THE DAY THE SCREENS TOOK OVER

Intro spoken

I was young when the lights were warm

When streets still knew our names

When choice felt honest

And nobody watched the ways we moved

Radios sat on kitchen shelves

Phones stayed home when you left

If you didn’t like the service

You could walk away and still feel whole

Nobody owned the sidewalk

Nobody owned the town

You closed one door behind you

And another one was found

We sang about freedom like it was permanent

Like it couldn’t be taken

We didn’t hear the digging

Didn’t see the wires going underground

Then the screens got brighter

And the roads got thinner

They said come on in, it’s easier

We’ll take care of everything

They built the stores inside the glass

Built the streets inside a feed

They said you don’t need to leave the house

We already know what you need

They never talked about the price

Just a click and a small delay

Till you looked up one quiet morning

And realized you couldn’t walk away

They said this is progress

This is fast

This is how the future looks

But the exits faded slowly

One by one

Till nobody noticed they were gone

They didn’t come with soldiers

They didn’t come with chains

They came with free convenience

And perfectly chosen names

They never said you couldn’t go

They just made leaving hurt

They took your friends, your work, your past

And scattered it in the dirt

They said this is just the way it is now

Everyone’s inside

But freedom started feeling

Like something you weren’t allowed to ride

The news came through a filter

Truth came with a rank

The loudest voice got louder

If it paid the proper bank

Hospitals ran on distant servers

Banks on borrowed keys

One quiet switch somewhere

Brought whole towns to their knees

They said this is normal

Don’t ask why

Everything’s fine

Till the lights went out together

At the same time

It wasn’t evil like the movies

No villain, no disguise

Just a system built so tall

It leaned on every life

Nobody voted for the shape it took

Nobody meant it wrong

But now a few hands hold the map

That tells us where we’ve gone

The scariest part wasn’t power

It was how quiet it stayed

When the cage feels comfortable

You forget you’re caged

If you can’t leave, is it choice

If the door won’t open wide

If the cost of walking freely

Is losing your whole life

Outro spoken

Dark doesn’t fall like a storm

It dims

One light at a time

One screen goes black, then another

And standing there in the silence

With borrowed light finally gone

We understand the truth at last

We didn’t lose the world all at once

We handed it over

Slowly