Chapter 3: Her Song Called Pain

The shed was silent, but inside Ananya, everything screamed.

She sat cross-legged on the cold cement floor, her lyric book open before her — a torn notebook filled with dreams no one knew about. The word "Pain" was scrawled across the top of the page, thick and angry, like it had been written mid-tears. It had been.

This wasn’t just a song. It was her.

She had written it weeks ago, after another failed try at singing her own lyrics. No matter how hard she practiced, her voice refused to follow. It cracked. It shook. It choked halfway through. But tonight, after everything — the scolding, the silence, the lies — she was going to sing it. One last time. Even if no one would hear. Even if no one would care.

She opened her recorder and hit “Start.”

The backing music began. A slow, hollow piano loop she’d mixed herself. Each note sounded like a heartbeat underwater. Heavy. Trapped.

She took a breath, and the first line left her lips.

“Sometimes I feel like I’m buried alive,

Smiling outside, while burning inside…”

Her voice broke almost immediately. She coughed. Tears pricked her eyes, and her chest felt tight.

But she didn’t stop.

She clenched her fists, inhaled deeply, and pushed through.

“I hold my tears like secrets in my lungs,

But they rise every time I try to run…”

The high note came — and failed.

Her voice choked on the very emotion she had poured into the words.

Tears spilled down her cheeks. Her throat burned like it was full of smoke. Her lips trembled.

Still, she kept singing.

“But I sing through the fire,

Even if it kills me slow…”

She wiped her face, the paper beneath her soaking with drops.

Every breath hurt.

Every note fought her body.

Her voice no longer sounded like music — it sounded like a girl trying to survive the storm inside her.

“Because silence is louder

When no one wants to know…”

That line — her favorite — came out like a whisper.

But it echoed louder than anything she'd ever said.

By the end, her entire body was shaking. Her voice had fallen to a hush. Her hair stuck to her sweaty forehead. Her knees were pulled close to her chest.

And yet, she reached out… and clicked save.

She didn’t listen back.

She didn’t check the pitch or quality.

Because this time, it didn’t matter how it sounded.

This time, she hadn’t sung to impress anyone.

She had sung because the pain was too much not to sing.

As she lay on the floor, breath slowing, she stared up at the rusted roof and whispered to the night:

"One day, someone will hear this."

Not just the song.

But her.

Even if her voice failed, her soul had already spoken.

And Seoul… wasn’t that far now.

EXTRA:

🎵 Pain

Lyrics by Ananya

Sometimes I smile just to hide the sound

Of a voice inside me, screaming underground

I laugh in rooms where I don't belong

Clapping for others, swallowing my song

And they say, "Be strong, be quiet, be good,"

But they never asked if I even could

I'm stitched in silence, thread made of shame

Dancing for peace, but burning in flame

This is pain, wrapped in ribbon and lace

It’s the ache behind a practiced face

It’s every “no” I turned into light

Every lonely note I sang at night

It’s a whisper they’ll never explain

But I know it well

I call it pain

I dream in colors I can’t pronounce

Write lullabies they won’t even announce

They use my words, but not my name

And still I give — again, again

And I try to rise, I try to breathe

But my lungs are locked, no room to leave

I sing through fire, I walk through glass

Not because I’m strong — just built to last

This is pain, wrapped in rhythm and grace

It’s the note that cracks but still finds place

It’s the stage I built inside my mind

For a world too deaf, too cold, too blind

It’s a feather soaked in the rain

And still I sing

I call it pain

Don’t tell me I’m brave for surviving

When all I ever wanted was to be seen

Don’t call it passion when it’s bleeding

Don’t call it fire — it’s gasoline

This is pain — in a whisper, a scream

The silence where I used to dream

It’s the echo of what I never said

The lullaby I sang instead

It’s the song they’ll never claim

But it’s mine…

It’s mine

I call it pain

And maybe one day,

When I sing again…

They’ll hear my name

Inside the pain.

it's her song so I just write it here so please like it and subscribe 🙏 💗 luv ya

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