The Housemaid

Millie tries calling out from the room in the attic, but there’s no answer. She assumes that she has been mistakenly locked in and switches on the light to find her phone and call Andrew. Her phone is missing, but she finds three heavy books in the room that weren’t there earlier: “A Guide to U.S. Prisons. The History of Torture. And a copy of the phone book” (270-71). Somehow, she manages to fall asleep despite her full bladder.

Millie wakes up to hear Andrew calling her from the other side of the door. He tells her that he locked her in because after she borrowed his books to read, she left them lying on the coffee table and didn’t put them back on the bookcase. As punishment, Millie is to balance the three books in the room on her stomach for three hours. Shocked, Millie mentions her full bladder, and Andrew instructs her to use the bucket. In addition, he reveals that he can see her via a hidden camera in the room. Andrew leaves Millie locked in the room.