The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1)

by Freida McFadden

There’s something about this room that’s making a little ball of dread form in the pit of my stomach.

Is there something wrong with me that I am scared this nine-year-old girl is going to murder me?

I’d say there’s at least a twenty-five percent chance she’s going to murder me in my sleep if I get this job. But I still want it.

And I smile. My first real smile in almost eight years. I can’t believe I finally got rid of that asshole.

I walk over to the closet and peer inside. There’s nothing inside except a blue bucket. There are no papers at all, much less enough for searching through them to be a two-person job. I don’t quite understand what he would like me to do. Then I hear a door slam shut. I lift my head and turn around. Suddenly, I’m all alone in this tiny room. Andy has left the room and shut the door behind him.

“I don’t understand,” I sputter. “Why can’t you let me out? Did you lose the key?” “No.” “So let me out!” “I said not yet.” I flinch at the sharpness of the last two words. I don’t understand. What’s going on here? Why won’t he let me out of the attic?

The bathroom is outside this room. Then again, if I wait much longer, I’m going to pee in my pants. I get up and pace the room. I try the doorknob one more time, hoping maybe I just imagined everything that happened last night and it will open magically. No such luck. It’s still locked. I remember when I looked in the closet, there was only one item in there. A bucket. Andy set this whole thing up. He tricked me into coming up here. He installed a lock on the outside of the door.

“I… I’m sorry for that.” “Because you couldn’t take care of your hair, now you will give it to me.” I have a horrible, sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. “What?” “Not all of it.” He chuckles, because of course that would be ridiculous. “I want a hundred strands.” “You… you want a hundred strands of my hair?” “That’s right.” He taps on the door. “Give me one hundred strands of your hair, and I’ll let you out of the room.”

“Okay,” I agree. I run a hand through my blond hair and two strands come loose in my fingers. “I’ll have it for you in five minutes.”

I haven’t eaten in twenty-four hours now and I’m dizzy with hunger.

“Hmm,” Andy says. “What?” I croak. “What is it?” “See,” he says, “almost all of the strands are fine, but one of them doesn’t have a hair follicle on it.” Bastard. “Fine. I’ll give you a new one.” “I’m afraid not,” he sighs. “You’ll have to start all over again. I’ll check in on you tomorrow morning. Hopefully by then, you’ll have one hundred intact hairs for me. Otherwise, we’ll have to just keep trying.”

“Andy.” I swallow a lump in my throat. “Can you turn the light on?” “Of course, sweetheart.” He pulls on the cord for the lights, and the room lights up. But it’s not normal light. The light coming from overhead is almost blinding. It’s super bright, like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. I let go of Andy’s hand and clasp my own hands over my eyes to block it out. And then I hear the sound of the door slamming shut. “Andy!” I call out. “Andy!”

“Maybe. But you were the one who was in a loony bin for trying to kill yourself and your daughter. The police saw you doing it. You admitted to having done it. And by the time they came here to check things out, this room looked exactly like a storage closet.” “It was real,” I gasp. “It was real the whole time. You…”

“But first,” he says, “there are going to be some ground rules.” “Anything you say.” Just please let me out of here. “For starters, you don’t tell anyone what went on in this room.” His voice is firm. “You don’t tell your friends, you don’t tell your doctor, you don’t tell anyone. Because nobody will believe you, and

if you talk about it, it’s just going to be a sign that you’re having delusions again and poor Cecelia could be in danger.”

I’m impressed that you managed to unscrew one of those lightbulbs though. I didn’t even think of that.” “You… How did you…?” “I’m watching you, Nina. I’m always watching.”

And it’s not just me. If Cecelia does something unacceptable, I’m the one who gets punished.