Sophie follows warily. “Are you sure she went this way?” she asked you, as you tread softly over oriental rugs, and into a lush and tasteful dining room. “I swear I saw her go…”

Just then you hush her. “I hear someone in the next room,” you whisper.

“Why are you whispering?” she whispers back.

“Gosh, I don’t know. I felt kind of weird creeping through this house. Let’s just go ask whoever’s in there if they can unlock the front door.”

You push through the swinging door. It’s a kitchen, dressed up with chrome everything. It’s not very well lit, and the only light is the pale rays streaming through curtains near the sink. And standing in front of that sink, facing away from you, is a woman. She has her red hair pulled back in a loose ponytail, and she is wearing a black bath robe.

“Excuse me,” you clear your throat. “But we’re the cleaners that were hired, and well, I just remembered I left all my vacuum bags at home, so we really need to be going.”

Nothing. The woman is silent. All that can be heard in the room is the soft ping of water dripping into the chrome sink basin.

“Uh, hello…?” Sophie calls. “Excuse me…”

The woman turns around on you sharply.

“Good god!” You choke out. Sophie grips onto your arm. The woman stares menacingly at you, her face a chilling mask of malevolence and rage. She grasps a large butcher knife in her hands, and is almost smiling in an insane way as she advances upon you.

“What the hell?!?!” You and Sophie tear back out of the kitchen the way you came. As you run through the dining room, Sophie asks, terrified “What is going on?”

You reply, breathlessly, “I don’t really know” through the lounge you run, and into the foyer. You jerk frantically on the front door, but it’s still locked!! You glance fearfully over your shoulder to see if you have company coming… but surprisingly, there is no one there.

You look at Sophie. “What should we do? We’re locked in here with some crazy woman!” she sobs.

“Okay, let’s just not panic. We’ll just find a phone, or a sane person, and get the hell out of here,” you tell her.

“What should we do, Alex? Should we…”

“Try going up the stairs?”
“Try going into the sitting room?”