boy who never left the door cracked? Or just… me. Kneeling in the wreckage of a one-way mirror. (Sudden blast beat – one bar only) I DON’T WANT THE DUST. (Back to silence) …I want what the dust hides. [Guitar Solo – Melodic but dissonant] [Clean arpeggios decaying into pinch harmonics and low-string chugs.] [Chorus – Full power – one clean, one distorted] It’s just dust in my eyes— (It was never just dust.) No, I’m not crying, I’m fine. (You’ve been blind since the first touch.) You’re so bright, but you’re never mine. [Outro – bass drone, whisper] (Spoken, exhausted) Every morning I brush the grit from my lashes. Every night I spoon-feed the same delusion. (Last line – sung clean, then repeated screamed from a distance) This isn’t love. This is just… anatomy of a ghost. (Sound of wind, a single snare hit, then silence)
