Paper Skin

(Soft clean guitar with distant static)

I learned young how to disappear

Smile wide while the room burns clear

Every “you’re okay” felt counterfeit

So I wore silence like it fit

Lock the bathroom door, turn the faucet on

So nobody hears what’s going wrong

Mirror cracked like the way I think

Standing at the edge of the sink

School halls buzz like angry bees

Everybody breathing easier than me

They say “it gets better,” maybe that’s true

But tonight I just need something real to cut through

Cause the ache in my chest had no shape

No color, no name

And invisible wounds

Still bleed the same

So I drew my hurt across paper skin

Trying to let the poison out from within

If the pain could become something I could see

Maybe it wouldn’t keep swallowing me

Every scar was a scream without sound

Proof I was lost but still around

I wasn’t trying to die back then

I just needed the chaos underneath my skin

To become physical again

Long sleeves in the summer heat

Heart skipping like a broken beat

Friends laughing in the parking lot

While I fought wars they never caught

And every little line became

A conversation filled with shame

Temporary quiet in my veins

Five seconds numb from hurricane rain

But the blood never carried away

What stayed in my brain

And healing can’t happen

Where hurt feels safe

So I drew my hurt across paper skin

Trying to let the poison out from within

If the pain could become something I could see

Maybe it wouldn’t keep swallowing me

Every scar was a scream without a sound

Proof I was lost but still around

I wasn’t trying to die back then

I just needed the chaos underneath my skin

To become physical again

(Screamed vocals over distorted guitars)

I was fifteen with a storm in my head

Too scared to speak, too tired to pretend

No, I didn’t want attention

I wanted escape

Wanted one moment where the hurting would break

(Clean vocals return softly)

Now I trace those faded lines

Like old roads I survived

And I wish I could hold that kid

Tell them they deserved to stay alive

You don’t have to carve your pain to prove it’s real

You don’t have to bleed for somebody to see how you feel

Those scars aren’t failure, they’re evidence

You made it through the violence inside your own head

And even when the darkness convinced you to run

Some trembling part of you still chose to survive long enough

To become whole again

(Instrumental fades with ambient guitar feedback)

Paper skin

Healing slow

Learning pain can be let go

And the hands that once brought harm

Can someday hold the broken heart they’re from