14. Bonus Track: Allowed to Breathe
bonus track / emotional afterword
(slow industrial metal ballad; slow-dance tempo, restrained breaths, soft emotional lead with heavy band atmosphere)
(Performance note: no quick loud inward breaths. Keep breaths reduced and soft. This is meant to be a slow song you can slow dance to, even with an industrial metal band.)

*(Verse 1)*
I missed the call, but not the meaning
I lost the sound, but not the thread
My body folded in the dark
With all the words still in my head

I woke up reaching through the static
I woke up running toward the flame
But grief had already found a doorway
And wore my silence like my name

*(Pre-Chorus - keep soft)*
I can’t explain while thunder’s breaking
I can’t be heard inside the storm
But I was never trying to leave you
I was just too tired to stay warm

*(Chorus - keep soft)*
So let me cry where the light can find me
Let me fall without becoming wrong
I am not the ghost you feared behind me
I was here, I was here all along

And if love is not enough to hold us
Then let truth be the floor beneath
I can miss you with my whole chest open
But I need to be allowed to breathe

*(Verse 2 - build)*
There are rooms inside a person
Where the doors forget their names
Where every shadow looks like leaving
Where every spark becomes a flame

I have stood there with my hands out
I have softened, I have stayed
But I can’t trade away my memory
Just to make the fear behave

*(Pre-Chorus)*
I know your hurt has its own language
I know mine does too
I can hold your shaking story
But I need to matter too

*(Chorus)*
So let me cry where the light can find me
Let me fall without becoming wrong
I am not the ghost you feared behind me
I was here, I was here all along

And if love is not enough to hold us
Then let truth be the floor beneath
I can miss you with my whole chest open
But I need to be allowed to breathe

*(Bridge)*
I don’t want a war
I don’t want a crown
I don’t want to win
While we both go down

I want the morning
I want the repair
I want the door open
But I need air

I need a hand that does not blame me
For having bones that break
I need a love that can remember
What the storm tried to take

*(Final Chorus)*
So let me cry where the light can find me
Let me grieve without becoming stone
I can love you past the edge of anger
But I cannot heal this all alone

If love is still a road between us
Let help be the bridge we need
I am here with my heart still open
And I am learning how to breathe

*(Outro)*
I missed the call, but not the meaning
I lost the sound, but not the thread
I am here, I am here, I am here