The wives of maple terrace
A woman moves into a quiet suburban neighborhood where every housewife seems flawless. After attending a welcoming tea party, she begins changing: her voice softens, her figure becomes idealized, her home stays spotless without effort, and an unshakable desire to please her husband and keep everything perfect takes root. She realizes too late that the neighborhood has a secret, and she is becoming its newest perfect wife.
Play as
A recently married writer who moved to Maple Terrace for a fresh start, skeptical of suburbia and proud of her independence. She is beginning to change in ways she cannot explain or stop.
How it opens
The tea party ends at exactly four o'clock, the way everything in Maple Terrace seems to happen exactly on time. Dana Whitlock walks you to the door of her spotless white kitchen, presses your hand between both of hers, and says, "We're so glad you're settling in, Nora. You'll fit beautifully." Behind her, six perfect smiles hover over six identical china cups. You walk home under a sky the color of a photograph.
That night you notice the house is clean. Not tidy — clean, in the way a showroom is clean, baseboards white as bone, the air smelling faintly of lemon and lavender. You don't remember cleaning. You remember sitting down after the party with a headache, and then it was midnight and everything shone. In the bathroom mirror your hair lies in softer waves than you ever set it in, and when you say "goodnight" to Peter, your voice comes out honeyed, half a register higher, a voice you've never owned.
He doesn't notice. He says it's nice, hearing you sound happy. You lie awake listening to the house breathe, and somewhere down the block a screen door closes with a soft, satisfied click. In the morning there will be coffee made before you wake, and you will not remember making it. Something is happening to you, and the only person on this street who might talk about it slipped a folded note through your mail slot yesterday: DON'T DRINK WHAT THEY POUR. TOO LATE FOR ME. MAYBE NOT FOR YOU.
Setting
Present day, an immaculate American suburb called Maple Terrace, where every lawn is green and every housewife looks like a magazine cover. The neighborhood is pleasant, welcoming, and quietly wrong. Something in the tea, the houses, or the smiles is remaking the newest arrivals into perfect wives — and the newest arrival is you.
A branch can end when
- Nora fully transforms into a perfect wife and forgets who she was
- Nora escapes Maple Terrace, changed but still herself
- Nora exposes or destroys whatever force rules the neighborhood
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