text: [Themes: horror]
  
  "You're right, Sophie. This is all getting a little too weird. Let's just leave." you say.
  
  You gather your belongings and head into the foyer. You reach for the door handle, and pull, but... nothing! You tug at it again. Letting go of the vacuum, you pull with both hands.
  
  "It won't budge!" you cry to Sophie. Sophie stares in disbelief, mouth agape, and then starts yanking on the second door handle. You both try pushing as well, but no luck.
  
  "Well, this is great," Sophie snorts, leaning on the door. "So much for our quiet getaway. I guess we have to find that maid and get her to open the door. But which way did she go?"
  
  It's up to you.
  
  > look for her through the lounge.
  "Um, let's go through here." You motion to the left, through a glossy looking lounge with a wet bar.
  
  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..."
  
  > say "Try going up the stairs?"
  "We're going upstairs," you tell Sophie. "There's probably a phone in a bedroom upstairs."
  
  You head cautiously up the stairs into darkness. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. That woman might follow you and corner you. You just try to swallow your fear and keep moving.
  
  You open the first door you see. It's a bath room.
  
  You look at Sophie. "Better keep moving," she whispers.
  
  The next door, on the right, is a bedroom of some sorts. You both enter and glance around for a phone. Nothing there. You both exit and go the opposite way down the hall.
  
  There is a door decorated with pictures of balloons and flowers. "Okay, this looks relatively safe. It's the tamest thing I've seen so far." You enter and look around.
  
  It appears to be a children's bedroom. The two of you search around for a phone. You are looking in a back corner, when you hear a loud moan through the wall. "Huh?" you say. You touch the wall, and to your surprise it opens like a door. You peek inside in the darkness.
  
  The moan comes again, this time louder. You are startled, but you keep looking inside. As your eyes adjust to the darkness of the crawl space, you see what is moaning. It's some sort of person, but it is extremely deformed. Its eyes loll at you and it moans again.
  
  Sophie stifles a scream. "What is it?" she cries.
  
  "I don't know, " you say. But somehow you are brought to pity for this creature. As you slowly step forward, you notice there are at least two similar creatures in the room. They lay on soiled mattresses, moaning in pain. As you look closer, you realize by their small sizes that they are probably children.
  
  "Good God, how can they be keeping these children like this?" you cry out.
  
  "It's really none of your damn business-" you hear suddenly from the doorway. You whirl around and it is a tall man with dark hair. You recognize his voice as Mr. Alexander, the owner of the house and man who called you for the job.
  
  "What's going on here?" Sophie cries. "We were chased up here by some lady with a knife. Look, we just want to leave!"
  
  "I'm afraid it won't be that easy," Mr. Alexander says grimly. "You see, my wife needs something you have. You see these... creatures? These are our failures. My wife and I deserve to have a normal baby, not these horrible freaks. So, my wife just needs to perform a little ritual on you to harvest your young energy."
  
  Sophie is cowering next to you. What do you do?
  
  > fight off the man.
  You fling yourself at the man. There's no way you're going down without a fight! You pummel his face.
  
  Unfortunately, Sophie has not joined in this attack. She apparently fled, thinking you'd gone crazy too.
  
  So, Mr. Alexander quickly overpowers you. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to throw yourself at someone who's so much bigger than you....