The Key

I hear her footsteps running towards me down the hall
And by the lantern light i see her body fall
She reaches out to me, the ward key in her hand
She speaks to me in noises i don’t understand
The key that taunted me, the key that drove me mad
The key that murdered any freedom i once had
Is offered to me know, can this be but a dream?
My trance is broken by this woman’s dying scream
The key now in my hand from quarantine i race
And when i reach the landing every ghostly face
Is waiting for me there commanding me to run
The walls are lifting, lockdown’s already begun
The staircase shatters as my fate i fly to meet
The wood is splintering beneath my stocking feet
At last i’m past the gate, at last i’m at the cell
That’s kept me from the sun and hidden me in hell
The key that locked us in is now what sets us free
The inmates have emerged and now they look to me
To lead them to the light, to lead them to the door
But as we flee i trip and fall down to the floor
Now, as i hit the ground, as painfully i land
The key for which i’ve waited years shoots from my hand
Then, quick as lightning strikes, the doctor’s heavy shoe
Comes down upon the key concealing it from view
His eyes are burning red with madness, this is when
He picks it up and turns to lock us in again
I leap upon him for i’ve nothing left to lose
He overpowers me and asks the girls to choose
He runs his blade across my throat as if to say
That he will take my life if they don’t walk away
Retreat they do at once, without a second thought
They only know that we were free and now we’re not
And then i feel my darling annie’s master key
From all those years ago, still tied above my knee
It glows against my skin but doesn’t cause me pain
What happens next i cannot possibly explain
It pulls me from the floor, it pulls me towards the gate
It fits into the lock and every last inmate
Is breathless as the bars swing open with a creak
And no one’s seen to move, and no one’s heard to speak
Then, all at once, the clock from fifty floors below
Is loudly striking four, and suddenly i know
What must be done – there can be no one left alive
The doctor’s all must die if we are to survive
It’s time to show our strength
It’s time that we unite
It’s time to change the game
It’s time we learn to fight
It’s time this house is ours
It’s time we take it back
It’s time for bloody war
It’s time for the attack!