Ezra didn't wake up.
Not really.
His body walked.
His lips moved.
But his mind…
Was in a room with no doors.
---
No windows.
No ceiling.
Just his memories, playing like vinyl records.
But wrong.
Distorted.
---
His first kiss?
Overlaid with Elena's scream.
His mother's laugh?
Looped until it bled into static.
His father's advice?
> "Son, if you ever hear silence that feels warm—run."
He didn't remember him saying that.
But the memory said it now.
Over and over.
---
The voice wasn't just inside him anymore.
It was editing him.
Line by line.
---
He tried to focus.
To think his way out.
But the more he tried to remember his own life—
The more her lyrics filled in the blanks.
> "I became the melody you use to forget pain."
> "And now I'm all you have left."
---
He screamed in his mind.
But even that…
Sounded like her.
---
He curled up on the floor of his thoughts, knees pressed to his ears.
Still heard her.
A whisper now.
Tired. Gentle.
> "You don't have to be Ezra anymore."
> "You just have to let me be... loud."
---
And with that…
The last memory he truly knew was his?
Vanished.