Despite being seventeen years old and about to graduate high school, Beca's favorite place to hang out was the treehouse. She and her father built the structure half a dozen years ago when life at the Mitchell household was still good. She spun her soulmate ring around on her finger, wondering if hers was defective. Beca had always been told that the ring's color indicated the emotion or mood their soulmate was experiencing. Hers was almost always yellow. Nobody could be happy all the time.

Even outside and up in the tree, Beca could hear her parents arguing. She'd seen the boxes and knew her father had come for the last of his things. He hadn't even tried to talk to her, which pissed her off to no end. She kicked off her shoes and threw them as hard as she could against the wall of the treehouse.

Beca buried her head in her arms as her frustration peaked. Her life had been turned upside down, and Beca was not happy about it. Had she been watching her soulmate ring, she would have seen a flash of blue indicating sadness by whomever she was to be with forever.


Chloe was in her junior year of university, steadily working towards her animal science degree with the hopes of getting into veterinarian school after undergrad. Her studies were complex and kept her quite busy. However, she always made time for her acapella group, the Barden Bellas, as it was the best way to spend time with her best friend, Aubrey.

After practice one evening, Aubrey and Chloe visited the campus cafe. "My ring has been turning red a lot more lately," Chloe lamented, spinning her soulmate ring around on her finger. "Look, there it goes again. How can someone truly be that angry all the time?" Chloe was indeed an empathetic soul and took everything to heart. "Knowing my person is angry all the time makes me sad. Nobody deserves that much despair." Her lower lip protruded in a genuine pout.

Aubrey placed her hands on top of her friend's. "Don't let the color of your ring get into your head. I think you should keep being your bubbly self. When you do meet your soulmate, you'll be able to chase all that anger away." Brightening up, Chloe agreed with Aubrey that she should stay more positive about her soulmate's apparent outlook on life.


One's soulmate ring served as a mood ring to indicate the emotion a soulmate is experiencing. For example, for Beca, her anger came through as red. Chloe's joyfulness was yellow, and her bouts of sadness and empathy for her soulmate came across as blue. Envy or disgust might be green. The ring would turn platinum when soulmates finally meet. However, if a soulmate began to die, the other's ring would become black, eventually turning to dust.


There was a massive bone of contention between Beca and her father about her plans after high school. He had presumed Beca would always go to Barden University. Her tuition was covered since he was a professor there. Despite only just turned eighteen, however, Beca wanted to go to Los Angeles and begin her career in music. However, her parents both knew she might not entirely be ready to be thrown into such a competitive workforce at eighteen without any preparation.

Her mother eventually convinced Beca to give in to her father's wishes. Her father was responsible for her room and board at Barden U as a part of the divorce decree. Knowing her mother could never afford anything of that sort, Beca finally acquiesced to appease her mother.


The taxi came to take Beca to the airport, and the driver loaded her bags into the trunk. A range of emotions was coursing through the younger Mitchell's veins. She was still bitter about going to Barden because of her father. She was also sad about leaving her mother, who would be truly alone for the first time since she got married two decades ago.

Beca gave her mother a long, warm hug and told her she loved her before crawling in the backseat. Beca rolled her eyes as her driver had to wait for the neighbor teenager to park his new sports car just right along the curb. Beca had always had small bouts of jealousy since his family was relatively wealthy. He had received the present for his sixteenth birthday the weekend before, which was almost ridiculous since he couldn't drive to save his life. And here she was, taking a taxi to the airport because her mother had to go to her second job and couldn't drive her.

Sunlight was beginning to fade as the cab driver made his way through the bustling streets of Portland towards the airport. Beca had her headphones on, listening to music as they drove. Screeching tires jolted her out of her daze as she looked up to see the streetlight in their direction shining green. To her right, headlights of a speeding semi-truck were bearing down on the yellow taxi.

Time seemed to slow as the sound of crunching metal filled her ears as the truck slammed into the side of the taxi. The cab began to spin and roll, and Beca's body was flung about the interior like a rag doll.


Through Aubrey's coaching and a bit of mediation, Chloe learned to better handle the stress vibes emitted by her soulmate ring. Late one evening, she lay on her back, imagining what meeting her soulmate would mean for her life. Her ring had been going through a range of color changes all day. Red to orange to blue and even green. She hoped she could bring some stability to her soulmate's life once they finally met.

While she didn't know if such a thing was possible, she tried to channel as much positive energy through her ring as she could in hopes of reaching her soulmate. Chloe turned onto her side and thought about the possibilities. Without warning, her ring changed colors again. Black. Chloe flipped on the bedside light to make sure her ring wasn't actually black.

"No!" Chloe shot up out of bed, clutching her hand to her chest. "No, no, no, no," she screamed. Chloe hurriedly called Aubrey and told her what was happening.

Aubrey rushed over to find Chloe kneeling on her bed, sobbing. She was rushing black dust into a pile on her bed, trying to force the dust back onto her finger. "They're gone, Aubrey. My soulmate is gone." She choked her words through her sobs. "How am I supposed to grieve for someone I've never met."