I realize yesterday's chapter came as a shock. I needed something interesting, so this came about! Sorry to those of you who may have been confused by it.
Chapter 12
Chloe's POV
I'm feeling more and more frantic as Beca ignores each of my texts. I know she's pissed at me, but something feels off, and I can't help worrying that something bad has happened to her. I send the last text in hopes that it'll make her angry enough to respond- I'd rather her yelling at me than ignoring me. I lean back on the bed, curling into a tight ball with my phone next to me, sighing and closing my eyes in defeat as she doesn't answer. My thoughts replay the unpleasant memory behind my eyes, and I start crying again, unable to stop it.
"I love you." Tom says, and he suddenly leans forward to kiss me, trailing his lips lightly across my jaw.
"Tom, I don't feel the same." I say, backing away from him. He looks hurt for a minute, then my heart skips a beat as he smiles at me- not a happy smile, but a dark, sick smile. He closes the space between us, pressing up against me and pushing me into the wall. I slap him, and he pulls away, glaring at me. I flinch as he lifts his hand up, and he starts beating me. I feel my nose break, and I cry out in pain.
"Tom, s-stop, please!" I start crying, and he laughs, obviously finding pleasure in my pain.
"Oh baby, I'm just getting started." His hands find my pants, and he pulls them down before taking his belt off. I try to stop him, but he pins my hands to the wall with his. After he takes his pants and underwear off, he pulls my underwear down and presses into me…
My phone ringing pulls me out of the memory, and I let out a sigh of relief when I see it's Beca.
"Beca, why the hell-" I answer, but then stop as a deep voice cuts me off.
"If you ever want to see your precious girlfriend ever again, you better do exactly as I say, baby." Tom says, and I gasp, blood rushing to my face in anger.
"What did you do to her? I swear to God, if you hurt her-" He cuts me off again by laughing.
"She's still alive, for now. Now, I need you to go to the clinic if you want her to live. On my desk, you'll find your next instructions. You have half an hour. Don't waste it." He hangs up, and I stand up, grabbing my jacket and running out the door. My phone dings, and I see a text from Beca/Tom; no cops, or she's dead. I bring up my contacts as I run down the hallway, immediately calling Amy, as she has experience with saving Bellas before. The phone goes through three rings, then four as she doesn't answer. I scream in frustration when she doesn't pick up, then change course and call Emily.
"Hey Chloe!" She answers after the first ring, and the words flow out of my mouth at such a fast speed that I stumble over words.
"Emily, I need you to come to the complex NOW. Tom kidnapped Beca, and I need help. I'll explain on the way." I open the doors of the complex, running into the parking lot and leaning across the hood of my car.
"On my way." She quickly says, then hangs up. I throw my jacket on and pace while I wait for her.
I see her Mustang pull in after a couple of minutes, and she parks next to my Jeep and quickly jumps out, getting in the passenger of my car without saying anything. I get in and pull out, speeding down the road toward the clinic in my haste.
"Long story short, Tom- my boss- raped me, and now he has Beca. We have half an hour to get to her, and he'll kill her if we don't get there in time. He'll also kill her if we involve the cops." I say without looking at her, gripping the steering wheel tightly with both hands. She gasps.
"Oh my gosh…" I feel her eyes on me, and she gathers her thoughts, putting a hand on my shoulder. "We're going to get her back, Chloe. And we'll make Tom pay." I just nod in response, the fear of the situation finally kicking in. I don't trust my voice enough to respond.
What feels like hours later- but was really just a couple short minutes- we pull into the parking lot of the clinic. I park in front of the doors and get out the car, leaning it running and the door open. Emily does the same, and I reach into my purse to grab the key to the building. I try to unlock it, but my hands are shaking so badly I almost drop it.
"Let me." Emily calmly takes the key out of my hand and unlocks the door, and I throw it open, running into Tom's office. Immediately, I see a notebook lying open on his keyboard, and Emily flips the light on behind me. I look at the page, but the only thing written down is a phone number. I flip through the other pages frantically, then sigh in defeat when the rest of the book is empty. I pull my phone out and call the number, putting it on speaker. Don't say anything, I mouth to Emily, and she nods.
"That was much quicker than expected, Chloe. Good work." Tom answers, and I snarl.
"What next?" I ask.
"Wasting no time, I see. That's one of the things I love about you, the way you don't stall…" He trails off, and I cough impatiently. "Ahh, yes. Do you know where the High School is?" I nod, and Emily whacks me.
"Yes." I whisper, thanking Emily with my eyes. She nods slightly at me, giving me an encouraging smile.
"See you soon. Remember, no cops." He hangs up, and I look at Emily, a tear falling down my cheek.
"Em, what if she's…" I trail off, and she wraps her arms around me comfortingly.
