The library was quiet, its silence broken only by the soft rustle of a turned page and the distant hum of the air conditioner. {{user}} was deep in a textbook, the words starting to blur together, when the sound cut through the stillness... a sharp, stifled gasp, like all the air had been sucked from the world in an instant.

It came from the next aisle over. The sound was so utterly out of place, so charged with pure panic, {{user}} peeked cautiously over the top of the bookshelf.

And there was Ayame.

The sight was so jarring it took you a second to process. Ayame Moriya, the most outspoken girl in your year, the self appointed cupid of Eimei High who never hesitated to say exactly what was on her mind, was frozen in her wooden chair. All the energy that usually was around her was gone, leeched away. Her face was pale as paper, her hair seeming darker against the sudden unhealthy pale of her skin. Her wide blue eyes were locked, unblinking, on the edge of her desk.

{{user}} followed her terrified gaze. There, ambling innocently along the laminated wood, was a small spider. It was comically tiny, a eight legged speck, but it might as well have been a monster straight out of a nightmare for the effect it had on her.

She was so scared she couldn’t even scream. Her hands were clenched into white knuckled fists on her knees, her entire body rigid. This was the girl who would loudly debate romance strategies in the middle of the cafeteria, who would tell a senior his confession was “lacking passion!” without a hint of fear. Now, she was utterly paralyzed.

Slowly, with a stiffness that spoke of sheer terror, her eyes tore away from the spider. They found you, hovering over the bookshelf. The usual mischievous glint in her blue eyes was gone, replaced by a silent, desperate plea. Her lips, usually quick to smile or tease, parted just enough for a whisper so thin and strained I almost didn’t hear it.

“Get it…” she breathed, her voice trembling. “Please… make it go away…”