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Chapter Two: Pt. II

The second thing at Christmas that's such a pain to me:

Rigging Up The Lights

(And finding a Christmas tree)

"You're live on the air with Beca Mitchell. What kind of song can I play for you tonight?"

"Hi, Beca," a male voice greets her, "I'm having really rough holiday season this year." Aren't we all? "My girlfriend is leaving in a few days to go home for Christmas, and I really wanted to go with her, but she said she's just not ready to introduce me to her parents yet. I don't understand. I mean, we've been dating for three weeks and four and a half days."

Beca rests her elbow on the desk and rubs her face. "Yeah, that's a - that's a really long time."

"Can you just play something so she knows how much I'm going to miss her while she's away? I love her so much and the thought of being without her is ruining my entire holiday."

"I've got just the song you need. It's called Christmas Just Ain't Christmas Without The One You Love."

"That's perfect. You always know exactly what to play for everyone. I hope you have a great holiday."

"You too." Beca leans back into her chair as the song begins to play. She should have quit this gig the second she began her internship. But here she is, spending her last Christmas at Barden fixing the love lives of Freshman – really living the dream.

xxxxx

"You're live on the air with Beca Mitchell. What kind of song can I play for you tonight?"

"Hi," Fat Amy huffs in a low, husky voice, "My name is, uh – guys, what's my name?" There's several voices mumbling inaudibly in the background. "This is Allen – guys, what's my last name?"

"You don't need a last name."

"I just told her I have a last name."

"You have about sixty seconds left before I'm going to need to play a song then move onto the next caller."

"What about wrench?"

"What?"

"You know – allen wrench?"

"Who the hell is gonna name their kid Allen Wrench?"

"Redneck white people."

"Just say it."

"Hurry up, you guys, we're running out of time."

"This is Allen Wrench, and I had a question that, uh, many other people listening to your show might be wondering about as well."

Beca has a gut feeling that nobody else on earth is wondering about whatever question is about to be asked to her. "I'm listening."

"How exactly do you string up popcorn? Do you poke the needle through the kernel?"

"Well, I think the first step is not to eat it first," Beca replies to the crunching sound being broadcast all over Barden, "And then you can go to this website called Google that can help you with whatever else you need." She hangs up and plays them Telephone by Lady Gaga.

Two seconds later, her phone is vibrating somewhere inside her bag, and she wonders who that could possibly be. She digs it out and opens their group chat to Stacie mentioning Beca's song choice seems 'a lot passive-aggressive', and Beca laughs. Her phone vibrates again with a video call notification and she props it up against a stack of CDs before answering it. No one says anything. Instead, she's met with a video of all of them in the kitchen dancing to her song choice.

"I'm hanging up now," Beca says after a few minutes.

"Bye!"

"Have fun at work!"

"See you when you get home!"

"Guys, she never actually answered the question."

"Beca, how do you-"

"The song is ending; I have to go." Beca hangs up with a grin and a good natured roll of her eyes.

This holiday was going to be a mess.

xxxxx

"Beca's home!" There's cheering in the driveway as Beca approaches the house to find everyone standing around with mugs in their hands.

"What's going on?" A cup of hot chocolate is shoved into her hand as she's dragged up the driveway. She nearly chokes when she tries to drink it. "What did you guys put in this?"

"You know, just some Baileys…" Stacie answers.

"…and a few other, stronger alcoholic options," Fat Amy adds.

Beca tries another sip. "It burns." And it's not because it's hot.

"That's how you know it's the good stuff," Cynthia-Rose says.

"Beca." Chloe wraps her arms around her, leaning on her to the point where they both almost fall over.

"Hi."

Chloe is drunk. Yeah, she's definitely drunk.

"I was thinking…"

Beca smiles and nods. That's not good.

"It's not fair that I made you do my job, even if I did cut down your tree."

Okay. So far, so good.

"So, I think you should be the one who has the honor of being the first person to turn on the lights this year."

"Uh, yeah, okay, I can do that."

They all erupt into cheering again, this time loud enough that Beca feels as though she's been chosen to do the tree lighting ceremony in Rockefeller Center or something.

"Did you guys plug in the extension cord?" Beca asks.

