Holloway_jazzv6

[Verse 1] Mara loved the Friday lights, the music shaking glass, The crowded rooms, the borrowed smoke, the hours slipping past. She wore her brightest lipstick, laughed louder than the band, And kept a little black book no one else could understand. She’d found it in a secondhand shop, beneath a widow’s veil, Its pages full of crooked stars and names rubbed thin and pale. Her friends said, “Mara, put it down. It’s only ink and lies.” But she could hear it whispering whenever dusk would rise. [Pre-Chorus] Then October painted every porch in orange, red, and gold; The town prepared for Halloween, while something stirred below. [Chorus] Oh, Holloway, lock your doors tonight, The jack-o’-lanterns grin too wide. The bells are ringing out of time, And every shadow has a mind. We came for one more midnight thrill— Now the streets are standing still. Oh, Holloway, don’t say her name When the black stars turn to flame. [Verse 2] They met where the old church leaned beneath the crooked trees, With paper masks and borrowed coats that snapped in the cold breeze. Mara drew a circle there—not knowing what she’d wake— And laughed when all the candles bent, though there was no wind to make. The night went quiet. Every dog stopped howling at the moon. The clock above the shuttered school struck thirteen far too soon. Then every window in the town lit up a ghostly blue, And every sleeping dreamer woke to find the dark awake, too. [Chorus] Oh, Holloway, lock your doors tonight, The jack-o’-lanterns grin too wide. The bells are ringing out of time, And every shadow has a mind. We came for one more midnight thrill— Now the streets are standing still. Oh, Holloway, don’t say her name When the black stars turn to flame. [Verse 3] The neighbors danced in empty streets to music no one played; The mayor crowned a scarecrow king and bowed beneath its shade. The schoolkids ran in circles as the hallways stretched like dreams; The river flowed uphill, carrying whispers in its streams. And Lila—Mara’s closest friend—stood frozen in the square, Her eyes like little windows with no one living there. A voice came through her smiling mouth, too old to sound like hers: “Thank you for the open door. Now let the whole world turn.” [Bridge] Mara ran through rain that fell beneath a cloudless sky; She heard her friends call after her, then heard them start to cry. She reached to tear the black book up—the pages would not burn; Each word crawled off the paper as the town began to turn. [Final Chorus] Oh, Holloway, the dawn won’t come, The church bells choke and fall to numb. The streets are full of borrowed eyes, The rooftops whisper, “No goodbyes.” We came for one more midnight thrill— Now the whole town hears it still. Oh, Holloway, the last lights fade Where the black stars never wane. [Outro] Mara loved the parties, loved the glitter, loved the noise— Till silence filled the town and swallowed every voice. And every Halloween, when the moon hangs thin and high, Lila smiles from every window As the dark walks by.