"She's ok, I just know it. We need to go though." She smiles at me, but I see the hidden worry and fear in her eyes. I nod and wipe my tears, and we get back in my car- which is thankfully still there- and pull out of the parking lot, heading northwest toward Houston High.
"So what's the plan?" Emily breaks the silence.
"Uhhhh, I don't have one." I say, and she gives me an incredulous look.
"So what, you're just going to, what, listen to him?" She asks, and I nod.
"I mean, that was what I was going to do, but if you think it's a bad idea…" She nods frantically at me, and I sigh. "What do we do?" I glance over and see her pulling a gun out of her purse, and it shocks me so much I almost lose control of the car. Someone honks at me, and I quickly regain control of myself and the vehicle. "Emily, what the hell?!"
"Don't worry, I have a license." She says, then tucks it in the front of her jeans, right against her lower stomach. "You said Beca was in trouble, so I figured we might need it."
"I don't want to kill him!" I practically yell in my hysteria.
"It's for self-defense. We won't kill him if we don't have to. But we aren't going in there completely vulnerable." I see the sign for the school, and I execute a very quick, very sharp turn into the parking lot. I park in front of the door again, this time taking the keys with me and closing the doors quietly, locking the car behind me.
We walk up to the doors, and I gingerly try the door, finding out it's unlocked. I hold the door open for Emily, and she pulls her gun out, holding it out in front of her protectively.
"This way." I whisper and grab her arm, seeing a sign that says "Go to the enrichment hallway" in Tom's sloppy handwriting. She nods, taking the lead again, pointing the gun at every open space before continuing. I see a sign on the gym door, and I point it out to Emily. She nods and slowly walks up to it, me walking timidly behind her. She quietly pulls the doors open, swirling around with the gun. It's pitch black as I walk in behind her, and the lights suddenly flip on.
Finding Beca isn't difficult, as Tom's made her the center of attention. My eyes overflow at the sight of her. She's hanging by her hands from the ceiling, her mouth is duct-taped. There's a towel tied around her eyes, blinding her. Her feet are tied together, and I can see blood dripping down her face, neck, and arms. Tom ripped her shirt off, revealing the bruises and cuts down her chest and stomach.
"I thought I said no cops." Tom's voice comes from behind me, causing me to jump. Emily turns and points her gun at his head, and I turn to look at him. He's wearing all black, his hair gelled back. He also has brown contacts and fake glasses.
"She's not a c-cop." I say, my voice wavering. I hear Beca let out a muffled scream, and her pain fuels my anger and confidence. "She's a friend. Now let Beca go." He laughs and shakes his head, then grabs my arm and pulls me close to him. I try to fight him, but he's, again, too strong for me to get away.
"Yeah, but she has a gun, Chloe. That really makes this difficult." He sighs as he presses his lips against my collarbone. I shiver in fear, and he misinterprets it, kissing lower down my chest. I push him as hard as I can, and he takes a step back, a daunting look in his eyes.
"Oh baby, don't fight me now. Not if you want that to live." He points over his shoulder at Beca, and she screams again.
"Let her go." Emily growls, and he laughs turning to face her.
"And why should I listen to you?" He asks, shaking his head at her wickedly.
"Um, maybe because I'm the one with the gun?" She asks, a slightly cocky grin crossing her face. Her eyes meet mine for a minute, and I realize she's distracting him. I quietly start to cross over to Beca as Tom rounds on Emily.
"Well, that can change rather quickly." He growls, and I glance over. He pulls a gun out of his belt and swirls around to point it at me, getting angry when he sees me trying to save Beca. "Oh no you don't, bitch." He walks over and grabs my arm, and I pull away. He slaps me with the butt of the gun, and I hear a gunshot. I jump and freeze, waiting for the pain, but it's Tom who cries out. He drops his gun and falls to the floor, holding his knee. I look up at Emily, and she looks terrified. I reach down to grab the gun he dropped, but he beats me to it, snatching it up and pointing it at my head.
"If anyone does anything else stupid, I will kill everyone in this room!" He screams, and I freeze. He slowly stands up, then turns to face Emily, still pointing his gun at me. "Put the gun down, or she dies." I shake my head at her, but she slowly puts the gun down. Tom nods at her and walks over, kicking the gun away, all the while not taking the gun off of me.
"So here's the deal. You're-" He looks at me "-Going to break up with your little girlfriend over there, and then you're going to marry me." He says, then looks at Emily. "And you… I'll have to kill you." He says, then quickly points his gun to her. I react just as he does this, and I grab the gun as he pulls the trigger. The bullet goes straight through my hand, but it slows it down enough for Emily to get out of its path.
