[open up to a busy street in London. It is rush hour; focus on people pouring into the tube station, rushing to get to work. One man is struggling against the rest, battling his way out of the station. The man is tall and thin and wears a short jacket over a white T-shirt and washed out jeans. He’s wearing a backpack. Once he makes it to the street, he stops and takes out a large paper map. He gets looks from passers-by, but ignores them, and seeming to have found what he was looking for, carefully refolds the map and tucks it away. He walks away. Shot cuts to him turning into a side road, walking up to an inconspicuous building, and ringing the bell. It is opened by a disheveled looking man.]

BILL: [quite rudely] who’re you?

JAMES: James McElroy. Is this the Short House?

[The man looks James up and down, then sticks out his hand.]

BILL: [gruffly] Bill Castimon

[cut to inside, Bill is opening a door and showing James through it. Camera follows him in, panning over the small bedroom.]

JAMES: It’s perfect.

[he swings his backpack onto the bed, the turns to thank bill.]

JAMES: thanks man. I —

[bill is no longer there. Bewildered, James sticks his head out of his room and looks down the empty hallway. Seeing no one there, he shrugs and turns back to his bed, only to be started by the girl sitting in his bed.]

TORI: Hey there!

[James looks at her in shock. She is of average height, slim, and has a shock of curly hair dyed blue at the tips.]

JAMES: What — who are you?

[tori raises an eyebrow]

TORI: that’s not very polite, is it?

JAMES: [suddenly affronted] Polite? I don’t know you and you’re sitting on my bed!

[she surveys him thoughtfully, then leans back on her hands]

TORI: you’re in a house full of thieves, James. [James looks startled that she knows his name. She points at his backpack, which has his name written in black marker down one of the straps.] you shouldn’t just leave your door open like that, or someone might just...slip in.

[she puts emphasis on those last words, then gets up and moves toward the door. Her movements are extremely grateful, like a cat’s. At the door, she stops, her nails curled around the doorframe, and turns back.]

TORI: I’m Tori, by the way.

[she slinks away, leaving James. Camera zooms up to show his confused face, then as he shakes it and flops down on the bed. Cut to black]

[end scene]