Lyrics
[Verse 1] I learned to fold my hands beneath the table When the boys began to name the things I hid A teacher paused beside my desk one winter And said, “Be careful what you let them see” At home, the television filled the kitchen My father turned the volume up too loud Someone on the screen became a warning And I watched my own reflection disappear [Pre-Chorus] I carried every sentence like a schoolbook Pressed against my chest from place to place I thought if I could make myself smaller Maybe no one would have to look away [Chorus] You told me there was something wrong inside me I spent years searching for the place to cut it out I wore your words beneath my ordinary clothing And learned to smile whenever they came out But the wound stayed open, not to shame me It kept the truth of what I made it through You hurt me, but you didn’t get to decide me I became someone you never knew [Verse 2] There was a night I slept beside a suitcase Though no one had asked me to leave the house I wrote three names across a page in pencil Then rubbed them out until the paper bowed A friend stopped calling after finding out the things I was still figuring it out I said I didn’t care, then tried to wash the pain away I spent hours and hours with my shaking hands [Pre-Chorus] Some mornings, mirrors felt like witnesses Some nights, the silence sounded just like blame I kept mistaking being left behind For evidence that I deserved the pain [Chorus] You told me there was something wrong inside me I spent years searching for the place to cut it out I wore your words beneath my ordinary clothing And learned to smile whenever they came out But the wound stayed open, not to shame me It kept the truth of what I made it through You hurt me, but you didn’t get to decide me I became someone you never knew [Bridge] Now I know the child I tried to abandon Was only asking not to be alone I can still hear the hallway and the laughter But I don’t have to call that house my home [Final Chorus] You told me there was something wrong inside me I believed you till I heard my own voice speak Now the scars are not a verdict or a secret They are where the skin remembers how to heal And if I flinch, it doesn’t mean I’m broken It means I know what I survived and what is true You hurt me, but you didn’t get to decide me I became someone I could finally choose You hurt me, but you didn’t get to decide me I became someone I could finally choose