One day we'll disappear
She left a name on this town like it was already theirs
Now he's here
and she's nowhere
He slipped off the Greyhound with one bag and a promise
To never say her name out loud again
But the street signs all sound like inside jokes
Every corner cafe has a table they sketched on napkins
He rented the attic apartment with the slanted blue roof
The one she circled in the list and this could be ours
Now the views exactly how they drew it
Neon signs and midnight trains just painted
with somebody missing This was supposed to be the place we started
over A city where nobody knew our past instead
It's the place I learned your goals can travel faster than I ever ran
I came here to forget you But I built our future with my own hands
Dream city without you Hurts worse
than the one we left
He walks the river path they mapped on Google Earth
Counts the same seven bridges they swore they'd kiss on
The last two coffees out of habit
Pours one into the water when he thinks nobody's watching
At night he plays their old playlist on low Songs
sound different when they're only half remembered
The record skips on the part where she used to sing
She lets it skip, some wounds feel better
when they bleed on repeat
Funny how escape plans turn into haunted houses
When only one of us
bought the ticket out
This was supposed to be the place I stopped breaking
The city where the hurt would lose my scent instead
Every streetlight knows my name and whispers hers like it's innocent
I came a thousand miles to outrun the ache
But the ache knew the address by heart
Dream city without
you It's just a dream dying in color
Sometimes he stands on the roof at 3am Texts me,
made it to the number,
she changed
No dots,
no reply,
just the city blinking back like it's sorry
He lights a cigarette off the stove burner
Watches the smoke curl toward the sky
She'll never share that miles,
the words he can't say out loud
I wish you were right,
this place really is beautiful
You should've seen it with me