"Come on in!" I opened the door a little wider and waved my three friends in. Two of them, Minzy and Bom, became instilled with awe the moment they entered, turning with jaws dropped to take in the entirety of the room. The last girl, Chaerin, walked in too, but her jaw dropped for a different reason.

       "D-Dara?" I heard her ask in an uncharacteristically tiny voice.

       "Yeah?" I responded, stifling giggles as I glanced at Minzy and Bom. I turned to Chaerin, who was frozen right by the front door, staring in fear at something in front of her on the wall. Her arm shakily lifted to point at it.

       "Dara...w-what's that?" I followed her finger and smiled knowingly at the giant bear head mounted on the wall.

       "Oh, that's a grizzly bear head." I chuckled at her widening eyes. "My dad is a taxidermist. He's pretty proud of it too. He calls himself a prodigy." Her eyes slowly met mine and she was visibly shaking. I scoffed jokingly.

       "Oh CL-roo, chill out! It's not gonna eat you or something, hurry up and come in! I have food in the kitchen." She seemed to relax a little at my obvious remark, but stiffened up once again as she heard Bom's whisper behind her as they followed me to the kitchen.

       "It won't eat you, but it'll try," she said with a conniving tone. Chaerin yelped in fright, ignoring her indignity, running up to me and clutching my arm before turning around and glaring accusingly and Bom and Minzy.

       "Guys, stop scaring me!!" she exclaimed. I exchanged glances with Bom, and Minzy subtly winked at me before pulling a straight face again.

       I dragged a devastated Chaerin with me through the halls on the way to the food, but not before passing a couple other animal heads. Every time we passed one, I would shrug off her grip on my arm before pointing directly at one of them.

       "Look, CL-roo, this is deer! Like Bambi!" I would tell her excitedly, giggling when she squeaked in surprise and grabbed my arm again, muttering quiet supplications to me to get her out of here.

       We finally arrived in the kitchen and Minzy, Bom, and I began to munch on potato chips and sip on some pop. Bom and I chattered loudly about mundane things like we always do. Minzy watched on in amusement while Chaerin just sat there, her teeth chattering.

       Finally, when we quieted down, Chaerin sat up a little straighter and asked with a shaky voice, "Dara? What exactly does your dad do? You know, as a...you know, a taxidermist and all."

       I saw Minzy stifle some more laughs and forced myself to keep a straight face. I faced her seriously.

       "You said it, he's a taxidermist, so he makes live animals become those heads you saw on the wall on the way here." She gasped incredulously, as if not expecting that definition of taxidermy.

       "H-how...?!" she asked hesitantly, yet terrified all the same.

       "He likes to hunt, so he goes out at night with a big, BIG gun." I motioned with my arms to emphasize my point. Her eyes widened again. "He goes out at night, all alone, and walks around until he finds a bear. The bear gets angry because he has a gun, so the bear tries to kill him!" I ended my sentence with lots of gusto, might I say so myself. She squealed and hid her face in Bom's neck.

       "And then, my dad takes his gun and he shoots the bear a ton of times before grabbing a knife and cutting its eyes out and slitting its throat!" I continued. Minzy drew a hand across her neck with a grim expression. Chaerin shifted her weight uncomfortably.

       "Then, he cuts the bear's head off with a chainsaw and puts it in a big, black bag FULL of other heads. He takes the bear to his office where he cuts it open and takes off all the skin, and blood gets EVERYWHERE and there's an infernal smell. And then he takes a ton of wires and stuffing and shoves it into the bear's bloody skin until it looks real again."

       I finished my story with a wide, gummy smile. Minzy and Bom both glanced over warily to gauge Chaerin's reaction, but I guess there was no point because she looked like her soul had left her. We all watched expectantly, until finally she snapped out of her reverie. Her eyes blinked and she looked at me, leaning forward.

       "Why are they hanging around in your house?" she asked me with a grave expression.

       "He gives me some of his heads to hang up and show off," I answered truthfully. Suddenly, I made my face look like I was telling a horror story or something. Chaerin hates those. "He gives me the bloodiest ones. But sometimes...I feel like they're following me with their eyes."

       She literally looks like she's about to faint, but she doesn't because Minzy bursts out laughing, and Bom and I follow suit. We're just about falling out of our chairs, hitting the table and clutching our stomach, and Chaerin still looks like she's about to faint. From anger.

       "I HATE YOU GUYS!!!!"

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