Listen. Can you hear it?
The music. I can hear it everywhere.
In the wind. In the air. In the light. It's all around us. All you have to do is open yourself up. All you have to do is listen.
Where I grow up, they try to stop me from hearing the music. But when I'm alone, it builds up from inside me.
And I think if I can learn how to play it, they might hear me. They would know I was theirs. They would know I was alive, and find me.
Knock, knock. He felt someone knocking his head as if it was a door. "Knock, knock." Then he heard Mannix called him 'freak'. All of the boys in the orphanage called him 'freak'. They said it's because he always believe that his parents would find me someday through music. For Evan, they're the 'freaks'. Not him.
"I said knock, knock, freak!"
"Who's there?"
"Your long lost mummy and daddy." Mannix's friends started to laugh. "Can you hear them?" Their laughter started to make him feel really stupid and angry.
"Yes."
"No, you can't. You have no family. You can't hear them. Say it!" Mannix's friends interrupted them by repeated Mannix's words again and again. Then he started to hit Evan's bed. This happens every night in the orphanage. He was being bullied every single night by them.
"Yes, I can."
Thankfully, his only best friend was there to back him up. Sort of. "He doesn't hear anything!"
Mannix was a little bit shocked. But of course, he kept his brutal face. "What is he?" the question was asked directly to Peter.
"He's a freak."
The room was filled with laughter of disgust. "Sweet dreams, freaks!"
Sometimes the world tries to knock it out of me.
But I believe in music, the way that some people believe in fairy tales. I like to imagine that what I hear came from my mother and father. Maybe the notes I hear, are the same ones they heard, the night they met.
Maybe that's how they found each other; maybe that's how they'll find me.
I believe that once upon a time, long ago, they heard the music, and followed it.
11 years earlier.
New York, NY.
She wears her cross every time before she goes up to the stage and plays her cello. It helps her to calm down a little. And she never took it off until the symphony ends. She continued to stare at the mirror, trying to find herself in the reflection.
"Lyla?"
"Dad?"
"What are you doing? They're waiting for us. Hey, sit up straight please." Thomas said. "Don't forget to smile, and look relax."
Lyla exhaled her breath that was stuck inside her lungs and smiled happily to her over-protective dad.
"Alright, not that relax. Come on."
What was that suppose to mean? He wants her to be relaxed and not to be relaxed. What does he wants anyway? Oh, never mind. It's gonna be okay, it's gonna be okay, it's gonna be okay. The words keeps flowing in her mind like blood flows into her heart.
The audience watched her play cello as if the music hypnotized them. They were nodding and smiling and looked enjoyed by the music that filled their ears.
She played Bach quite well. She had never felt so energized and full of emotions while playing before. The audience gave her a big applause. Tonight, was full of mystery to her.
Anything can happen.
He washed his face over and over again. It's what he always did before he and his band's concert. The bathroom door was knocked, with his brother's voice calling out his name. "Louis! Louie where are you?
"Where are you, baby bro?"
Louis just stared at his big brother. Marshall always pissed off before their concert. And he's gonna piss off after the concert too. For some reason.
"We didn't follow you from San Francisco to play for free, man. Yeah? We need this one, baby bro. Alright? I need this one."
This is it, this is it, this is it. Alright Louis, just calm down, open your mouth, sing the words, and place your hand on the guitar then play it. You can't mess up now or Marshall is gonna kill you. So, here it goes…
Louis just kept on singing, not thinking about anything else but the song and how he felt at the moment. The sound of guitar streaming in his ears made him feel more energetic and helped him to let go of everything else and just be himself.
The song ended with millions of applauses. Marshall rubbed Louis' hair while laughing. That must mean that he had done a great job. But he didn't understand why it didn't make him happy. Was it because the song was about him not finding his true love yet? Louis hoped that his one true love would hear him through his music. It's a silly thing to think about, but it's what he held on to since he was a young lad.
"Princesses always looking for their prince. If you want to find the princess of your heart, you have to be a prince. But you, you ain't no prince Louis. Get over it," those were the words that were spoken by his Da. But he didn't care. For him, he didn't have to be a prince to find his princess. And he'll gonna keep searching until he find one.
