Title: Midnight for One

Level: Intermediate (B1–B2)

#Story :

Emma moves into an old apartment building and begins hearing piano music every night at exactly eleven o’clock—coming from the empty flat above her. The landlord explains that the apartment has been vacant for years, ever since a young pianist named Noah died while working on a final, unfinished composition. Yet the music Emma hears is alive, emotional, and unmistakably real.

Curious and unsettled, Emma follows the sound and eventually discovers a hidden cassette tape of Noah’s playing. When she finally gathers courage and goes upstairs, she finds the locked apartment mysteriously open—and Noah himself sitting at the piano, caught between the living world and something beyond. His unfinished melody has trapped him in the place of his last breath. Emma instinctively completes the missing ending of the piece, allowing Noah to play it fully for the first time. The completion dissolves the boundary holding him, and he quietly disappears—grateful, peaceful, free.

Emma learns the piano herself, honoring the melody he left behind. Months later, a new neighbor moves into the once-haunted top floor. She also plays piano late at night—but now, the sound is human, warm, and alive. The ghost has gone, but the music he left behind becomes the start of something new.

#Vocabulary :

Melody: a sequence of musical notes forming a tune

Vacant: empty; not lived in

Resolve (v): to bring a musical phrase or problem to a satisfying conclusion

Flicker: to blink or flash unsteadily (like a light)

Echo: a sound that repeats or comes back faintly

#Grammar Focus:

• Past Simple & Past Continuous

Used to show background atmosphere and ghostly events happening over time.

“The piano was playing softly while Emma stood under the ceiling.”

• Relative clauses (who / which / that)

Used to describe people and objects with more detail.

“The apartment that had been empty for years echoed with music.”

• Modal verbs for speculation (might, could, must)

Used to show uncertainty, mystery, or emotional guesses.

“She felt the pianist might still be there, waiting.”

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