The Housemaid

Three months earlier, Wilhelmina “Millie” Calloway interviews for a job as a housekeeper with Nina Winchester. Nina is a woman in her late thirties; she’s extremely wealthy and dresses stylishly in all white. Millie has underdressed to make sure that Nina doesn’t feel threatened by her looks, even wearing fake glasses to the interview.

Millie assures Nina that she’s a good cook and can watch Cecelia, Nina’s daughter, as part of her duties. Millie has a car that she can ferry Cecelia around in; she doesn’t tell Nina that she’s currently living in it. The compensation that Nina is offering is an extremely attractive amount, and Millie suspects that no one offering that amount would actually hire her.

The position is a live-in one, and Nina offers Millie a tour of the beautiful and expensively furnished house. She eventually leads Millie to a dark stairwell leading up to the attic from the top floor. It houses a narrow hallway with a room and separate bathroom that would be for Millie.

The room sharply contrasts the rest of the house. It’s tiny, with a single cot and a small window that looks out onto the backyard. Something about the room bothers Millie, though she can’t quite figure out what it is. On the way out of the room, Millie and Nina run into Cecelia, who is blonde-haired and blue-eyed like her mother and wears a white lace-trimmed dress.

Nina asks Millie if she has any questions, and tells her to call her “Nina,” not “Mrs. Winchester.” Nina has a good feeling about Millie, but Millie thinks her chances of getting hired will disappear if Nina does a background check. On the way out, Millie runs into the landscaper who works in the Winchesters’ garden. She says hello, but the man says nothing back; however, his expression is eerie, and he shakes his head imperceptibly at her, “like he’s trying to warn her” (12).

A week after the interview, Nina calls and offers Millie the housekeeping job. She asks Millie to start as soon as possible, and Millie, stunned, promises to be there the next day. Nina is thrilled, and Millie wonders how Nina would feel if she knew that Millie spent the last 10 years in prison.

Millie arrives the next day, but the gates are locked. She tries to explain to the landscaper that she’s there to work for Nina, but Millie realizes that he doesn’t speak English. Somehow, she manages to communicate her situation and he lets her inside, carrying her bags to the house and introducing himself as Enzo. Enzo hisses at her in Italian, and Millie catches one word: “pericolo.” As soon as the front door unlocks, however, Enzo rushes back to the front yard. Nina welcomes Millie in. The first thing Millie notices is that, unlike the first visit, the house is no longer immaculate—it’s now filthy.

Nina gives Millie a new iPhone, noting that she has seen Millie’s outdated flip phone and wants a more reliable way to keep in touch with Millie. She introduces Millie to her husband, Andrew Winchester. Andrew is extremely handsome; he’s far more attractive than Nina, and Millie is amazed that someone so rich and handsome is married to Nina. As Millie shakes Andrew’s hand, she notices Nina’s expression change. After Andrew leaves, Millie mentions to Nina that her husband seems nice, and Nina immediately grows suspicious. She asks about Millie’s glasses, and Millie lies that she’s wearing contacts; Nina says that Millie’s glasses were “fetching” and that she should wear them more.

Nina takes Millie up to her room. A small mini fridge has been added, which contains three tiny bottles of water. Millie finally realizes what was bothering her about the room: The lock is on the outside. Nina explains that the room used to be a closet, but they never switched the locks; however, she’s willing to give Millie a key. Nina leaves Millie to get unpacked and start cleaning, while Nina prepares for a PTA meeting for the next day.

When Millie shuts the door, she notices marks in it that look like scratches, as though someone had tried to escape. In addition, she realizes that the window doesn’t open; it has been painted shut. Millie spies Enzo through the window; he looks up, sees her, and shakes his head again. Remembering what Enzo said earlier, Millie looks up the word “pericolo” online and learns that it means “danger.”

Millie spends the next seven hours cleaning. While she’s working in the kitchen, Cecelia appears and announces that she’s hungry but is vague about what she wants to eat. Millie fixes her a snack of Ritz crackers with peanut butter and banana slices, and Cecelia immediately goes into hysterics because she’s allergic to peanut butter. She screams for Nina, who rushes down and firmly chastises Millie, claiming that she mentioned Cecelia’s allergy. However, Millie is sure that Nina said no such thing and wonders why, considering Cecelia’s allergy, her parents would store a jar of peanut butter at the front of the pantry. Nevertheless, Millie apologizes and asks if she should throw out the peanut butter; Nina is quiet for a moment before saying no because they might need it. To Nina’s query about dinner, Millie promises to have the meal ready in three hours.

