The Calm Before The Scream

[Wind across dust. A creaking metal sign. Distant thunder, far off.]

---

[VOICE — WHISPERED, FRAGILE]

"Do you hear it?"

[Pause. Wind.]

"The quiet. The moment before. Before the blade drops. Before the scream tears through the air like a buzz axe through bone."

[Footsteps in gravel. Slow. Deliberate.]

"People think chaos is loud. It's not. Chaos is this. The second between the thought and the swing. The breath before the trigger. The space where you could still walk away."

[A low, distant skag howl.]

"But you don't. You never do. That's the thing about Pandora. It doesn't make you violent. It just… stops pretending you weren't always."

[Creaking metal. A rusted sign swinging in the wind.]

"So you wait. In the calm. In the quiet. You feel the axe in your hand. You feel the weight of the moment. You feel everything you're about to become."

[Heartbeat. Slow. Steady.]

"And then…"

[Long pause. Silence stretches.]

"…you let go."

[A single, distant scream. Not the track — something in the distance. Fading.]

[Silence.]

Atmospheric/Ambient/Dark Soundscape, Nerdcore