If I Crossed Myself Out

[Verse 1 – immediate mid-loud pulse, driving guitar + drums already active, vocal enters tense and forward]
I had a journal when I was younger
Kept it under my bed in a drawer
I would write in it when things went bad
Like it was the only place I had

Then one night I opened it angry
Couldn’t stand what was staring back at me
So I started crossing lines through the page
Like I didn’t want anything left in that place

I wrote over names, tore pages out
Scratched words down till they weren’t around
I wasn’t writing stories anymore
I was trying to erase what came before

[Pre-Chorus – tighter rhythm, drums pushing forward]
If I stopped showing up like I always do
Would it even reach you, would you get a clue
Or would I fall out of view
Before I got to you

[Chorus – full band release, loud but controlled]
Would you miss me if I were gone
Or just the space I don’t belong
If I erased myself like back then
Would I just be gone again

Would you miss me if I were gone
Or would your world just carry on
If I crossed myself out like I used to do
Would there still be a trace of me to you

[Verse 2 – driving but slightly stripped rhythm, tension constant]
Now I don’t write things down the same
I stop halfway through my own name
Like if I finish it, it feels too real
So I leave my name half-written on the page

I sit in rooms and don’t say much
Like I learned to quiet my touch
And I don’t know when it started to show
That I’m in the room but not in it though

I don’t cross it out anymore
But I still feel it like before
Like I could vanish without a sound
And nothing would change around

[Pre-Chorus – stronger push, building pressure]
If I stopped replying like I always do
Would it even reach you, would you get a clue
Or would it pass right through
Like I already do

[Chorus – louder, wider, emotional peak]
Would you miss me if I were gone
Or just the space I don’t belong
If I erased myself like back then
Would I just be gone again

Would you miss me if I were gone
Or would your world just carry on
If I crossed myself out like I used to do
Would there still be a trace of me to you

[Bridge – stripped tension, minimal space, controlled restraint]
That diary’s still under my bed
I don’t open it like I did then
Just me trying to disappear inside
And I don’t know if that was me

[Final Chorus – full release, maximum intensity from first line]
WOULD YOU MISS ME IF I WERE GONE
OR AM I JUST A LINE YOU SKIP ALONG
DON’T LOOK AWAY, SAY IT TRUE
DID YOU EVER SEE ME THROUGH

Cinematic alt-rock, dark post-grunge, indie rock, explosive choruses, strained to explosive male vocals