One Step Closer To Heaven

[Verse 1]
I wore my knees down
On cheap carpet
Late nights
Mouthing prayers like passwords
To a door that stayed shut
Cross on the dashboard
Shaking on each sharp turn
I said I trusted the journey
Then cursed every mile
[Chorus]
I am one step closer to Heaven
But it feels like falling forever
Every time I reach out
Reach out
I just grab thin air
Thin air
If you're somewhere past the ceiling
Why am I still stuck to the floor?
I am one step closer to Heaven
And somehow further than before
[Verse 2]
I bit my tongue raw
Trying not to blaspheme
Called it "learning a lesson"
When it felt more like neglect
I lit a candle
Watched it drown in its wax
If you're the flame in the darkness
Why am I holding the match?
[Chorus]
I am one step closer to Heaven
But it feels like falling forever
Every time I reach out
Reach out
I just grab thin air
Thin air
If you're somewhere past the ceiling
Why am I still stuck to the floor?
I am one step closer to Heaven
And somehow further than before
[Bridge]
I don't want to hate you
(I don't want to hate you)
But silence is tearing me skin from bone
I keep saying "save me"
(I keep saying "save me")
Into this cracked
Chipped telephone
Did I make you up
Just to have someone to leave me?
Did I carve your name
On the hand that keeps me bleeding?
[Breakdown]
[Half-time
Everything slams in]
WHERE WERE YOU
WHEN I BURNT OUT?
WHEN THE PILLS SPILLED
ON MY MOTHER'S COUCH?
DID YOU FLINCH
WHEN I LET GO?
OR DID YOU WATCH ME
CHOOSING THE ROPE?
I'M SO SICK
OF PRAYING TO NOTHING
SO SICK OF SINGING
TO AN EMPTY SKY
IF YOU'RE THERE
THEN ANSWER ME
ANSWER ME
ANSWER—
[sudden drop to single clean guitar
Strained whisper-scream]
[Outro]
I am one step closer to Heaven
Mouth dry
Hands shaking
Eyes sore
If you won't come down and meet me
I'll scream your name
From the floor

Emotional post-hardcore, male vocals. Clean guitars with chorus and delay over tense, syncopated drums; verses stay restrained, almost spoken, before erupting into strained melodic hooks. Choruses hit hard with octave leads, gang shouts, and wide, stacked vocals. Final section crashes into half-time, harsh screams over dissonant chords and cymbal wash, then cuts abruptly to a single ringing guitar note., post-hardcore, emotional