Home

**Home** is the thirteenth episode of the first season of The Penumbra Podcast and the last one-shot episode in Season 1. It was released August 30, 2016.

## Overview

*WARNING: “Home” is a horror story. If themes of domestic/child abuse are disturbing to you, please consider listening to one of our Juno Steel stories or a different stand-alone episode.*

Lily doesn’t want to move. This house is the only home she’s ever known, and she loves it – but in a few days her family is leaving, and her older brother Jake says she’ll never see it again. Dad says not to worry about it, that it’s okay to be sad when you’re leaving home, but sadness isn’t what Lily’s worried about.

Lily’s scared. Because for the last few weeks Lily’s been having nightmares, strange dreams about a thing in the dark with cold breath and sharp teeth. Normally Mom and Dad help her with her nightmares, but… tonight, Mom and Dad are out of town. And normally Lily would just turn on a light and try not to think about the monster in the dark… but tonight, the power’s gone out.

### Trigger Warnings

* Violence
* Profanity
* Sudden loud noises
* Threats of violence and death
* Family abuse
* Claustrophobic and dark spaces

## Episode Summary

Lily's father wakes her up on the couch. Playfully running away from him, she almost breaks her older brother Jacob's's trophy, but her father catches it before it hits the ground. He promises not to tell Jake if she won't.
Lily tells her father that she is up early hiding from monsters. She describes a bad dream, refusing to believe her father's claim that there are no monsters in their house. Lily and her family are moving house, and she is worried that there will be monsters in their new place. Lily says she won't go to the new house if it has monsters, and insists that an exterminator goes to the new house before they move in. It's revealed that this anxiety stems from a reluctance to leave the house she's spent her childhood in. Lily's father teaches her a "magic rhyme" to keep the monsters away. Jake fights with his parents about going out because no one will be home with Lily while they go to see an important client. They leave, planning to be home by midnight. As soon as they're gone, Lily and Jake argue about the location of a "secret passage" in their house, which Jake had promised to show her before they left. He tells her that sometimes the secret passage is harder to find sometimes, but Lily doesn't believe him. She lunges for him and accidentally breaks the baseball bat off of his trophy. Jake is furious and goes out, leaving her alone.

Later, Lily sits in her bed, too scared to leave her room, even though she is desperately thirsty. After talking herself through the trip to the kitchen with the magic rhyme to keep her fear at bay, she is on her way back to the bedroom when the power in the house goes out. She finds a flashlight, but it's out of batteries. Jake calls to her from upstairs, offering a rare chance to build a fort together and tell scary stories. She comes to Jake's door, but he scares her, chasing her around the house and smashing furniture. Lily hides in her mother's office and tries to find the phone to call her parents, but evidently can't remember any phone numbers. Jake finds her and accuses her of abandoning him. He tells her that he's going to kill Lily, and their parents when they get home so that no one will be able to leave him. Jake lights a match and sets himself on fire, but Lily smothers the fire with their mother's coat. Jake explains that the house can control anything that's part of it, and it's angry that they're leaving. He tells her that the house makes monster noises to scare her, and he chased her because of the control the house had over him. They find themselves locked in the office, but one of the secret passages appears to get them out. As they climb a ladder, the ceiling of the house comes down, trying to crush them. Lily tells Jake that she doesn't want to die, and Jake tells her that he loves her.

Suddenly, everything is back to normal. The burns on Jacob and Lily's bodies are gone. Their parents get home and demand an explanation for the mess in the living room, although no damage has been caused like Lily remembers.

A few days later, Lily and her family move out. Lily and Jake leave a note of warning to the people moving in. It reads:

"Dear whoever lives here next:
Welcome home! Before you get settled in, we wanna give you a warning. Well, not exactly a warning really, just advice, because this house is special. It’ll give you everything you want if you let it -- secret passages and spots for forts, places you can hide when your parents are being, you know, parents. But you have to treat it right, OK? Play in the yard. Have friends over when you can. And tell it you love it every once in a while. We think it needs to hear that. And if doesn’t, well, things might get weird. We hope you like it here. And we really hope it likes you here, too. Good luck. Lily and Jake. PS Lily swears she saw a dinosaur bone in the backyard, I think it was probably a dead cat but like go nuts or whatever.

Jake and Lily reflect on leaving the house, and after a bittersweet moment, they leave in the moving truck.

## Cast and Crew

Starring

* Kate Jones as Lily
* Joshua Ilon as Jacob
* Noah Simes as Dad
* Kat Buckingham as Mom

## Quotes

* "Just try to be careful. You think Jake's grumpy *now...*" Noah Simes as Dad

## References

 One-Shots
 Bonus Episodes