By 6.45pm, dinner is almost ready. Andrew walks into the kitchen as Millie stirs some sauce; Nina arrives too, and husband and wife greet each other lovingly. Andrew compliments the smell of Millie’s food, and she senses that Nina is unhappy about this. Andrew invites Millie to join them for dinner, at which Nina seems visibly annoyed. Millie turns down the offer, saying that she wants to head upstairs and relax.

Relieved to have a full bed to sleep in again, Millie falls asleep almost immediately. She wakes up early in the morning and tries to open the door to use the bathroom across the hall, but the knob doesn’t turn. Millie panics, sure that Nina has locked her in. She grabs her phone to call 911 but has no signal. She tries the knob again, and it pops open. Millie is somewhat relieved but can’t shake the feeling that she should get out of the house as soon as possible.

The next morning, Millie finds Nina “systematically destroying” the kitchen, tossing dishes and food around. Nina claims that she had left her notes for the PTA meeting on the kitchen counter and accuses Millie of throwing them out. Millie swears that she didn’t do anything with them, but Nina doesn’t believe her.

Andrew arrives, and Nina repeats the accusation. Andrew tries to console Nina, reminding her that she has a copy on the computer, and Nina is partially pacified. Although she’s sure that she didn’t throw out the notes, Millie apologizes to Nina. Nina merely asks her to “clean up this disgusting mess” (42) in the kitchen before she storms out. Millie tries to explain to Andrew what happened, and he understands, claiming that Nina has a good heart but is a little “high-strung.” Millie denies Andrew’s offer to help clean up, and he tells her that he appreciates her hard work.

Millie encounters Enzo in the garden on the way back from grocery shopping, and he helps her with the bags. She notices how handsome he is. Millie begins to ask Enzo about what he meant by “pericolo,” but he rushes off as soon as he hears a noise. Nina appears and asks Millie if she was having company, and Millie replies that Enzo was just helping her with the bags. Nina’s expression changes, and she asserts that she doesn’t want Enzo in the house. She asks Millie about her glasses again, and Millie admits that she doesn’t actually need them. Nina warns Millie to never lie to her again, and leaves, instructing Millie to clean up the non-existent mess.

Nina heads out to the PTA meeting, so Millie makes dinner for just Andrew and Cecelia. Cecelia comes down first and behaves like a brat—she orders Millie to get her apple juice instead of the water that she served and makes her change the glass twice. Andrew eventually comes down too, and Millie again notices his good looks. Millie hasn’t been with a man in a long time; she went to prison when she was 17. She thinks of Enzo and how maybe she can relieve some of her pent-up sexual frustration with him.

Andrew is thrilled to see the steak dinner, but Cecelia is disgusted. Andrew makes chicken nuggets for Cecelia instead, explaining to Millie that Cecelia has specific preferences about the brand, shape, number of chicken nuggets, and how they’re cooked. Once again, Andrew invites Millie to join them, but she declines, stating that Nina wouldn’t like it.

One week into working for the Winchesters, Millie feels like she has been there for ages. Nina is unpredictable, and Cecelia is spoiled; Andrew is the only tolerable member of the household. One morning, Nina hands Millie a garbage bag filled with white clothes that don’t fit her anymore—they’re all in Millie’s size. Millie thanks her, promising to return them if Nina ever wants them back, but Nina assures Millie that she won’t be dropping any dress sizes soon: She and Andrew are going to have a baby. They’ve been trying for a while, and they have an appointment with a specialist soon. Nina finally gives Millie the key to her room.

Out of the blue, Nina calls Millie and frantically instructs her to pick Cecelia up from school. However, she doesn’t give Millie any clear details or instructions, including the name of the school, and doesn’t respond to any of Millie’s phone calls. Millie figures out the place from a school holiday schedule on the fridge.

Millie makes her way to Cecelia’s school just in time, where she joins the mothers waiting to pick up their children. When they learn that Millie works for the Winchesters, they’re immediately contemptuous, mentioning that Nina is “nuts.” Cecelia eventually exits the school building but insists that a friend’s mother is picking her up for her karate lesson. The mother confirms this, stating that it’s a longstanding weekly arrangement. She even calls Nina, who says that Millie got things mixed up. Millie heads home, wondering what the other mothers meant about Nina being “nuts.”

Millie looks through the bathroom cabinets one morning and finds a medicine called haloperidol, among others. She looks it up and discovers that it’s a medication used to treat illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.