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
