Pentatonix: Murder House

Seven

Everyone is asleep in the house.

It's pitch black throughout the entire house and this only means one thing.

Evil lurkers within the halls as the unsuspected owners sleep.

It's time for the evil spirits to have a little fun with the Grassi family.

Mike wakes up out of a dead sleep as if almost in a trance.

He gets out of bed and walks downstairs as the ghostly voice tells him to.

He walks to the living room to the fire place and lights a match.

As he throws the match in the fire place, it lights up with huge flames.

Mike just stands there watching the flames still in his trance state.

Nel walks down the stairs to see what Mike is up to.

She sees him just standing in front of the fireplace with huge flames inside of it.

"What are you doing?" Nel asks concerned.

"Am I in a dream?"

                                               **

Nel is outside hanging her clean white sheets on the line to dry since she doesn't like how the sheets or clothes feel after they've been in the dryer.

When she turns around to get more sheets to hang up, she sees a short woman walk into the backyard.

"Can I help you?" She asks.

"I'm Angelica Maldonado. I'm the housekeeper." She says walks towards the apple tree in the yard.

"Oh! I didn't know the home came with a housekeeper." Nel says with a small smile.

"Why are you hanging your sheets? There's a perfectly good electric dryer inside." Angelica says.

"I don't like all those chemicals in the fabric softener, so I dry them naturally." Nel says.

Angelica nods and turns back towards Nel.

"I work Monday through Thursday. Thanksgiving on. Christmas off." She says.

"Ummm...."

"That was the last deal with the last owners." She says.

"I'm sorry. I'm just not sure that we're going to need a housekeeper." Nel says.

"What have you been using to clean the floor boards?" Angelica asks.

"Murphy's oil soap." Nel says.

"Oh no! White vinegar. Oil soap kills the wood." She says.

Nel turns around and smiles at her.

"I like that better it's more natural. Thank you." Nel says shaking Angelica's hand.

Both woman look up at the house and admire it.

"Have you ever bought a house the old before?" Angelica says looking back at Nel.

"No."

"It has a personality. Hurt its feelings and you'll regret it."

Nel just looks at her and looks back at the house.

"May I come in? My cab left and I need to call another." Angelica asks.

Both women walk inside and Nel leads Angelica to the kitchen for the phone and some coffee.

"So, you use to work for the previous owners?" Nel asks.

"I've been the housekeeper here for years! They come and go. I stay." Angelica says.

Nel goes to grab coffee cups for herself and Angelica as she continues talking.

"They were wonderful owners. The boys before you. I found the bodies." Angelica continues.

"What happened? I mean...I hate to gossip." Nel asks.

"They fought a lot. Money I think, but who can know when something so horrible happens. Sometimes people just go mad! I cleaned the mess. You'd never know." Angelica says.

Nel just looks at her as she continues to talk about how she found the previous owners lifeless bodies in the basement.

Things were silent between the two before Nel spoke up again.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" She asks.

Angelica nods.

"Do you ever get tired of cleaning up other people's messes?" Nel asks.

"We're women. It's what we do. I just get paid for it." She says.

Nel smiles a little at her response.

Just then, Mike walks into the kitchen to get himself some coffee before his next client comes to the house.

"Hey, this is Angelica Maldonado! Angelica this is my husband Mike Grassi. She was the housekeeper for the previous owners." Nel says to Mike.

When Mike sees the woman, he doesn't see the middle aged woman that Nel sees. He see a young twenty something sitting at the counter with Nel.

Mike looks back at his wife and then at Angelica in shock.

"Umm...H-Hi nice to meet you." He says with a faint smile.

Angelica stares at him and then back at Nel.

"That's my cab. If you don't mind I'm going to use the bathroom first." She says walking away.

"Sure!" Nel says happily.

Mike watches as she walks away and then turns to Nel.

"So, what do you think?" She asks.

"What? You wanna hire her?" Mike laughs.

"I mean why not? Yeah she's a little crazy, but she seems nice." Nel says.

Nel turns back around to talk to Angelica about a job as their housekeeper as she walks back into the kitchen.

"So, can you start tomorrow?" Nel asks.

"Thursday would be better but Jill make it work." Angelica says.

Nel nods and smiles.

"And you know, Angelica you don't have to wear that housekeepers uniform if you don't want to." Nel says.

"I don't like cleaning people's houses in my own clothes." She says before walking out the back door.

Mike continues to stand there and eat his snack just looking at her.

Then he starts to laugh a little after she leaves.

"What?" Nel asks.

"Nothing! J-just you always surprise me and I like that." He says kissing his wife.

As he continues to kiss his wife, she pushes him away.

Mike signs.

Nel doesn't look at him. She finds an excuse to walk away to do something else.

Mike cups Nel's face into his hands and says, "you're gonna have to forgive me one day."

She smiles and turns away from him.