Black Ice Communication

(A freezing, ambient synth pad swells. The clock ticks loudly.)

[MVSSY:] This place is way too big now.

I didn't realize how much space two boxes took up.

Yesterday I walked to the kitchen to tell you a joke...

Got to the fridge before I remembered you don't live here.

[THE ECHO:] (Pitched down, cutting in heavy)

But you still stood there.

Staring at the counter like he's gonna walk through the door.

It's mid-January. You're losing your mind before the coffee even gets cold.

(A massive, distorted sub-bass drops in—a long, low, exhausting note.)

[MVSSY:] My friends keep texting me to come out to the bars.

But putting on all those layers just to sit in a crowd sounds miserable.

[THE ECHO:] So you'd rather sit in the dark?

Freezing?

Letting the silence eat you alive?

(The slow, heavy 140 BPM drum pattern drops in half-time—dragging and dark.)

[MVSSY:] I'm just driving through the static, talking to a ghost.

Trying to find the exact moment that we lost the most.

[THE ECHO:] You knew the road was slick.

[MVSSY:] I let the steering wheel go loose.

[THE ECHO:] You wanted us to slip.

[BOTH:] Now we're just spinning out in the dead of the night.

(The drums pull back, leaving only a skittering hi-hat and the low bass hum.)

[MVSSY:] I went for a drive at 11 PM last night just to get out.

The highway was dead. I saw black ice near the exit ramp...

I didn't even slam on the brakes. I just let the car glide.

[THE ECHO:] You're playing chicken with winter because you want to feel something.

Just like you pulled over at the red light.

Thumb hovering over the Instagram search bar.

You wanted to see if he's still staying at his brother's, didn't you?

[MVSSY:] (Defensive, vocal tracking gets faster) I locked the phone! I threw it on the passenger seat!

The light turned green. I'm not gonna slip.

I'm not doing that to myself again.

[THE ECHO:] (Whispering, panning hard right) You already did. The second you typed the first letter.

(The drums cut out completely. A faint, pitch-shifted vocal sample loops like a distant radio.)

[MVSSY:] I finally threw away that little ceramic bowl by the front door this morning.

The one where you always dropped your keys.

It made a sharp cracking sound when it hit the bottom of the plastic bin.

Honestly... the loudest noise this apartment has made in weeks.

[THE ECHO:] So pack up the rest of it.

[MVSSY:] There's nothing left to pack.

[THE ECHO:] Then why are you still sitting on the linoleum floor?

Watching snow pile on the fire escape until your legs go numb?

You say you want communication, but you're screaming at an empty room.

[MVSSY:] There's no one left to argue with in here.

No one to tell me I'm overreacting or being dramatic.

[THE ECHO:] Just me.

[MVSSY:] Just me.

The ticking clock.

And the cold air coming through the gap under the door.

[BOTH:] (In unison, overlapping layers)

We're not gonna slip.

We're already under the ice.