The Edge
Shocked, confused, and distraught by the torture of the cave and the scene they just witnessed, Gem and Ari lead Lyra from the lair and the runaways soon come to rest at a frozen lake. There’s an eerie and uneasy feeling in the air, and after a long period of uncomfortable silence, Lyra finally reveals what drove her to do what she did in the cave.
[Lyra]
He was once a good man
Even in the toughest times he always had a plan
He’d work endlessly
To secure a better future for his family
But his days were long and unrewarding
He started losing the uphill fight
Comforts became vices became addictions
It got worse every night
Soon, no one would work with him
My mother and I told him not to come around
When it seemed he’d lost it all, he had further yet to fall
He bought a ticket to the underground
Backed into a corner, the survivor lashes out
All the things that mattered, you no longer care about
The temptation had all gone to his head
At the moment of surrender he stepped over the edge
Before long, we didn’t see him anymore
My mother became more and more withdrawn
Until one day a letter came for him
She said by morning we’d have to be gone
She had warned him that his house of cards would one day lie in ruins
That he’d have to atone for his misdeeds
He came back to tell her that he’d made a payment
And that we needn’t worry
As we prepared to leave the next morning
The door came crashing down
In came my father with the men he’d wronged
And rare daylight shone upon the underground
I kicked and screamed as they restrained me but I could not break free
And as they took my mother all was clear – the payment was me
In the aftermath I was broken and alone
A prisoner in my own home
The candle flickered weakly in the distance – it was time to put it out
Backed into a corner, the desperation lashes out
Nothing really matters – the end is all you care about
The rage, the pain, and the loneliness had all come to a head
But at the moment of surrender I stepped back from the edge