Mr. Hammer-Time

I've been a lot of lonely places
I've never been on the outside...

"There's no monster in the house," Cassandra said, more bored than ever, "but the house is the monster?"

Clara nodded, gripping her phone for dear life.

"And we only have until midnight to find its dark heart and destroy it?" Jacob said, rolling up his sleeves.

"And you said life was boring," Ezekiel fired at Clara.

"No, I didn't," she protested.

"Yeah, you did."

"They're dead, aren't they?" Kate burst out, startling them all. "I killed them!" She collapsed onto her knees, breaking down into noisy sobs, making the others wince.

"The house killed them," Eve said, annoyed. "If it killed them," she amended hastily, "we don't even know if they're dead."

"It was my idea to come here," Kate wept, grabbing her head between her hands, digging her fingers into her long tangled brown hair. "I thought it would be cool to check it out!"

"Famous last words," Cassandra breathed.

"Okay," Eve said, shaking her head. "Have anyone else seen anything weird?"

"I found a hatchet caked in blood," Jacob suggested with a shrug of his shoulder.

"I saw the pram from Rosemary's Baby," Ezekiel supplied.

"Ha-ha," Clara said, rolling her eyes.

"Seriously, it's up there," Ezekiel retorted, put out.

"Why don't we just feed Zeke to the house?" Clara said, turning to Eve. "Then all our problems would be solved in one swoop!'

"It would just barf him up again," Jacob said, earning himself a punch on the arm from Ezekiel.

"Would you all just get a grip?" Eve spat. "We can wing this, we always do."

"There is a monster in this house," Kate suddenly snapped, startling everyone. "You seen it!" she yelled, pointing at Clara.

"The shadow man?" Clara said nervously, edging behind Jacob.

"I thought that was just an illusion," Eve said, frowning. "A trick the house was playing on us."

"No, he's real," Kate started to sob again, rocking back and forth, "he - he - has a hammer or a hatchet" -

Everyone but Kate turned to Jacob, who exhaled sharply, readying himself for what lay ahead. "Okay, it's Mr. Hammer-Time," he breathed, taking Clara's hand in his.