Either because the apartment was too
big.
Or too small.
Or because the neighbors were too loud.
Or because the silence of the night was
deafening.
Daniel didn't know why he moved so much
anymore.
And change became routine.
There were boxes filled with junk all
over the living room.
There were even boxes that he didn't
bother to unpack anymore because he knew that sooner or later he'd
move again.
Paintings and picture frames leaning on
the floor against the wall. He never bothered hanging them.
The cat walks around exploring his new
found territory while Daniel puts all the stuff from the boxes on the
shelves.
On the kitchen table there were two
slices of pizza left.
The bottle of wine was almost empty.
Daniel is leaning against the sink with
a glass of wine in one hand and a cigarette in the other.
Daniel goes into the living room and
sit at the piano.
Empty music sheet.
A zip of wine.
A puff on a cigarette.
Inspiration, where art thou?
Eyes closed.
Deep breath.
A muffled sound enters the living room.
Someone is playing piano.
Notes, chords, played over and over.
Daniel opens his eyes. Where is that
music coming from?
From across the wall.
He gets up.
Puts his ears against the wall.
He smiles.
Same notes and chords played over and
over again.
Who's playing? Whomever it is, they're
blocked and can't seem to find the notes and chords that come next.
In anger, they slam the keys and stop
playing.
The next morning, Daniel is sitting at
a coffee shop having breakfast.
Eyes closed. A pencil in his hand
setting the tempo. Humming the song he heard the night before coming
from the apartment next door.
He's obsessed, trying to find out what
notes should come next.
He plays the table like it was a piano.
Children laughing.
Daniel opens his eyes. Back to reality.
Two kids sitting across the table are
watching the "show".
Daniel smiles.
The kids mom, embarrassed, calls them
back to their table.
Daniel climbs the stairs of his
building and enters his apartment.
Takes off his jacket and throws it on
the couch.
He sits at the piano and starts playing
what he wrote that day.
He stops playing.
A few seconds later the person from the
apartment next door starts playing what Daniel played adding
something of their own.
Suddenly a door slams in their
apartment.
A man yells. A woman yells back at him.
A big fight starts. Stuff is thrown against the walls.
Daniel gets up and goes to the
apartment next door but hesitates and goes back to his apartment.
He sits back at the piano and plays
while the fight goes on next door.
The next morning Daniel gets out of the
apartment and starts walking down the stair when the neighbors next
door open the door.
The man walks out of the apartment. The
woman stays at the door.
He smiles. She doesn't.
He kisses her and starts walking down
the stairs passing by Daniel without saying a word.
Daniel looks at the woman but she is so
embarrassed that she avoids eye contact and closes the door.
At a music shop Daniel goes through a
pile of old vinyl records when someone walks in.
Daniel looks but at first doesn't
recognize the person.
He looks again and realizes that it was
the girl from next door. The one who plays the piano.
Sarah didn't see Daniel. She goes to
the back of the shop where a kid is waiting for her at the piano.
Sara takes off her coat, sits next to
the kid and starts the piano lesson.
Daniel goes up to the clerk to pay for
the records he picked. He stays for a while just looking at Sarah
teaching the kid to play.
Daniel turns around and walks out of
the shop.
Sarah looks up and sees Daniel leaving
the shop.
She knew all the time that he was
there. Maybe she was to ashamed about what happened with her
boyfriend to say hi.
Heavy rain hits the windows.
More wood into the fireplace.
The cat sleeps on the couch.
Bottle of wine half empty.
Music notes spread across the sheet.
The record Daniel bought is playing.
Sarah and her boyfriend are fighting
again next door.
They yell so loud you would think
they're in the same room with Daniel.
Daniel turns up the volume of the
record so he won't hear the big fight.
The next morning Daniel is sleeping on
the couch when someone knocks at his door and slides some papers
under the door.
Daniel grabs the papers and realizes
they are music sheets.
He opens the door and tries to talk to
Sarah but she was already leaving the building.
Daniel rushes to the window and sees
Sarah crossing the street.
Daniel gets all excited with the
sheets, looking like a kid opening his presents on Christmas morning.
He works on the song all day long,
adding some of his stuff to what Sarah wrote.
The song they wrote is coming to life.
Daniel waits for Sarah to come back
home so he can play the finished song they wrote but Sarah didn't
come home for dinner
He waits four hours. Nothing.
He falls asleep on the couch.
A few hours later the cat jumped to
Daniels lap waking him up.
Daniel goes to the kitchen to get a
glass of water.
He hears some voices on the stairs.
Sarah and her boyfriend are coming up
the stairs drunk, laughing, kissing.
Daniel turns out the lights and goes to
bed.
The next morning Daniel is packing his
stuff back into the boxes. He's moving again.
Sarah starts playing the piano.
She stops and waits for Daniel to play
back.
But he doesn't.
She tries again.
But he doesn't play back.
She tries again.
Daniel puts on his coat, grabs all the
music sheets and gets out of the apartment slamming the door. Sarah
stops playing.
Daniel walks down the stairs.
Sarah opens her door and stays there.
Silent.
Daniel stops for a second but gets out
of the building, gets into his car and leaves.
Sarah gets out of the building but
Daniel was gone.
Sarah notices that there are some
papers jamming her mailbox.
She opens the box and sees the music
sheets Daniel left there.
She goes back inside.
That same night Daniel is coming home
when he notices a police car parked in front of his building and a
small crowd at the building door trying to find out what happened.
Daniel fears something happened to
Sarah and rushes into the building making way through the crowd.
Runs up the stairs when 2 cops are
coming down with Sarah's boyfriend handcuffed.
Daniel slows down trying to delay the
bad news.
The neighbors slowly go back to their
apartments.
Daniel stops at Sarah's doorstep.
The door is half open but he's afraid
to go inside.
Suddenly he hears the piano playing
their song.
Daniel walks in.
The apartment is a mess. Everything is
upside down. A sign of a huge fight.
Sarah feels Daniel in the living room.
She stops playing. She moves over to
the left of the bench so Daniel can sit next to her.
He sits down.
She starts playing.
He starts playing with her.
She puts her head on his shoulder.
