Rotten Apple

Verse 1

I woke with the dark still clinging to my skin,

Mouth shut tight, eyes wide, afraid to let the morning in.

I tore out the page where they had written who I'd be,

Then dipped my pen in the wound they left in me.

I fought the shadow waiting at the edge of every night,

I wouldn't let it make me kneel, though it won that fight.

Pre-Chorus

So I held on, let the current pull me through,

Like all those prayers I sent that never made it through.

They took everything that was me, until I couldn't feel my name;

Then silence filled the room and made the noise inside me louder.

Chorus

I'm a scar held up against the light,

A bitten apple, rotten core.

He keeps his teeth in me, left me desecrated

torn,

Verse 2

By dusk I was sinking, barely breathing, barely there;

The sun went down in the west and left me with the night.

The world fell quiet, every window dark—

But something in my chest kept screaming in the dark.

I lit a cigarette and watched it fade in the cold,

Each breath drew up the things I wished I could forget.

I'd carried this cross so long, I couldn't see the end;

Still, morning came, and I was standing there again.

Pre-Chorus

Hope kept telling the same old joke; I couldn't laugh along.

That summer night lay rotten, fruit blackened in the flame.

I couldn't find the start.

I didn't know how this began—

I only knew I wanted it to end.

Chorus

I'm a scar held up against the light,

A bitten apple, rotten core.

He keeps his teeth in me, left me desecrated

torn,

Bridge

Then I chose the noise; let the chaos in.

Shed the darkness made its home in me

I'm a scar held up against the light,

A bitten apple, rotten core.

Final Chorus

I'll make the choice myself.

I'll take this anger, take this pain, and drag it out of me.

Let my scream break open every wall that held me down—

I won't give up. I won't go quietly now.

I'll claim the justice they