player piano

I lived in an apartment that was in a suburban office building. What a weird place to live. I was in the kitchen of the apartment and Neko was there too, batting something around on the floor. I had a piano in the front room of the apartment and it started playing on its own.

I was home alone, just standing in the kitchen, cutting up vegetables, the whole house silent, and all of a sudden the air is blasted with some upbeat jazz-type song. I jump and scream, drop the knife and start shaking, petrified. Scared to go into the other room and see who's in there. I put both of my hands on the counter and take some deep breaths. I call out. No answer, the music keeps playing. I pick up Neko and hold her tight, because I'm horrified and she's the only other living thing in the room and I don't want to be alone. But she doesn't understand my fear and mrows and struggles to get out of my arms because she hates being picked up. After several minutes of deliberation and trembling, I throw open the door and rush into the room. No one there. The piano is playing by itself. The white keys are slammed down by invisible fingers and some crazy ragtime-sounding thing pours out. I scream and run out of the front door without looking back.

The first person I run into is a nicely dressed man in a suit, who must work at one in one of the offices in my building. I grab his shoulders and whimper and tell him what happened. He stands there awkwardly and pats my head, offering to come up to apartment with me. He tells me I probably have an old player piano and I just didn't know it. And I keep crying and screaming at him that it's my piano and I would know something like that. When we walk into my apartment, all is silent again. I'm so confused. The man looks at me like I'm crazy and tells me he has to get back to work. I leave when he does. I know the piano is trying to make a liar out of me and I don't want to be alone with it or whatever is in the room playing it.