YOU BROKE ME

# YOU BROKE ME [Intro – female, very close mic, almost spoken] You broke me... [Pause.] Funny thing is... I don't think you meant to. --- [Verse 1 – fragile, conversational, free timing] You used to hold my wrist when you wanted my attention. Not hard. Just enough. I'd be halfway through a sentence and you'd already be somewhere else. I kept your messages. Don't know why. Read them when I couldn't sleep, then hated myself for reading them again. There was a glass by the bed you left there for three days. I never moved it. For some reason... that felt important. --- [Pre-Chorus – voice gradually opens, no rhythmic pulse] I was soft. Or maybe I was tired. Maybe both. You made everything feel certain when I didn't know what I believed. --- [Chorus – melodic, intimate, sustained; backing expands without rhythm] You broke me... and I stayed. Turned all that damage into something I could carry. You broke me... I know. But somewhere in the middle of it I started becoming somebody else. [Female whisper] Somebody else... --- [Verse 2 – darker, more assured] I know your little tells now. The pause before you answer. The way you look at the door when you've already decided to leave. I used to make excuses for that. Now I just notice. I don't cry at the table anymore. I don't wait by the phone. And when I catch myself rehearsing what I'd say to you... I stop. Usually. [Small laugh.] Still working on that. --- [Pre-Chorus – more open, slight rasp] I thought getting stronger would feel different. Louder. Cleaner. It doesn't. It's quieter than that. You just stop handing the same wound back to the person who made it. --- [Chorus 2 – slightly wider, controlled] You broke me... and I stayed. Turned all that damage into something I could carry. You broke me... I know. But somewhere in the middle of it I stopped needing you to understand. [Whisper] That's new. --- [Bridge – almost entirely exposed] Say you didn't mean it. Go on. Say whatever makes it easier. [Pause.] I used to need the answer. Now... I don't even know what I'd do with it. [Breath.] I thought I'd miss you forever. I miss who I was before I met you. [Long silence.] That's different. --- [Final Chorus – widest emotional moment, sustained harmony, never belted] You broke me... but look at me now. Not fixed. Not perfect. Just harder to fool. You broke me... and somewhere in that mess I found a voice I didn't know I had. [Layered female whisper] Watch me... [Lead, softer] I'm still here. [Long instrumental tail] Still here. --- [Outro – extremely intimate, almost spoken] I'm fine. [Pause.] Mostly. [Small breath.] Maybe that's enough.