Shadows over Baker Street

by Nighttime-words

When Giulia - a new in town girl in desperate need of an accommodation, walks through the door of 221B Baker Street for the first time, she is catapulted into a mysterious, fascinating world populated by dark shadows which seem to haunt her. She'd better keep an eye out because Baker Street never sleeps... and neither do criminals.

2. 1 Baker Street

Second day in London.
1162 miles away from home (1870 kilometres, to be precise).

London, UK: the beginning of a new life.

Not a great start, after all.

Waking up and starting to get dressed, Giulia mentally summarises her to-do list:

1. University Orientation

2. Book shopping

3. Finally, the thing that worries her most: finding an accommodation before spending all her money on that hotel room.

The day passes quickly and, after the successful accomplishment of the first two points of her list, she decides it is time to deal with that last, terrifying matter.

She wanders around the city examining five different options, with a disheartening result: some are far too expensive and the others... Out of the question.
A complete waste of time.

She sighs disconsolate and looks down at the creased sheet of paper in her hand.
Below the checked names suggested by her new friends, there is one last address: possibly her last hope.
Baker Street.

By the time she arrives in front of the black door, it is starting to get dark and cold.

She is about to knock when the door bursts open, and a man with a shocked expression on his face rushes out of it, bumping into her.

He mumbles something, but when she catches the meaning of his words, he has already disappeared around the corner of the street.

"Good evening. Anybody in?" she asks stepping through the open door.

A lady with a warm smile appears in the darkened corridor, "Hello dear! May I help you?"

"Yes, please, ma'am. I'd like to have some information about renting..."

She is cut short in the middle of the sentence by the sound of footsteps coming frantically down the stairs.

"Dear God, he has no respect!" a corpulent woman complains before marching out the door.

At that moment, a dirty-blond-haired man appears on the landing at the top of the stairs and shouts out, "Wait!", but the woman has already disappeared into the night.

"Oh, John, what has he been doing all day?" the kind woman asks him regretfully.

"You know, Mrs Hudson: just being himself" he sighs.

"Was she the fifth or the sixth potential tenant?" she inquires again looking at the front door just slammed.

"The seventh. God help me!" he rolls up his eyes, before looking down at the confused girl standing in the hall.

"Is she the next one?"

"Let's hope she is the one" Mrs Hudson replies before turning to the young woman next to her and whispering kindly, "I think it's your turn, dear. Go on up: they're waiting for you."