14. The Silence of the Chest
The Silence of the Chest is about the night the predator's mother died in the
house — and how he forced a child to press his ear against her corpse and
listen to the silence where a heartbeat should have been, then made him watch
as the body bag was zipped over her face, whispering that one day it would be him.
By Thomas J. Allen, © 2026
Spoken Word
They brought her down the hallway. The mother of the beast.
Wheeled into our purgatory to join the wicked feast.
I was just a child... an angel stripped of flight.
And her unblinking stare... pierced the fading light.
Verse 1
With nowhere left to hide, her gaze froze me to the core,
A silent terror brought into this house I abhor.
Seven months of silence. Seven months of dread.
Staring from the shadows of that rented hospice bed.
She never spoke a single word, but the malice in her eyes...
Was the exact same darkness that stripped me of the skies.
Pre-Chorus
The midnight hour finally came to take her breath away.
My mother woke me from the couch, with nothing left to say.
Dragged in the middle of the night to the room of the dead,
Where the man with the fangs stood waiting by the bed.
Chorus
Dragged into the room, forced to face the dead.
Standing in the shadows of the wicked mother's bed.
A fragile human vessel, absorbing all their hate.
A fallen holy witness to their wicked, twisted state.
They handed me the terror, they handed me the night.
Then smiled at the darkness... as they suffocated the light.
Verse 2
He grabbed me by the shoulders, his grip a vice of stone.
Forcing me against the corpse, chilling to the bone.
"Put your head upon her chest," the wicked monster said.
"Listen to the silence. Listen to the dead."
No beating of a heart. Just the coldness of the shell.
A terrified young prisoner locked inside this hell.
Pre-Chorus 2
The sirens flashed outside, the medics walked inside.
"Get the child out of here," the strangers quickly cried.
But the monster shook his head, refusing their demand.
He wanted me to watch the work of the reaper's hand.
Chorus
Dragged into the room, forced to face the dead.
Standing in the shadows of the wicked mother's bed.
A fragile human vessel, absorbing all their hate.
A fallen holy witness to their wicked, twisted state.
They handed me the terror, they handed me the night.
Then smiled at the darkness... as they suffocated the light.
Bridge
I watched them pull the heavy canvas up over her face,
Zipping up the body bag inside that cursed place.
The lights were burning bright, I saw every detail clear...
He smiled his wicked grin, I felt his breath in my ear.
He whispered, "This will be you one day, exactly as foretold,
A broken little body, turning stiff and cold."
Staring at the body bag, paralyzed by dread,
Trapped inside the room with him, standing near the dead.
Outro
This will be you one day...
This will be you.