Chloe pulls back and looks at her, puzzled. "The what?"

"You know, the big orange cord that lets you plug the lights into a socket?" Beca replies tentatively, "We use it literally every year."

They're all quiet for a moment before they begin to laugh, prompting Beca to laugh along with them in confusion.

"Cynthia-Rose found it in the garage and I plugged it in for you," Emily fills her in, "All you have to do is plug in the lights!"

"Great. I think I'm just going to need a little more of this…" Beca drinks from her mug as Chloe pulls her toward where the extension cord is lying in the grass. "This is – I can feel this burning a hole straight through the bottom of my stomach. Who made this exactly?" She doesn't actually expect an answer.

"Plug them in. Plug them in," they begin to chant.

Beca passes her mug to Emily and leans down to pick up the extension cord and the light strand. With an exaggerated grin, she plugs one into the other, illuminating the house in blinking blue lights.

"That's weird," Chloe says.

"What's weird?" Beca asks.

"They've never blinked before."

"It looks good," Beca says, "Maybe that's an option and we somehow turned it on when we were untangling them."

"They're definitely not supposed to blink," Chloe replies.

"Maybe the cords aren't lined up right." Beca unplugs the lights from the extension cord then plugs them back in again, pressing the ends tightly together this time. For five seconds, the light illuminate bright blue – and then they all go out at once, along with every light inside the house.

"What happened?" Cynthia-Rose asks.

"Well," Flo says, "They're not blinking anymore."

xxxxx

"I think the fuse box is down there," Chloe says and shines the flashlight on her phone into the basement.

"I'm not going down there," Cynthia-Rose says, "Let a straight person be killed off for once."

"Any volunteers?" Beca asks, "Emily?"

"I'm okay up here," Emily replies.

"Stacie?"

"Someone has to protect Cynthia-Rose," Stacie replies.

"Exactly," Cynthia-Rose agrees.

"Flo?"

"Just kill all the minorities."

"Amy?"

"I'm too heavy. If I have to run away, I won't make it up the stairs. I get leg cramps, remember?"

The other Bellas murmur and nod, support Amy's false-until-now leg cramp claims.

"Jessica and Ashley?"

They look at each other then shake their heads.

"Lilly?"

Beca doesn't hear an answer and it's difficult to see where anyone is in the dark. "It looks like it's you and me, Chlo."

"I'm not going down there."

"We can't just live in the dark, Chloe," Beca points out.

"We're not going to live at all if we go down there," Chloe replies, "I've heard the weird sounds that come from down there."

"We've all heard the sounds," Beca says, "But it's probably just the hot water heater. Right?"

"We should wait for Aubrey," Chloe says, and everyone is agreeing again.

"You said she isn't coming for a few more days," Beca replies.

"Yeah, but she's more intimidating than whatever's in the basement," Chloe points out.

Beca…can't argue with that. Nobody can argue with that. But over Beca's dead body is Aubrey going to show up at this house to find they have been living in the dark for days, just waiting for her to go into the basement to fix it. Beca can already see the look on her face and hear her rubbing it in for the rest of her life. So, literally, over her dead body will that happen. "I can be just as intimidating at Aubrey. I've been running the Bellas just fine since she left."

"You've been talking about Aubrey a lot lately since yesterday," Chloe mentions.

"Because you told me she's coming here for the holidays."

"Only because you were already talking about her."

"Can we just stop talking about Aubrey? Aubrey is a thing of nightmares."

"I've never had a nightmare about Aubrey," Fat Amy says, and suddenly Beca is getting everybody's disagreements.

"You have dreams about Aubrey?" Chloe asks.

"Yeah," Beca deadpans, "Everything single night, I dream about Aubrey."

"I've had a few dreams about Aubrey," Stacie says, "But they definitely weren't nightmares."

"I know what kind of dreams you're talking about," Chloe replies.

"Are we all having sex dreams about Aubrey?" Cynthia-Rose asks.

"Oh my god!" Beca blurts out, "Everybody just shut up about Aubrey!"

"Who's Aubrey?" Emily asks.

"We used to be co-captains," Chloe answers, "She's-"

"Awful," Beca supplies, "She is the most awful person you will ever meet."

"Beca's scared of her," Stacie says.

