Readjusting the strap of her guitar carrier on her sore shoulder, Taeyeon stood before a quaint, moss-ornamented gate that encompassed the clean-cut lawn of a pristine white clapboard house. Inhaling deeply, she pushed her palm against the moist wood, the hinge shuddering at the unwelcomed exercise of its long-unoiled spring. Taeyeon’s Converse chucks padded along the cobblestone walkway, and she inhaled through her nose, breath exhaling slowly as she ascended the two steps to the front door. She knocked with two soft raps and stood on her tiptoes, peering through the window, trying to identify any source of life that may be inside the house. Seeing and hearing nothing, Taeyeon cast her gaze around the yard once more, wondering if she had arrived at the correct residence or if Jessica Jung had played a very cruel prank on her.

A subtle brush against her calves startled Taeyeon and with a small hop her eyes flew down to her feet to find a grey-faced ragdoll circling around her legs, blue eyes peering up into her face. With a smile and giggle of relief, Taeyeon knelt down, hand combing through the fluffy mane, the cat’s head pressing into the palm of her hand.

“What’s your name, sweetie?” Taeyeon cooed, trying to read the crystal-encrusted inscription on the silver tag hanging regally from the feline’s lace pink collar. “Aphrodite?” The ensuing meow ensured Taeyeon she had pronounced the cat’s name correctly. Aphrodite’s back arched at the touch of fingers tracing her spine, tail flowing upward to caress Taeyeon’s wrist. And then the cat darted between a pair of periwinkle socks. Taeyeon’s eyes roved up and looked straight into the face of a young woman who looked very much like Jessica—and yet strangely different.

“Come on in,” the girl said, lazily making her way back into the interior of the house, effectively shielding herself from the view of the visitor.

Slowly, Taeyeon straightened up and stepped inside the house, shutting the door behind her, the only light in the entranceway coming from the small window in the door.

The carpet was something of worn burgundy, and a console piano nestled against the far wall, its narrow top covered in music sheets, classical artist biographies, and a framed photograph.

The sound of running water came from somewhere behind the wall, and Taeyeon realized the girl must be working in the kitchen. Finding herself left alone, Taeyeon rested her guitar against the fawn, suede loveseat and walked forward, eyes peering at the photograph. Two girls sat side-by-side, the details of their faces mirroring each other, but a difference residing in their age. The older one, black hair flat-ironed and parted down the middle, casually leaned on one hand, her smile slightly beaverish. The other girl rested on her stomach, propping herself up on her elbows. It was clear this was the girl who had answered the door. And the other resembled Jessica. The two must be sisters, Taeyeon thought to herself.

The sound of running water ceased and the silence reminded Taeyeon of her surroundings and she stepped around the wall and into the small kitchenette, where the younger sister worked at cutting up tomatoes. She would not raise her eyes.

“Is…is Jessica here?”

“She’s in the basement,” she replied, echoing the monotone voice of her sister.

“Oh… Can I help with anything?”

“I’m actually just about—”

“Soojung-ah~”

Taeyeon turned her head to the doorway snugly situated in the far right corner of the kitchen. Soojung kept her eyes focused on the knife on the cutting board.

“Soojung-ah,” Jessica repeated, her soft whine drifting into the kitchenette from behind the cover of the off-white, egg shell colored walls. “There’s a spider in the basement.”

“Mwo?”

Just then, Jessica Jung emerged, a slight pout curving her lips. “There’s a spider. In. The. Basement.”

“So?”

“I don’t want it there. It’s as big as one of those prank toys. I thought you bought it for Aphrodite.”

“No. Where in the basement?”

“The washroom.”

“Oh.”

Jessica folded her arms across her chest and leaned against the door frame, Soojung still cutting tomato. “Do you need help?”

“No.”

Both girls fell silent, Jessica watching the slow, deliberate motions of her sister’s hand.

“Where’s the spider?”

The quiet question attracted the attention of both sisters and they turned their gaze to Taeyeon, their obliviousness to her presence finally being broken.  

“I’ll kill it for you.”

Hesitantly Jessica’s arms fell to her sides and, with something of a sigh, began her descent down the stairs.

Taeyeon followed behind, both shoulders being brushed by the walled corridor of the staircase. What a small house for such a big head, Taeyeon thought to herself as Jessica sashayed a few feet before coming to a stop before another doorway.

“It’s huge,” Jessica whispered fiercely. She pointed and Taeyeon peered inside, certain Jessica was over exaggerating. To her horror, there in the center of the washroom floor sat a tan, hairy spider, big enough to fill the circumference of her hand. Damn it.

In a crouch, Taeyeon cautiously crept forward, eyes never leaving the beast that may attack her the moment her eyes were to wander anywhere from the embodiment of the devil himself.

