Synopsis: Draft Four A medium sized bedroom in a middle class home.

It is neatly kept, with a notable lack of possessions decorating it. Amongst its features are a couple of bare bookshelves, a bare desk, a made bed, the sheets of which are plain and un-creased. A wardrobe is attached to the wall, the doors flung open. Strewn on the floor beside the wardrobe are a clump of clothes: t shirts, jeans and track suits, for example. It appears that these clothes have been pulled from the wardrobe. By the clusters of clothing is a boy in his late teens, dressed in a coat, jeans and a pair of boots. Beside him is an upturned suitcase, contained in which are a number of neatly folded clothes. The boy is folding the clothes from the floor into the suitcase. Near where he is doing this, another boy is positioned on his side on the floor, crying heavily. He appears nearly the same age as the boy packing the clothes, perhaps younger. His cry however, is indicative of someone younger a mix of incomprehensible sobs and malformed words. The older boy appears to ignore the sobbing, for his eyes scarcely divert from the floor. Still, the intensity of his stare conveys a sense of distress and worry. It is not long until all the clothes are gone, and all the clothes have been packed into the suitcase. Upon this, he closes the suitcase with the zip, gets to his feet and turns the closed suitcase on its wheels. His hand grasps the handle of the suitcase, and with it he walks over to the crying boy, who appears to be holding some kind of soft toy. The older boy nudges the younger one with his foot, telling him bluntly to get up. Completely ignoring this demand, the younger boy continues crying. The older boy violently grabs the soft toy and wrenches it from his hand. The younger boy almost instantly starts. He clambers from the floor quickly, though before he has any time to think, his arm is grabbed, and he is pulled along by the older boy and the suitcase. His damp, red face is set in panic, though the older boys tight grip appears too strong for him to do anything besides blindly grope around for the soft toy. The older boy takes his brother from the room, into a landing. Beside the bedroom are the stairs, which the older boy forcefully drags the younger boy down with the suitcase. They emerge before the front door, which stands in a room stripped of decoration and ornament besides a bland wooden cupboard. By this cupboard is another suitcase, standing upright with a plastic handle jutting from the top. The younger boy is attempting to release himself from the older boys grip, and the response that he gains is to have his soft toy returned to him. This quells the loud moans he emitted whilst being dragged down the stairs, though the older boy does not release his grip from the arm. He walks over to the wooden cupboard after setting down. Upon its surface is a piece of paper that the elder boy picks it up, inspecting the boldly written words on it. It reads NOTE TO SELF: THEYLL BE OVER AT 3:40. At reading this, the boy lifts his sleeve to inspect a watch, upon seeing the time he mutters the word shit. He darts to the suitcases, still very tightly grasping his brothers arm, pushing the suitcases into a kind of dining room that leads from the room they were in. It is not soon after when a ring on the doorbell sounds from the other room, followed by an assertive triplet of knocks. Both boys jolt their heads to the door; the outline of a figure can be seen through the unclear glass on the door. With an almost instinctive quality, the older brother grabs his younger brother as if to hug him, wraps his hand across the brothers mouth and drops limply to the floor. A silence follows. Then another ring, another knock. This time a womans voice follows the commotion, social services, it says. A pause. The doorbell rings again, and he voice speaks, saying that we[they] know the boys are in there. The boys lay still, the older one behind the younger, his hand clasped tightly to the younger boys mouth. Another knock on the door, and the voice says theres no one here to look after you, and come on. A pause, followed simply by the voice saying boys? and stating their names. Finally, the voice appears to speak to someone else,

saying theyre not picking up, come back again, and then silence. After a number of seconds, the elder boy releases his hand from the brother, who instantly begins crying. The older boy joins in with him, their heavy sobs fusing together as they lay on the floor.