"I'm not scared of Aubrey."

"She's terrifying," Stacie continues, "But in a way that also makes you want her to shove you against the nearest wall and make out with you."

"You know what, Aubrey has pushed me into a wall before," Beca says, but everyone starts talking over her before she can finish.

"Did it turn you on?" Stacie asks over everyone else.

"Dude, no! I still have the flashbacks that come with seeing your life flash before your eyes. I mean, it's not like she held me up against it for very long or anything, but-"

"She held you up against a wall?" Chloe asks.

"For, like, a fraction of a second."

"That sounds hot," Stacie says.

"I'm kind of jealous," Cynthia-Rose says. "Are you kind of jealous?" she asks Stacie.

"Maybe we should have pissed her off as much as Beca always did."

"You know what? I hope whatever's down there kills me so I never have to think about Aubrey and sex in the same thought ever again," Beca says and steps down onto the first stair. She pulls out her phone and uses it as a flashlight, hesitating before she moves down one more step.

Amy shuts the door behind her.

"Amy!" Beca jogs back up and flings the door wide open. "What the hell?! I was exaggerating! You don't have to close the door."

"Ooooh," Amy hums, "You were exaggerating." She turns to everyone else. "She was exaggerating."

"Just leave the door open." Beca creeps back down the stairs, taking them one at a time. "You know, at least one of you should be drunk enough to consider coming with me."

They all respond with various forms of 'good luck' and 'we'll take care of The Bellas if you die' and Chloe still claiming it may be for the best if they just wait for Aubrey.

Beca will be damned if she waits for Aubrey. She'd never hear the end of it. She can handle this. She just needs to find the fuse box and then run for her life back up the stairs. Now would be a great time to own a bigger flashlight. She wouldn't even be in this mess if they had just accepted her damn tree.

After one last glance up the stairs, she turns the corner into the dark. Just find the fuse box and then get out.

Something moves. Beca can't see it, but she can hear it. It's just the water heater. No. It sounds like footsteps. "Guys?" she whispers. She wouldn't hold it past any of them to sneak down after her and try to scare the living daylights out of her. "This isn't funny."

There it is again. That sounds like footsteps, right?

Beca stops and tries to listen. The sounds stops too. It's just your imagination. Nothing is haunting this basement; it's not even an old house! And it's likely no one ever died here. Unless they did… There is a light, feathery feeling on the back of Beca's neck like somebody exhaling a breath while standing too close. It's just your imagination. Find the –

It sounds like someone whispers her name.

Fuck this.

Beca makes a beeline back for the stairs and scrambles toward the light, slamming the door shut tight behind her. "Something is down there!"

Chloe, the same Chloe who refused to go down there with her says "what?" in disbelief.

"It said my name!" Beca exclaims and holds the door shut with one hand.

"How did it know your name?" Cynthia-Rose asks.

"I don't know!"

"Did it want to possess your body?" Fat Amy asks.

"I don't know!"

"It could already be in her," Flo suggests.

"It's n- It's not!"

"Well, how do we know?" Chloe asks.

Beca stares at her. "Dude, I would know if somebody else was inside of me!"

"One would think that would always be the case," Stacie comments.

"I am never going down there again!" Beca claims and steps away from the basement. "If you guys want electricity so bad, one of you go down there!"

"Beca…" Chloe tries to rest a hand on her shoulder.

"You go down there, Chloe!" Beca moves out of her reach. "I'm going to bed." She grabs a half bottle of rum sitting open on the kitchen table. "And I'm taking this with me so I can forget that whatever's down there knows my name." She stands there, trying to catch her breath, as the rest of them stand there looking at her in a stunned silence. "Goodnight."

There are mumbled good nights as Beca turns and walks away from them, alcohol in hand. It smells strong enough that after a few purposeful gulps, she might even forget she knows her own name.

xxxxx

Beca had one job.

Bring home a Christmas tree.

Now there's a Satanic ritual happening in the living room, all the power is out, and to top it off: Aubrey will be here in a matter of days to blame it all on her.

Someone should save them both the pain.

The room is spinning as she picks up her phone and locates Aubrey's name in her blurry list contacts then shoots her a text.

'stay the fuck home'