“Oh God,” Jessica breathed, hands nervously twisting together.

Within centimeters from the thing, Taeyeon stopped to stare at it. It stared back. She swallowed hard. She straightened up and raised her foot, letting it hover over the thing before her foot found the ground, toes facing the adversary. She could squash it, but it’d smear on the bottom of the shoe. There was a rug behind her.

“Can I wipe my shoe on the rug?”

Jessica, who was standing in the doorway, shook her head no.

Disgruntled, Taeyeon thought quickly. “I don’t want to get it on my shoe. Give me something to crush it. Like a broom.” Taeyeon knew the broom would work. She had killed thousands of spiders over the summer with that tactic while sweeping the back staircase of the Ritz.

“Uh…” Jessica glanced around, her eyes landing on a box of glass jars residing against the washing machine. An endless string of Oh God’s uttered from , she bent down and picked one up, then held it at arm’s length away from her. She was bound and determined not to enter that room. She was such a baby.

Taeyeon leapt over the creature and snatched the glass jar, then quickly spun around and saw her nemesis remaining in place. Bracing herself, Taeyeon jumped back to her initial position of war and lowered herself into her pouncing crouch.

“Be careful!” Jessica warned, her voice rising with the of the intensity of the moment.

Taeyeon had already raised the jar and had begun the pendulum-like movement that would bring the spider to its untimely demise. She halted abruptly and looked up. “Because we have to sweep it up?” Taeyeon asked, pausing for time, not ready to see the thing squish beneath her weapon.

Waves of chestnut shook from side-to-side, emphasizing the urgency of Jessica’s message. “You’ll cut your hand.”

Taeyeon was sure she felt her eyebrows shoot up until they could no more. Did Jessica actually just display an act of concern for her health?

Shaking distractions from her mind, Taeyeon raised the glass again. She inhaled through her nose, the breath slowly escaping through her lips. Try as she might, the jar would always stop just above the beast. “I…I can’t,” Taeyeon whispered after her third attempt.

“I don’t blame you.”

And something in that statement urged Taeyeon to look away, the glass in her hand clinking against the ground.

Jessica screamed and jumped out of the room, Taeyeon’s hand jerking upward, preparing for the next attack. But still the spider sat there, still as ever. What kind of exoskeleton did that thing have to have to not have even taken a dent?

Jessica poked her head back in, her face flushed and voice breathless. “Did you get it?”

Taeyeon nodded in reply and leaned closer, examining the motionless furry foe—wondering if the thing had been dead all along.

“Give me the broom and I’ll sweep it up.”

“Oh God,” Jessica whined for the umpteenth time as she quickly reached for a broom and dust pan, which she then proceeded to hand over to Taeyeon.

Taeyeon set the pan on the ground and grazed the spider with the broom. Its legs curled and Jessica ran away once more, screaming “It’s alive!”

“It’s dead,” Taeyeon said calmly, grateful Jessica hadn’t seen her jump as well at the unexpected movement.

With another quick the spider was in the pan, its legs poised for walking just as it had been when Taeyeon had met it only a few minutes before.

Not caring to hang out with her newfound friend, Taeyeon quickly hurried out of the room, Jessica already halfway up the staircase.

“Did you get it?”

Jessica replied to the apathetic question with “It’s huge!” Soojung then peered down at the pan that Taeyeon was holding uncomfortably close to her chest and echoed the obvious: “That is big.”

“Open the door please.”

Jessica was already on it, unbolting the back door and throwing it open, welcomed sunlight streaming into the house. Taeyeon hurried out onto the porch and gasped for breath. She hadn’t realized she had been holding her breath; everything seeming a little less terrifying in the sunlight.

The thing still stared at Taeyeon, and Taeyeon leaned in closely, analyzing its body. It was still tan and hairy, and she could see four black, beaded eyes lined up both horizontally and vertically on its miniscule face. The legs were thick. But instead of fearing it, she admired it. It was almost beautiful, how intricately it was designed.

“I can see its eyes,” Taeyeon whispered in awe, her face a mere centimeters from the pan.

Perhaps it was Taeyeon’s audacity that gave Jessica the desire, perhaps it was the shame of her foolishness, or perhaps even a mix of the two that urged Jessica to meekly announce “I want to see it.” Taeyeon glanced up and, to her amusement, saw Jessica peering at it from a good three feet away. She moved the pan a little closer—not to scare her, but to grant her wish—and Jessica jumped back, screeching, “Not that close!”

With a chuckle and one last admiring glance at her furry friend, Taeyeon tossed the frozen specimen into the bushes. Squealing a nasally “Oh God,” Jessica hopped back into the safety of her house.