"Squatter"
(working title)
Have you ever watched a movie that, when it was over, you were left in a very pleasant, calm mood? Or just that touched you on a personal level, for good reasons, and you did not want to get back to your real life for a little while?
Chungking Express is one that did that to me. Actually, it left me wanting to write a short story, but I don't really have enough of a plot to do it.
In the story, two people would be living in an apartment building, though they don't have to be. The guy would work during the day, and the girl would have a night job, but they would have limited contact with each other on a possibly daily basis because of their jobs.
They would be friendly, to each other. She would like him a little more than he likes her. Because his job keeps him so busy, he would not think too much about having any kind of relationship.
He would be a stable, easy going guy, but overworked. She would be a little quirky. If you have seen Chungking Express, then the personalities would be similar.
She would get kicked out of her apartment for some reason, maybe money or just something quirky she keeps doing that the landlord/lady does not like.
Not having any place to stay, she would break into the guy's apartment and pretty much start living there while he's at work. She has a photographic memory, so she is able to leave his apartment in whatever state it was in, for the most part, when she arrived every day.
While she is there, and not sleeping in his bed, she would nose around through his things, learning more about him, and becoming more attracted to him. She would watch his movies, wear his clothes.
He would come home and not really notice what minor differences there are, mainly because he would always be tired, but he would eventually start noticing some differences, like the smell of his sheets or the way the apartment does not get as dirty as it used to.
One day he would come home early, and he would walk in, super-tired, and find her sleeping in his bed. Because of the kind of guy he is, he would be only a little surprise, and only on the inside. He would then grab an extra blanket and go to sleep on the couch.
She would later wake up and find him on the couch, and she would be initially shocked, but then not be at all surprised that he did nothing.
There would be near miss encounters in between all this, and I would somehow elaborate on his complete lack of reaction. He would just let her continue staying there, as if she always had, never asking why she was there.
Of course, they would eventually fall in love.
That's the kind of comfort the movie left me with. I also really liked the female character in the movie. She was played by Faye Wong, though she was credited as Faye Wang.
For those who don't know, she a singer. Very talented and very attractive. I espectially liked how she looked in this movie. I very much enjoyed her character's personality.
Anyway, I don't really have enough plot for the story, so I not going to be writing it, but I did not want all this to just go drifting off into the mental ether to dissipate into a memory. The mood is too special to not share with someone, even though I can't truly express it sufficently.
One common quality among many of my stories is how something normally considered extraordinary is not really thought of as so by one or more characters. It's a sort of extension on "expect the unexpected". If it's truly set in your mind, that anything can happen, anywhere, and at any time, then nothing will surprise you.
In this story, a guy has a 9 to 5 job and doesn't do much of particular interest.
But one day, while he's gone to work, a girl (25-30) breaks into his apartment. She doesn't actually break in, though.
She has been homeless and jobless for about a month, and has been watching him. One day, by a means I have yet determined, he left his apartment unsecured by accident, or maybe she just saw where he kept a spare key.
He's at work, and she enters his apartment. She's curious about him and looks over his things. She eats some of his food, and takes a nap, then leaves before he gets back. Thing is, though, that she has a photographic memory and is very meticulous about her clean-up.
This goes one for a few more days. She doesn't always eat his food, or at least not much, but she does make herself at home more. She watches his movies, reads his books, sleeps in his bed, and even does some light cleaning.
The more she goes through his stuff, the more she finds she likes about him.
One day, she makes a mistake, and she doesn't set his alarm correctly, to wake herself up, and he comes home while she's still asleep, but she hears him. She rushes to put the covers back the way they were, and then runs to hide in his closet.
That day, he notices a few very small things seem a little off about his apartment, but he doesn't pay them much mind.
He goes to bed that night, with her still trapped in his closet. As you can imagine, she's hungry and has to go to the bathroom. When she thinks it's safe, she sneaks passed him and into his bathroom.
It takes some effort and a while, not to mention some actions not normally performed, but she manages to pee and cover her tracks without disturbing him, even though the bathroom door is right beside his bed.
I haven't thought of a good reason, but she decides to just eat some of his food and then go back to his closet.
The next day, he goes to work, and she's does her usual, which also includes trying on his clothes. She has fun. She goes to sleep as usual, but she doesn't know that he's on his way home early.
He comes home, walks into his bedroom, and finds this attractive female sleeping in his bed. He thinks about that and the odd things of late, and puts 2 and 2 together.
The girl doesn't seem to have done anything really wrong, so he let's it slide. He fixes some food for the both of them, and sits quietly at the table, waiting.
She wakes up, resets the alarm, and eventually exits the bedroom to find him at the table eating from one of two plates of food. He greets her in some manner I've yet decided upon, and then casually hand gestures an offer of the other food to her, all as if nothing unusual is happening.
I haven't really gotten anything beyond that, apart from him letting her continue staying at his place, and them eventually becoming a couple.