Assume I'm Dead

He called on a regular Tuesday. Not to apologize, not to check in — to tell her he'd been seeing someone, that it was serious, and to ask a favor: could she talk to the new girl? Just to reassure her. Just to make things easier for him.

What followed was one of those conversations that splits a person right down the middle. On one side, she told him the truth: you know you're the love of my life, right? you do know that, right? On the other, she gave him nothing. She blocked every number, every door, every social account. She told him to assume she was dead.

Then she went back to work.

This song is built from that fault line — the gap between what you say out loud when you're trying to survive a moment and what's actually happening inside your chest. The chorus sounds like a door closing. The bridge is what's on the other side of that door: emails, a cup of tea, a smile aimed at a coworker while your whole world is a quiet catastrophe. It's a song about the specific, exhausting performance of being fine when you are absolutely not fine — and about the strange dignity of refusing to let someone who hurt you watch you fall apart.

The story that inspired this song came from a real person who posted about it on Reddit the same week we wrote it. She ended her post with "So how was everyone else's day? :)" — a joke so brave it became the outro.

[Verse 1] It was a regular Tuesday, sun behind the blinds I didn't check the number, I just answered the line You said you've been seeing someone, said it serious now Something moved out of me right then, I don't know how

[Pre-Chorus] The room went quiet, the walls just stared I kept breathing in and out like I still cared And I did, God, I did

[Chorus] You know you're the love of my life, right? You do know that, right? And he said yeah, but that's over now Could I do him a favor, could I talk to her somehow So I said — assume I'm dead Tell her she doesn't have to worry about me Assume I'm dead I'm blocking every door and every street Assume I'm dead

[Verse 2] What were you thinking, picking up the phone? That I'd just help you build a life with someone else at home? I was drowning and you handed me the rope I said it so calmly, I surprised myself

[Pre-Chorus] I kept my voice from breaking, I kept the tears inside Thanked him for the call and said goodbye

[Chorus] You know you're the love of my life, right? You do know that, right? And he said yeah, but that's over now Could I do him a favor, could I talk to her somehow So I said — assume I'm dead Tell her she doesn't have to worry about me Assume I'm dead I'm blocking every door and every street Assume I'm dead

[Bridge] And then I had to go back to work Like the world wasn't ending under my shirt Answered emails, poured a cup of tea Smiled at someone, just as dead as me You move on — I just move through the day The hardest thing I ever gave away Wasn't even something that you'd keep

[Final Chorus] You know you're the love of my life, right? You do know that, right? You said yeah but nothing's going on between us now And I said — assume I'm dead Tell her she doesn't have to worry about me Assume I'm dead I'm blocking every door and every street Assume I'm dead

[Outro] So how was everyone else's day So how was everyone else's day