The Other End

This track was born from a real headline: The volunteers and counselors of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline who answer calls in the darkest hours — since the three-digit number launched in July 2022, call volume has increased over 40%, with volunteers often working through their own emotional weight to hold space for strangers on the edge. Muckraker's indie-folk production gives the story the weight of a front-page exclusive — journalism you can feel in your chest. Lines like "The first call comes at midnight, it's a boy of seventeen," anchor the track in specifics that generic coverage misses. The mood — tender, haunting, deeply human — reflects the emotional reality behind the numbers. Every Majik's Studio news track exists to make you feel the story, not just read it.

[verse 1] She clocks in at eleven to the room with seven phones, Coffee in a thermos and a picture of her own, Daughter on the dashboard of the desk where she sits down, Headset on and volume up in a basement across town, The first call comes at midnight, it's a boy of seventeen, Saying he's out on the overpass and no one knows he's been, Planning this since October, since his father walked away, And she steadies her breathing like they taught her first day, She doesn't say don't do it, she doesn't say it's wrong, She says tell me what October felt like, we've got all night long, And he tells her about autumn and the leaves behind his school, And the locker where he eats alone and kids that call him fool, She listens like the world depends on every single word, Because right now on this overpass it does — she's all he's heard, In weeks and weeks and weeks of silence louder than a scream, She's the other end of a phone call and the thread inside his seam. [chorus] Stay on the line, stay on the line, I know the dark is heavy but I'm here and you're mine, Stay on the line, stay on the line, You called, and that's the bravest thing — now give me time, Stay on the line, stay on the line, I'm right here on the other end and you are not behind, Stay on the line, stay on the line, Stay on the line. [verse 2] Two AM a woman calls, she's forty-three, divorced, Kids are with their father and the house feels like a corpse, Says I'm not sure why I'm calling, I just couldn't stand the quiet, And the counselor says, "That's enough reason — let's just sit inside it," They talk about the woman's garden, roses by the gate, About the way her youngest laughs and how he's learned to skate, Small things, tiny anchors pulling someone back to shore, Sometimes the reason not to leave is just one reason more, Three AM she takes her headset off and walks into the hall, Splashes water on her face beneath the fluorescent wall, Because the boy from the overpass is home now in his bed, And the woman with the garden chose to plant a rose instead, But the counselor carries both of them inside her all the way, Every voice, every silence, every almost-final day, She drives home at seven to her daughter and the dawn, Turns the radio to something soft and tries to carry on. [chorus] Stay on the line, stay on the line, I know the dark is heavy but I'm here and you're mine, Stay on the line, stay on the line, You called, and that's the bravest thing — now give me time, Stay on the line, stay on the line, I'm right here on the other end and you are not behind, Stay on the line, stay on the line, Stay on the line. [bridge] Nine-eight-eight — three digits and a voice, Nine-eight-eight — the smallest, hardest choice, You don't have to tell me everything, you don't have to explain, You just have to stay on long enough to hear your own name, Because someone on the other end already chose to care, Before you ever dialed, they were already there, Volunteer, counselor, stranger, friend — whatever you need tonight, The other end is listening, the other end is light. [chorus] Stay on the line, stay on the line, I know the dark is heavy but I'm here and you're mine, Stay on the line, stay on the line, You called, and that's the bravest thing — now give me time, Stay on the line, stay on the line, I'm right here on the other end and you are not behind, Stay on the line, stay on the line, Stay on the line. [outro] Stay on the line, stay on the line, Nine-eight-eight, Stay on the line, The other end is here, The other end is always here.