[Intro - Single clean guitar, low piano] [Deep male voice] Track seven. [Pause] No more doors to choose. Only one left. [Verse 1] I stood in the hallway With the ticket in my hand. Half belonged to Nevermore. Half I didn't understand. Behind me seven doorways Faded slowly into black. No road going forward. No road going back. Then one by one Above each door... A little red light Began to glow. And every place I'd travelled through Started playing... Like a show. [Verse 2] A diner full of dead men Dancing through the night. A Devil dealing four aces Under blood-red light. A carnival calling, "Step right inside." A truck on Mile Thirteen With a stranger for a ride. A porcelain girl With a ticket in her dress. A black train waiting In the wilderness. Different roads. Different names. But underneath... The same old game. [Pre-Chorus] Then the words upon the ticket Changed beneath my hand. Not a destination. Not a number. Just— YOU UNDERSTAND. [Chorus] SEVEN DOORS BEHIND ME! ONE DOOR LEFT TO GO! EVERY ROAD I FOLLOWED LED TO SOMETHING I SHOULD KNOW! EVERY SONG WAS A FOOTSTEP! EVERY TRACK ANOTHER SIGN! I THOUGHT I CHOSE THE MUSIC... BUT THE MUSIC CHOSE MINE! [Verse 3] Then I finally saw it. The Devil wasn't king. The carnival wasn't hunting. The train didn't choose a thing. They were keepers of the doorway. Players in the show. Moving every listener Where the music said to go. The tickets weren't admission. They weren't passage for the dead. They marked every soul Who heard the songs... And followed where they led. [Music builds] I looked down at my ticket. My name had disappeared. One word remained. LISTENER. And underneath— ALMOST HERE. [Chorus - Bigger] SEVEN DOORS BEHIND ME! ONE DOOR LEFT TO GO! EVERY ROAD I FOLLOWED LED TO SOMETHING I SHOULD KNOW! EVERY SONG WAS A FOOTSTEP! EVERY TRACK ANOTHER SIGN! I THOUGHT I CHOSE THE MUSIC... BUT THE MUSIC CHOSE MINE! [Bridge - Drums drop away] Then somewhere far behind me... A glass hit a bar. [Brief pause] A woman shouted— "OI! WHO STOLE MY BLOODY DRINK?" [Male voice, exhausted] Even now? [Very distant] "FOUND IT!" [Pause] I smiled. Just once. Then Door Eight... began to hum. [Heavy drums return] [Breakdown - Slow and enormous] THE DEVIL KEPT THE BAR. THE CARNIVAL FOUND THE NAMES. THE ENGINE BROUGHT THEM HERE. THE JUKEBOX PLAYED THE GAME. THE GOLDEN TICKET WASN'T THE PRICE. IT WAS A MARK. A LITTLE DEVICE TO COUNT THE ONES WHO HEARD THE CALL. BUT THE JUKEBOX... WANTED... US... ALL. [Final Chorus - Enormous] SEVEN DOORS BEHIND ME! DOOR EIGHT BEFORE MY EYES! EVERY SONG I EVER FOLLOWED WAS ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL LIE! EVERY CHORUS WAS A FOOTSTEP! EVERY RHYTHM DREW THE LINE! I NEVER CHOSE THE JUKEBOX... THE JUKEBOX... CHOSE... ME. [Huge final chord] [Silence] [Outro - Faint electrical hum] I walked toward Door Eight. No number. No lock. No key. Just one word: JUKEBOX. I placed my hand against the wood. Something began playing on the other side. A melody. Old. Familiar. The first song... I'd heard all those nights ago. [Pause] Then I remembered. This wasn't the first time I'd stood here. [Very faint jukebox crackle] A voice came through the door. Not the Devil. Not Nevermore. Not the King. Not anyone I'd heard before. [Warm voice, barely above a whisper] "We've been waiting for you." [Door handle slowly turns] [Male whisper] I didn't touch it. [Click.] [Cut to silence.]
0/500