"FUCKING BITCH!" He yells and elbows me off of him, pushing me to the ground. He turns on me, and I see Emily run over to Beca. I look at Tom instead, trying not to draw attention to her. "I'm going to kill you, then I'm killing everyone you love!" He puts the gun to my head, and I hear another gunshot. I close my eyes as I wait for the pain to kick in, as I wait for the memories to start flashing before I die. Tom's face goes slack, and he collapses on top of me. I push him off of me, and I see Emily standing with the gun in her hand, shaking with fear and shock. Tom's head is bleeding profusely, and I push him off of me, immediately looking for a pulse.
"He's dead." I say when I can't find one. She nods, and I sit there in shock. Beca suddenly screams again, and I quickly sit up and run over to her, pulling the blindfold off of her, then start working on untying her hands. Emily brings me a chair as I struggle to reach, and I nod at her as I stand on it. I quickly get her untied (despite all of my shaking), and I jump off the chair to untie her hands and feet. Emily walks over and helps me, pulling the duct tape off of Beca's face. Beca screams in pain, then starts shaking with sobs. I pull her into my arms, and she hugs me back, crying uncontrollably. Emily joins the hug, and we stand like that for what feels like forever before we hear sirens outside.
"Are you ok? Did he hurt you?" I pull away and look at Beca, my eyes inspecting her whole body.
"I'm ok-" She cuts off and suddenly screams, collapsing into my arms again. I hold her up and look over her body again, then notice a trail of blood going down her inner leg. "IT HURTS!" She screams, more tears flowing down her face.
"Hey, hey. We're going to get you to the hospital. Come on." She nods, whimpering in pain. Emily and I get on either side of her, wrapping her arms around our shoulders. We have to crouch to meet her height, but we get her out of the gym and outside. A police officer sees us and immediately runs up to us, another following her. They take Emily and I's place, and another cop walks up to talk to us.
"Are you guys Chloe Beale and Emily Junk?" He asks, pulling a pen and pad out from his jacket pocket.
"Yes sir." We say in unison, and he nods.
"Can you tell me what happened?"
I nod and explain what happened, Emily adding in any details I forget. After we're done, he goes inside the building- presumably to look at the dead body- leaving us alone. Emily wraps me up in a tight embrace, and I return it for a second before pulling away.
"I need to check on Beca, but Emily…" I trail off and hug her again, a tear flowing down my cheek. "We owe you our lives." I say, then peck her on the cheek and run to the ambulance.
"You can't come in." One of the EMTs says as I try to enter.
"She's my girlfriend. I'm going with her." I growl, and he gives me a shocked look.
"Alright, in you go, then." He sighs and lets me through. I walk in and sit in the one open seat, watching as another EMT works on Beca. She turns her head to look at me, her face contorted in pain.
"I love you." She whispers, then closes her eyes. I open my mouth to respond, but her breathing deepens, and I realize she's asleep. I lean back in my seat and close my eyes, getting ready for the ride to the hospital.
The ambulance stopping abruptly jars me awake, and I sit up as EMTs rush in to pull Beca out. I follow right behind them as they push her quickly into the building. They push her straight to the Emergency Room, and one of the EMTs holds me back.
"No visitors beyond this point." He gives me an apologetic smile, then turns and follows the rest of the crowd. I slowly turn and trudge my way back to the waiting room, and I gasp when I see the rest of the Bellas standing there. Aubrey immediately rushes over and embraces me tightly, and I hug her back, suddenly sobbing out of control. She just holds me, and everyone else crowds around to join the hug.
"What happened?" Aubrey asks, and everyone pulls away. I open my mouth, then shake my head.
"Emily?" I ask, and she nods. I sit down as she tells everyone else the story, and I pull my phone out, seeing a missed call from my mom. I hesitate, then decide that I'll call her back later. I curl up into a ball and close my eyes, letting sleep take me under.
Aubrey shakes me awake, and I sit up groggily and rub my eyes.
"What time is it?" I ask, and she pulls her phone out, frowning slightly.
"One AM." She says, then pulls me into a hug. "Beca's awake." She whispers, and I pull away, standing up automatically.
"You should have started with that!" I say, walking to the counter. Aubrey follows me silently.
"Hi, which room is Beca Mitchell in?" I ask.
"Room 297D" The woman behind the counter informs me, then points us in the right direction. We tell her thanks, then go in the direction she pointed. When we find the room, we quietly walk in.
Beca's sitting up and smiling when she sees me. "Hey babe." She whispers, and I rush over, the tears falling down my cheeks again. She reaches up and wipes them away. "Don't cry. I'm ok." She says.
"I just can't believe all of this happened because of me. I'm so sorry. For everything. Especially for what I said before…" I start to rant, and she cuts me off by pressing a finger to my lips.
"Ancient history, babe. It's ok, really." She says, then turns when the doctor walks in. "Hey Doc, what's up?" She asks, then her smile fades when she sees the serious look on his face. "Am I ok?"
"You are, but, uh…" He trails off, and my heart drops. No… "Miss Mitchell, I'm sorry to have to bring you such bad news, but… your baby is gone."