The Oxygen Debt

[INTRO] The sky is an iron lid, pressing me down I'm a ghost in the static, a leak in the town There's a weight in my pockets that I can't explain Just the chill in my marrow and the filth of the rain. [VERSE 1] Plastic floors and humming lights The fluorescent grit of these chemical nights My fingers are sensors, my shadow is gone I'm looking for the solvent to un-write the bone. [CHORUS] Oh, hold the light, just for a second The static was calling, but she was the weapon I'm dropping the poison, I'm chasing the sound Of a pulse that was buried and finally found. [VERSE 2] A hand on my arm, a ghost in the aisle She reaches above with a fracture of smile "Save this for later, the rain's coming down" A spark in the circuit, the noise of the town. [BRIDGE] The exit door screams as I run to the street The pavement is industrial heat beneath feet She doesn't know she's the air in my lungs The bleach for the broken, a blade for the young.

[VERSE 1] The table is set for a dinner of ghosts I'm counting your breaths, you're playing the host You say I'm your anchor, you say I'm the one But you're just a planet that swallowed my sun. [CHORUS] You're breathing my oxygen, stealing my heat The space in between us is never complete You're a parasite clinging to everything gold A debt of the belly that's never been told. [VERSE 2] I watch how you move, I watch how you sleep The secrets you whisper are chemicals you keep "I'd save you again," I say with a sigh But I'm drowning in you, and I don't want to fly. [BRIDGE] Don't look away, don't look at the door You need me to need you a little bit more The walls are closing, the air is getting thin Where do you end, and where do I begin? [CHORUS] You're breathing my oxygen, stealing my heat The space in between us is never complete You're a parasite clinging to everything gold A debt of the belly that's never been told.

[VERSE 1] A glass on the floor, a word like a knife The friction mechanics of ruining a life "I can't breathe," you shouted, and grabbed for your keys Leaving me shaking and down on my knees. [CHORUS] And then comes the impact that nobody hears The folding of metal, the grinding of years The sound of the glass is the sound of the fact: A story that's broken, a physical act. [VERSE 2] The engine is roaring, the rain is a veil A red light ignored, a ship without sail I'm staring at shadows, I'm waiting for "home" But the silence is heavy, a kingdom of stone. [BRIDGE] The phone on the counter is plastic and cold Like every promise we ever were told One wrong turn in the dark of the night And everything beautiful bleeds out of sight. [CHORUS] And then comes the impact that nobody hears The folding of metal, the grinding of years The sound of the glass is the sound of the fact: A story that's broken, a physical act.

[VERSE 1] The dust on your pillows, the scent of my hair I'm talking to shapes that aren't even there You want to go with me, to step in the grave But the rot of our history is all you can save. [CHORUS] You're decaying away in that chair by the wall Waiting for gravity or phantoms to call The guilt is a caustic, it's etching your skin A cage made of "sorry" that you're living in. [VERSE 2] Your eyes when you left, so angry and wet The last thing I gave you, a debt of regret If you disappear, then I disappear too So you stay in the ruins to hold onto me. [BRIDGE] You haven't eaten, you haven't seen light You're losing the logic, you're losing the fight But if you stop breathing, my name will go cold And that is a terror you cannot uphold. [CHORUS] You're decaying away in that chair by the wall Waiting for gravity or phantoms to call The guilt is a caustic, it's etching your skin A cage made of "sorry" that you're living in.

[VERSE 1] Police reports spread like a deck of stained cards I'm tracing the names through the industrial shards A man in a truck, a survivor of "why" I've found a direction for the light in my eye. [CHORUS] I'm building a monster out of my grief Looking for friction just to find some relief A target, a name, a face for the pain I'm coming for everything left in the rain. [VERSE 2] The ink is a map to the house on the hill The world took you from me, and I've had my fill It wasn't an accident, wasn't a mistake It's a debt to the universe I'm going to take. [BRIDGE] My mind is a static, a flickering screen The blurred-out images of what might have been I'm sharpening shadows, I'm locking the door I'm not the man that you loved anymore.

[VERSE 1] The door opens wide to a warm, quiet home A domestic rhythm, a garden of bone The blade is a mirror that reflects the sun You don't even feel it until it is done. [CHORUS] It's a horrific mercy, a terrible grace You're painting my absence all over the place The blood is so warm, like my hand on your skin The only way left to let everyone in. [VERSE 2] The husband arrives, the look in his eyes Is the same one you wore when you watched our demise You're laughing now, carving my name in the floor Until there is nothing but red on the door. [BRIDGE] You're smiling at bodies, you're lost in the mess A king of the hollow, a god of distress But why is it quiet? Why can't you hear My voice in the hallway, drawing you near?

[VERSE 1] Walking away with the rain on my back The red on my trousers is turning to black I need to scrub the floor, I need to bleach the stain I'm looking for the liquid to silence the pain. [CHORUS] Round and round in the spiral we go Meeting in aisles where the blue neons flow I'm dropping the bottle, I'm chasing the ghost Of the man that I killed and the girl I love most. [VERSE 2] I see your face in the puddles below Not angry or crying, but starting to glow "Vengeance is hollow," the water declares But I'm just a ghost clutching lists in the air. [BRIDGE] Back to the pharmacy, back to the start The same caustic hunger inside of my heart I reach for the solvent, you touch my cold arm... "Save this for later... the rain's coming down."