Chapter Two
Beca's heart was pounding painfully in her chest as the last scene of her dream ended in darkness. She woke to hear herself choking down a painful cough.
"Fuck!" Beca thought to herself clutching her chest as if that would help still her pounding heart. "That was horrible. Almost as terrifying as yesterday when I woke up singing One Direction."
She lay back into her pillow and tried to push the thoughts from her mind. She wanted to reach for her headphones on the back of her chair; Beca's version of a comfort blanket. But she didn't have the energy to try to stretch over the back of her headboard. Beca knew she really should get up and get some food. She couldn't remember the last time she ate or drank anything. That would probably explain the dry mouth and the goddamn awful pain in her stomach.
Beca had been feeling unwell for a few days now and had taken to her bed in the hope that sleep would make her feel better. Finals were not that far away and she needed to rest. She knew that soon enough someone would see the black circles under her eyes, the hollow cheeks and the haunted look she seemed to have developed overnight and know she wasn't right. None of her reading or studying was being absorbed so she just slept. No one had bothered her and she didn't even noticed Kimmy-Jin coming and going through the dorm room. In fact, nothing looked like it had moved at all. Maybe Kimmy-Jin was over at Shau's place for a few days, as she couldn't stand Beca making any noise whatsoever and with Beca being ill and all that ... Beca didn't care. She didn't want to see anyone anyway. They might fuss.
And she hated fuss.
Except maybe from Chloe.
She didn't mind the way the red head had barrelled into her life and taken charge of her happiness. She had never snatched up her phone as quick as she did now to see if the incoming message was a snippet from the Life of Chloe Beale. Chloe had one of those personalities where she only ever saw the good in people, saw life as one big adventure and totally rocked at being a friend. More often than not, Beca would wake in the morning to find a heart sticker, a photograph, a card, some incredible homemade ginger cookies or something equally heart-warming had been pushed under her door. Always with the note "saw this and thought of you" written in Chloe's loopy handwriting and there was always a heart at the end. Usually Beca would have rolled her eyes at this sort of behaviour and thought of it as beyond lame.
But Chloe ... Chloe got her.
She pushed Beca gently to open up and was just there for her and intuitively knew when Beca had had a bad day and would turn up with a piece of cheesecake or one of her God awful chick flick movies. She had enough of that with Jesse trying to convince her that something was wrong with her as she didn't like watching movies! But Chloe was different. She didn't wait for an answer, she just waltzed in and made herself at home. She didn't laugh at Beca's fears, didn't scoff at her when she admitted that she believed in angels and held her as Beca finally cried about losing her beloved Grandfather the year before. Papa had stepped in when Beca's dad had left the family and never asked any questions, just hugged and loved her.
Beca sighed.
That tightness in her throat was back. She coughed but it didn't help. Beca wasn't worried, she had a cough before which didn't shift for a while but this sure was uncomfortable, like something was stuck. She tried to take a deep breath but her lungs wouldn't fill out. She attempted to kick the blankets from her legs, knowing that she needed to get up and not lay in bed all day like she had done for four days but the blanket felt like lead. With a grunt, and a considerable amount of effort, she swung her legs out of bed and tried to sit up. Everything felt so heavy, intense and slow. She glanced over to her clock.
It read 8am.
Beca winced at the time. She was late for a Bella's rehearsal and she knew how much Aubrey liked everyone to be on time. Then, in a flash, she remembered the week before and that familiar feeling of dread took over her senses.
"What the hell Beca? Were you trying to screw us up?" Aubrey shouted at Beca as they left the stage after the Semi Finals.
Beca grimaced at the memory of her showdown with Aubrey that, although despite that being nothing new, she knew the Captain of the Bella's didn't like her one jot and only tolerated her because of her friendship with Chloe, it still hurt.
She knew she shouldn't have changed the set without Aubrey's permission but she was only trying to help. In a way, she hated the way the Bellas had made her feel something other than scorn for an all female a cappella singing group. If someone had told her a year ago, where she was right now ... she would have laughed in their faces. She loved those girls.
Love?
That was also a new one on Beca.
She still had yet to face any of her friends after that night. She had trouble remembering the turn of events after she took off, quitting the Bellas in protest and yelling at Jesse as she stomped off. She remembered sweet Benji running to catch up with her but she just needed to be by herself.
