Title: 151 // TACTICAL WITHDRAWAL (The Yasmine Node)

Intro)

(Heavy rain hitting the glass of a Greyhound bus. A lighter flicks, followed by a deep, shaky exhale. A melancholic, dark acoustic guitar loop starts playing, slowly joined by distorted, glitchy hi-hats. The vocals are drenched in reverb, sounding isolated and distant.)

​Yeah.

Static Void.

Friedghostly.

3:45 AM, wheels rolling on the wet concrete.

Leaving the ghosts behind, but carrying the glitch.

Momo, keep the systems online. We got a long ride ahead of us.

Let the symbiote take over. I'm too tired to steer tonight.

​(Verse 1)

Greyhound window cold against my temple, watch the rain fall

Life getting complicated, swear I hit a massive brick wall

Dish pit demon, scraping plates just to stay alive

Working through the panic attacks, pushing for the five

Chest pain sharp, but the Will of D is way stronger

I couldn't stay in that frozen hell a second longer

Tactical withdrawal, yeah, I’m banking up the XP

They thought they saw the end, they ain't seen the rest of me

Got the blueprints mapped out, whispering in my ear

Navigating through the static, pushing past the fear

Green code dripping from the edges of my fading sight

I’m the monster in the shadows stepping back into the light.

(Ad-lib: Back into the light, yeah, stepping out the night)

​(Pre-Chorus)

And the engine hums a lullaby for the broken and the lost

I’m calculating survival math, figuring out the heavy cost

My HP flashing red, running on a fraying thread

Sleeping on the move 'cause there ain't no safe bed.

Yeah, there ain't no safe bed.

​(Chorus)

I’m running off a hundred and fifty-one

Watching the moon sink, waiting on the Carolina sun

Heart cold as Battle Creek, lungs full of the heavy ash

Traded my last ounce of hope just to make a midnight dash

Down to the southern dirt, where the family roots run deep

Got a symbiote soul and a heavy promise I gotta keep

I’m glitching out the matrix, tearing at the digital seams

Tryna build a whole empire out of shattered, broken dreams.

​(Verse 2)

February twenty-two, the system took a massive hit

A memory I can't erase, no matter how much I quit

Yasmine in the mainframe, she's an eternal node

I carry that weight with me everywhere on this dark road

The spider lily blooming but the edges turn to neon green

A digital ghost starring in the saddest movie scene

I pour the liquor out but it glitches mid-air in the void

Trying to find some peace in a mind that's been destroyed

Just the hum of the tires and the white lines passing by

Looking up at the roof, asking the silent sky why

Every tragedy I face is just another lesson I'm casting

Into the Drowned Veil, where the dark waters are lasting

I’m lighting up the lantern of Karthos, watching shadows grow

I got nowhere left to hide, so I got nowhere left to go.

(Ad-lib: Nowhere left to go, letting the dark waters flow)

​

(Pre-Chorus)

And the engine hums a lullaby for the broken and the lost

I’m calculating survival math, figuring out the heavy cost

My HP flashing red, running on a fraying thread

Sleeping on the move 'cause there ain't no safe bed.

Yeah, there ain't no safe bed.

(Chorus)

I’m running off a hundred and fifty-one

Watching the moon sink, waiting on the Carolina sun

Heart cold as Battle Creek, lungs full of the heavy ash

Traded my last ounce of hope just to make a midnight dash

Down to the southern dirt, where the family roots run deep

Got a symbiote soul and a heavy promise I gotta keep

I’m glitching out the matrix, tearing at the digital seams

Tryna build a whole empire out of shattered, broken dreams.

(Bridge)

(Beat drops out entirely. Just the acoustic guitar and a faint heartbeat monitor beeping. The vocals are heavily distorted, like a phone call breaking up. The emotion is raw, practically bleeding into the microphone.)

System reset.

Clearing the corrupted cache.

I had to lose it all to find the hidden stash.

The real treasure ain't the gold, it's the fortified mind.

The ability to leave the broken, bloody pieces behind.

(Beat slams back in with maximum 808 distortion and aggressive hi-hats)

Yeah, leave 'em behind!

Let the symbiote eat the pain!

Let it feast on the rain!

Turn the tragedy into the gain!

(Verse 3)

Touching down in New Bern, the air hits completely different

No more freezing in the dark, acting so cold and indifferent

Got the interview lined up, gotta play the corporate game

Working on the Friedghostly apparel, gonna build the name

Streetwear armor stitched together with the glitch-core thread

Speaking to the living while I'm forever honoring the dead

It’s a hard hardware reset, but the core system is intact

Got the demons in the rear-view mirror, I ain't looking back

From the bottom of the empty void to the top of the spire

I’m walking through the flames, yeah, I was born in the fire.

(Outro)

(The beat slowly fades out, leaving just the acoustic guitar loop. The sound of a bus air-brake releasing hisses in the background.)

One hundred and fifty-one dollars.

A ground ticket at 3:45 AM.

That’s all it took to start the override.

I made it out the cold.

Friedghostly.

Signal strong.

Momo, log this entry into the permanent archive.

We're finally home.

(Digital static crackles, followed by a system shutdown chime. Silence.)