Ashes on the Answering Machine

[Verse 1]
You left your boots by the door
mud flakes on the welcome mat
Said, "I'll be back before you know"
and kissed me like you believed that
I fold your shirts just to unfold them
tracing seams you tore to shreds
Our wedding photo on the counter
turned face-down like the dead
[Pre-Chorus]
They said it's for a righteous cause
read the names like numbers called
But I can't pray
through teeth this clenched
through fists that never fall
[Chorus]
War took you slower than the bullet
one newsfeed drip at a time
I'm screaming questions in an empty kitchen
but the silence never replies
I carry every headline like a gravestone
etched beneath my skin
You marched away for someone’s victory
and I’m the one you’re buried in
[Verse 2]
I sleep in clothes from last December
still smell your cologne and smoke
Your mother calls and says, "Be brave"
her voice already broke
They fold up flags like they fold up letters
that I keep under the bed
I read your promises by flashlight
til the ink runs red
[Pre-Chorus]
They talk about the greater good
from rooms that never taste the blood
I hate their words
their practiced grief
their medals polished clean of mud
[Chorus]
War took you slower than the bullet
one newsfeed drip at a time
I'm screaming questions in an empty kitchen
but the silence never replies
I carry every headline like a gravestone
etched beneath my skin
You marched away for someone’s victory
and I’m the one you’re buried in
[Bridge]
What do I do
with this impotent need
to drag you back from where you fell
to trade my lungs
for one more breath
to tear down every gilded hell
They say "move on"
like I'm a page
just waiting to be turned
But every step
sets off the mines
of everything we burned
[Chorus]
War took you slower than the bullet
one newsfeed drip at a time
I’m breaking plates against the tiled backsplash
just to hear something besides my mind
I carry every promise like a shrapnel shard
twisting deep within
You fought their battles on a nameless border
and I’m the one you’re buried in
[Outro]
Your boots still wait by the door
dust gathering in the seams
The world keeps turning on the evening broadcast
over ashes on the answering machine

Haunting gothic rock with female vocals: minor-key piano arpeggios and airy pads under intimate verses, low-tuned guitars swelling in the pre, then crashing in on the chorus with roomy drums and distorted bass. Vocals start almost whispered, then climb into soaring, anguished belts with stacked harmonies on key lines. Bridge pulls everything back to just piano, distant choir, and a single cracked vocal before the final, explosive refrain and a long, reverb-drenched ring-out., female vocals, emotional, raw