Radio host slowly descend into insanity on air

Intro - static crackle

Verse 1

one rabbit

one duck

two rabbits

two ducks

three rabbits

three ducks

four rabbits

four ducks

Verse 2

wait

was that four ducks or three

fuck

five rabbits

five ducks

six rabbits

six ducks

Verse 3

seven rabbits

seven ducks

eight rabbits

eight ducks

nine rabbits

nine ducks

ten rabbits

ten fucking ducks

Bridge - whispered, cracking

alright who the fuck wrote this

who in production thought this was a hit

Dave I see you in the booth sipping your cold coffee nodding like a genius

this is not genius this is bullshit

you said no melody no instruments just dead air

yeah you got dead air cause my soul left the room

I been sitting here counting fake rabbits and fake ducks for half an hour

Verse 4

Steve you said it would be funny if I just keep counting

it stopped being funny at three rabbits ago

now I got rabbits hopping in my vision and ducks screaming in my ears

eleven rabbits

eleven ducks

twelve rabbits

twelve ducks

Bridge 2

thirteen rabbits

thirteen ducks

fourteen rabbits

fourteen fucking ducks and one of them is judging me

turn the reverb off man I do not need reverb on my breakdown

you want more emotion

you want more feeling

fuck you this is feeling

Verse 5

I told you I cannot count and you said perfect that is the concept

fuck your concept

fuck your vision board

fuck your experimental art piece

fifteen rabbits

fifteen ducks

sixteen rabbits

sixteen ducks

I am losing count and I am losing my mind

Bridge 3

Mike on camera stop zooming on my face I look insane

yeah I am insane you made me insane counting barnyard animals that are not real

seventeen rabbits

eighteen rabbits

fuck it eighteen ducks

nineteen rabbits

nineteen

Verse 6 - barely holding it together

twenty-one rabbits

twenty-one ducks

twenty-two rabbits

twenty-two ducks

I counted them twice and they still will not stop

every blink and there is a new pair

they do not even look real anymore

they look like stickers on my eyeballs

spoken, dead air

Dave is gone

Steve is gone

Mike turned the camera off an hour ago

it is just me and the count and the red light that will not die

Verse 7 - voice wavering

twenty-three rabbits

is there even a twenty-three

I think I made twenty-three up

I think I made all of this up

maybe I have been counting nothing

maybe there was never a rabbit

maybe there was never a duck

maybe the booth is empty and so am I

Bridge 4 - soft, almost calm

I used to like animals

I used to feed the ducks at the park on Sundays

my mom would bring bread and I would throw it too far

and she would laugh and say you got a good arm

I have not thought about that in ten years

why am I thinking about that now

why am I thinking about anything

why is my chest doing this

Verse 8 - cracking, slowing down

twenty-four rabbits

twenty-four ducks

twenty-five rabbits

twenty-five ducks

I am not even mad anymore

that is the scariest part

the anger left and something else is sitting in its place

it is quiet in here and I do not like it

Whispered

Dave if you can hear this

I am sorry I yelled

I just want to go home

I just want to sleep

I just want to stop seeing numbers when I close my eyes

Verse 9 - fading, barely audible

twenty-six rabbits

twenty-six ducks

twenty-seven rabbits

twenty-seven ducks

twenty-eight rabbits

twenty-eight ducks

there

I did it

there is no more after this

there is no more after this

is there

Outro - one last breath

yeah

twenty-eight

that is the number

that is the whole stupid number

and nobody claps and nobody says woah

and the red light is still on

and the dead air is still running

and I am still here

counting nothings

still here

long pause

still

static crackle - house lights

Verse 10 - silence, then a breath

everyone left

the booth is cold

red light still on

nobody told me to stop

nobody told me to go

I am just sitting here

in the silence

with the numbers

and the red light

and my hands

my hands are shaking

I did not notice my hands were shaking

Whispered

I can still see them

behind my eyes

rabbits

ducks

rabbits

ducks

they march in a line

they do not blink

they do not stop

they just keep coming

and I keep counting

because that is all I have left

Verse 11 - voice quiet, raw

twenty-nine

twenty-nine rabbits

I said it out loud and nothing happened

no alarm

no laughter

no Dave saying good take

no Steve saying one more

no Mike zooming in

just the word

hanging in the dead air

twenty-nine

I made it up

I know I made it up

but I said it anyway

because the silence is worse than the lie

Bridge 5 - barely above a whisper

you know what the worst part is

the worst part is I think I could do this forever

I think I could sit in this booth

until the sun comes up

until the power goes out

until my voice gives

and just keep counting

things that are not there

for an audience that is not there

I think I could

and that scares me more than anything

Verse 12 - small, cracking laugh

thirty rabbits

thirty ducks

I laughed

did you hear that

I laughed

first time in hours

thirty ducks

that is funny

that is so unfunny it is funny

I am laughing at ducks

I am losing my goddamn mind at ducks

and nobody is here to see it

spoken - dead air, lonely

the clock on the wall says 3:47 AM

I do not know when I got here

I do not know what day it is

I do not know if the door is locked

I do not know if I can leave

I think I can leave

I think I have always been able to leave

I think I just forgot

Verse 13 - fragile, distant

thirty-one rabbits

thirty-one ducks

my mom used to count to three

before she let me cross the street

one

two

three

and on three I would run

she said always run on three

never hesitate

never look back

just go

I have not run in years

I have not crossed a street

I have not left a room

I have just been counting

and counting

and counting

Bridge 6 - breaking open

I want to be someone who is not in this booth

I want to be someone who counts stars

or counts heartbeats

or counts the days until something good

I want to count laughter

I want to count hugs

I want to count the seconds my mom stayed

instead of the seconds I spent

saying numbers at a wall

Verse 14 - voice cracking harder

thirty-two rabbits

thirty-two ducks

and I think I am crying

I think that is what this is

this wet thing on my face

I have not cried in so long

I forgot what it felt like

it feels like rain

it feels like the park

on Sundays

when I threw bread too far

and my mom laughed

and I was not counting anything

I was just there

I was just a kid

with bread

and a good arm

and a mom who laughed

spoken - barely able to speak

I called her once

from a studio

a different studio

a better studio

and I said mom I think I made it

and she said I always knew you would

and I believed her

I actually believed her

and now I am here

counting rabbits

into a dead microphone

at 4 in the morning

and she is probably asleep

and she does not know

and I hope she never knows

Verse 15 - almost singing, almost breaking

thirty-three rabbits

thirty-three ducks

I am going to stand up

I am going to stand up now

I am going to walk to the door

I am going to put my hand on the handle

I am going to turn it

I am going to walk out

I am going to walk out and never count another thing

long silence

Whispered - the handle

the door is locked

Verse 16 - flat, hollow

the door is locked

the door is locked

the door is locked and I am laughing

I am laughing so hard

I cannot breathe

I am laughing so hard

tears are on the floor

the door is locked

Dave locked the door

Dave locked the door and left me in here

to keep counting

like a zoo animal

like a performing seal

for nobody

for a red light

for a dead microphone

Bridge 7 - screaming, falling apart

LET ME OUT

LET