Shadows don’t always win

INTRO — “THE ECHO ROOM”

(static… heartbeat… then a laugh… then another laugh behind it… then a third, quieter, like it’s inside the first two)

Hhh—ha… ha…

You ever argue with your own mind…

and then hear another mind correcting both of you…

and another one listening behind that?

Shadows don’t need light —

they live in the layers,

in the thoughts that echo behind the first thought,

in the memories that replay themselves

even when you’re not watching.

Tonight… I stop running.

If my mind wants to examine me,

dissect me,

double‑expose me…

let it.

I’m right here.

And I’m not afraid of the dark anymore.

(beat drops — slow, disorienting, like a hallway bending)

---

Verse 1 — “Three Voices, One Thought”

MIND: Oh look, you’re tryna be calm again — adorable.

ME: I’m just tryna breathe—

MIND: You choke on silence.

(a second voice slips in, colder)

INNER‑MIND: He chokes because you never taught him how to inhale.

ME: I’m tryna find love—

MIND: You choose the ones who smell your fractures.

INNER‑MIND: And I watch you choose them…

again…

and again…

like a loop you forgot you’re stuck in.

ME: I’m a good heart—

MIND: You’re a cracked vessel leaking hope.

INNER‑MIND: And I’m the drip you don’t hear.

---

HOOK — “Glitch in My Chest”

I’m a glitch in my chest, heartbeat outta line,

Mind talkin’ back like it’s tryna take mine.

I’m a laugh too loud, then I cave right in,

Still want love through the chaos I’m in.

(echo behind the hook)

INNER‑MIND (whisper): glitch… glitch… glitch…

---

Verse 2 — “The Argument Splits”

ME: Maybe I’m messy, but I’m still here tryin’.

MIND: …

INNER‑MIND: Trying what? Trying who? Trying why?

ME: Maybe I break, but I get up again.

MIND: You do.

INNER‑MIND: And every time you rise, I rewrite the script.

ME: I’m not perfect, but I’m real.

MIND: …and that’s enough.

INNER‑MIND: Enough for who?

(voices overlap)

ME: Enough for me.

MIND: Enough for now.

INNER‑MIND: Enough until the next fracture.

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Verse 3 — “The Protective Voice Steps Forward”

MIND: I mock you ’cause I’m scared you’ll break,

Scared you’ll give too much and get nothing back.

(inner‑mind interrupts)

INNER‑MIND: I mock you because I know the pattern,

the rhythm,

the danger before you feel it.

MIND: But you’re stronger than the storms you survived—

INNER‑MIND: And softer than the world that made you hide.

ME: And maybe…

I deserve someone who sees all this

and stays.

(all three voices whisper the last word)

ALL: stays…

---

Spoken Interlude — “TRUE BRAIN”

Shock therapy didn’t fix me —

it just lit up the ghosts.

INNER‑MIND: I saw every one of them.

MIND: I counted them.

ME: I carried them.

Memories flicker like faulty streetlights,

and I walk through the dark to feel alive.

My mind’s a thief — steals peace, leaves noise.

But some fractures?

I carved them myself.

INNER‑MIND: And I remember every pattern.

MIND: Every lesson.

ME: Every time I tried to forget.

Love broke me, love rebuilt me,

love showed me what’s real.

So now I tell my brain —

ME: be tru