Alone.
And when she was alone, she knew she was safe within herself.
But the anger had quickly dissipated and she was left with a hollow feeling in her heart. She had screamed at Jesse because he had tried to help. And now she was feeling bad. Beca Mitchell didn't know these kind of emotions.
She waited for what seemed like an age outside the building where the Semi Finals were held. She hoped that Jesse would come to find her and be noble and forgiving and distract her with his inane movie talk. He was always there. She waited for Chloe to text and say where they were or to see how she was. She waited. And waited. And no one came. No one called.
And that hurt.
Beca rubbed her temples and tried to recall how she got back to her dorm. She couldn't understand how she still couldn't remember. One minute she was outside the building, waiting on the bench, her left heel broken when she ran from the Bellas and then she woke up in bed in her dorm room.
Still, she had given up worrying about it now. She ran her fingers through her hair but everything was such an effort.
"Urgh. This definitely feels like I am really getting the flu. Great!"
Slowly, she stood up, taking a moment or two to balance on her feet. She slowly placed one foot in front of the other and headed to her closet. Her feet didn't feel attached and she swore she was floating on air as she walked, the sound of wind whooshing around her head. She just needed a couple of headache tablets and maybe some juice and she would be fine.
And probably some fresh air.
And definitely some food.
And Chloe.
That last thought surprised her. As much of a geek as Jesse was with his happy talk and his desperate attempts to rescue her, she actually really did enjoy his company. He was comfortable and dependable. The weirdo.
But there was something about Chloe. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on. She missed having the vibrant Chloe around and was surprised to find that she was a little upset that she hadn't called or texted to see how she was. Not that Beca knew where her phone was. She looked around on her bed but everything was so dark, she couldn't see properly. Not middle of the night dark but just dark ...cloudy ... grave ... gloomy. She shivered despite the heat in the room.
She moved slowly to her closet to get a hoodie, feeling now like she was walking in treacle. She reached out her hand but it didn't seem to want to move from her side and where did those bruises on her arm suddenly come from?
Why was everything being so difficult and strange?
Urgh.
*bleep* ... *bleep* ... *bleep* ... *bleep*
There was that bleep again. She slowly crossed the room to Kimmy-Jin's side. Had her roommate left some gadget of hers switched on? Where was it coming from?
She was so confused. She looked back at her clock to see how late she was going to be. She was startled to see the time read 11.59am.
"What the fuck?" Beca said aloud to the empty room. "How on earth has four hours passed so quickly?"
She stood for a moment, listening to see if she could find the source of the annoying bleep. Beca realised just how quiet it was everywhere and knitted her eyebrows in confusion. At any time of the day, you could hear people roaming about in the halls or moving around outside.
Where was everyone?
Beca was just about to head towards her door when a loud voice stopped her dead in her tracks.
"... Beca ... a shooting ..."
Beca spun around.
"What?! Who said that? ... Hello?"
Beca felt her legs give way as she fell to the dorm room floor. For once, Beca was glad that she was such an untidy girl. Her large pile of laundry and towels softened the hard floor as she made contact. Her head took a knock and Beca began to see stars. She felt tear prickle behind her eyelids.
"I'm hallucinating. I've gone mad. It's official ... And I am talking to myself as well." She said softly to the room.
"... Beca ..."
"Yes? Who's there? Can you hear me? Is that you Aubrey?" Beca almost wept with relief as she heard a voice that sounded like Aubrey from somewhere in the room.
Beca sat up but she was very alone. She looked around the room twice to make sure but there was no one there. Her eyes caught her clock and she was taken aback to see the time now read 2.55pm. She watched the digits change to 3.27pm before her very eyes.
With a lot of effort, Beca made it to her feet and was determined to leave the room. She needed to get out of here, something wasn't right. She struggled with her limp hands against the door handle. Why weren't her hands working properly? Why was she so goddamn cold? As her feeling of frustration at the situation began to rise, so did her resolve to get out of the room. She willed her hand to open the door and despite the numbness in her fingers, she managed to twist the door knob which felt squishy, like play dough.
Beca pulled the door towards her and stepped out into the excessively bright passageway.
"This doesn't look like one of Baker Hall's corridors." She thought and she heard the door shut behind her with the softest of clicks. "Where the fuck am I? I need to call someone. I think I need help!"