"Not bad Connelly, not bad," he heard Frank's compliments while shaking Marshall's hand for their successful concert.
"Thank you, man!"
"Where's the main man?" Before Marshall could call him, he quickly stormed out of the building.
"God damn it, Louis! Just wait up man! Louie, wait up man!" Marshall yelled.
He just kept on walking. He didn't want to be here. He just wanted to sing, not making business with someone who only cares about making money. Right now, he just wanted to relax. And he knows the perfect place for it.
After the symphony ends, Lyla and her girls decided to have some fun. But not too much fun. Luckily, Lizzie understood that.
"We are going to a party tonight," said Lizzie. Apart from being Lyla's childhood friend, she's also a pianist who always accompanies her in her symphony. "It's a full moon, you know what that means right?" The girls started cheering when they realize what they're gonna get.
For Lyla, going to a party was never an option. She hated parties. She had never partying in her life before. Her dad wouldn't let her. If her dad finds out about this, she's going to be dead meat. Sometimes she felt really tied up by her dad. She was so protected and sheltered all these years, but she never objects. Maybe because dad is the only family she had since her mom left. She have to get out of here or she's gonna be in so much trouble.
"Lyla, come on." Lizzie asked her to join the party. She shook her head and left the room that was filled with people dancing like it was the best day of their life. She decided to go downstairs and go back to her hotel room but stopped as she heard an amazing sound. She followed the sound and found herself looking down to a man who was playing harmonica. The music was really beautiful. She could listen to it all night long…
"It's a great sound isn't it?" Lyla looked up and found herself staring at a young man who was sitting on the roof.
"What are you doing?"
"Listening," Louis said.
Listening? Really? Is he crazy or- then she realized that the man wasn't the only person who is crazy, but both of them. She too, was listening to the music. "What are you doing?" he asked.
"I just came up here to um…" What? Followed the music?
"Get away?" he said spontaneously as if he was in the same position as her. Then Lyla found herself nodding.
"Have a seat. Come on, be brave. Front row center."
It's like she was pulling by a magnet, she climbed up to the roof with a ladder and sat next to that strange man. It's like he was the North Pole, and she was the South Pole who are attracted to each other. At least she hoped so. He had the perfect face. He's Irish. Great nose, lips. She couldn't see the color of his eyes, but she was sure that they were beautiful. What more could a girl asked for?
"Can you hear those?"
"What is that?"
"It's a wish."
A wish? What wish? Lyla couldn't help but wonder.
The man was smiling at her like he knows what she was thinking. Then he looked up to the bright full moon.
"And what was that sound like?" Suddenly Lyla heard him singing with the similar tempo as the music by the harmonica.
He sings:
Well it's a marvelous night for a Moondance,
With the stars up above in your eyes,
A fantabulous night to make romance,
Beneath the cover of October skies.
After he stopped singing he said, "When I was young fellow, I used to talk to the moon."
"Are you making that up?"
He laughed and said, "God, I haven't done that in a long time."
"Does it ever talk back?"
"Well it used to. But now I just find myself on a roof talking to myself," he grin. Then he added, "Like a loon. Just, out here on me own."
No he's not. Not anymore. "Well I'm here."
"Yes you are." Louis couldn't deny that he was attracted to her. She was very beautiful, with blonde hair and a gorgeous smile. Slowly he grabbed her left hand and holds it gently. "I'm Louis."
She was a little bit shocked and scared, but she wasn't pulling away. In fact, she gave him her name. "Lyla."
"So what's your story, Lyla?"
My story? Honestly, you don't want to know. "I don't know, I'm just…I'm just me." Her heart beats faster when she found out that Louis was staring at her. Not blinking. "What are you looking at?"
"You," Louis barely whisper. It's like his voice stuck in his throat or something. He can't breathe, and he found himself bedazzled by Lyla. He can't help it. In that moment, he kissed her and held her gently, not letting her go. And he was glad that she did the same thing too.
That was the night they'll never forget. It was the best night of their life. They don't care about anything else.
The only thing that matters was they had each other.