For Pitch Perfect Horror Week Day 5 - Alien Abductions.
Listen. Don't take this one too seriously, 'cuz I definitely didn't.
Chloe opened her eyes. She'd been in the middle of a nightmare where DSM won Worlds and laughed at them from on stage, so she didn't really mind being woken up.
She did, on the other hand, mind the bright light surrounding her. That was disconcerting. And so was the fact that she was literally floating out her bedroom window.
Chloe screamed. The sound echoed around her strangely, as though the weird light was somehow keeping her scream from travelling away. She thrashed, trying to get the light or whatever it was to let her go, thank you very much, but it was useless. The light carried her farther from the Bella house – thank GOD she was wearing pajamas – and toward… what?
She stopped her struggling and tried to twist to see where she was headed. It wasn't much help; all she saw was a massive dark shape, like some kind of airplane.
Wait.
No way.
Chloe looked around; she was traveling up. Into a big aircraft. Being transported by a beam of light.
Oh.
She blinked hard, shook her head, pinched herself, anything to wake up from this second nightmare. Except she didn't wake up.
She was most definitely being abducted by aliens. There was no other rational explanation. The Bellas were going to freak when she told them.
If she got to tell them, that is. That was the thought that made Chloe panic. She screamed again, kicking out at the light, scrambling to get away, forgetting that she'd almost definitely fall and break something if she did get away. But then, the dark mass seemed to open up; a door appeared, and the light drew her closer and closer, until, despite her struggles, she was drawn into the aircraft.
The light dropped her; she landed on a cool, hard surface with a thud, the hatch slamming closed behind her. She was on her feet instantly, prepared to fight whatever creepy alien got its tentacles anywhere near her.
Hoping she sounded braver than she felt, Chloe raised her fists and snarled, "Come at me!"
Nothing happened. Rude.
She was just about to turn around and go looking for the aliens herself when something sharp pricked the side of her neck. She gasped and jerked away, clapping a hand to her neck, but it was too late. She saw the empty syringe, held by a robotic arm, but instead of feeling alarmed by it, she felt… calm. She blinked, a little woozy, and watched the arm retract into the wall.
The strange sense of calm remained, though, even when a door on the opposite wall swung open with a metallic whoosh. There, waiting on the other side, were two huge, green things. They had massive lightbulb-shaped heads and enormous black eyes. Their nostrils (maybe nostrils?) were little slits, and their mouths were full of wicked-looking fangs. From the neck down, they wore silver suits, complete with purple capes for whatever reason. They had one standing leg, really more of a stump than anything, and three rubbery arms, each tipped with three fingers.
Chloe smiled at them serenely.
Whatever was in that syringe was some good stuff.
Without really thinking about it, she walked toward them. They emitted soft noises, kind of like bubbles popping, as she drew nearer. She wasn't sure how she knew, but she could tell they didn't want to hurt her.
Or maybe that was the calm serum. Whatever. She didn't care.
She got closer, then even closer, until she stood right in front of them. They towered over her, maybe standing nine feet tall, and she vaguely imagined how funny Beca would look next to them. The thought made her smile; the creatures must have taken this as encouragement, for they drew aside and sort of gestured her between them.
Again, with no consideration for her own safety, Chloe walked between them and saw she'd entered some kind of hallway. She walked straight ahead, taking in the white walls decorated with graphics of planets. She took in the photos with disinterest. It looked like all the planets she knew were there, as well as several others she didn't. Something was written above the pictures, at least she assumed; it wasn't in English.
The hallway led her to a door propped open with a familiar-looking shoe. She glanced back at the beings to see them hopping along beside her on their one leg; one of them sort of nodded toward the door, so Chloe pulled it open and stepped inside.
She'd been expecting a lab, or maybe a control panel for the ship, but what she saw surprised her even more; all of the Bellas were standing there in a sort of circle. Beca, Amy, Stacie, Flo, Jessica, Ashley and Cynthia-Rose. Even Emily was there; the ship must have made a stop at the dorms. They all looked back at Chloe with mild disinterest, though Chloe was sure Beca's eyes seemed to spark more than anyone else's when they saw each other.
And in the center of it all was Lilly, who, instead of having the slightly dopey look of the others, appeared bright and aware. She wore one shoe – the other held the door open.
"Hey, Chloe," she said. That almost threw Chloe out of her stupor – Lilly, speaking at normal volume – but then the calm washed in again. "If you want to join our circle? I'm just introducing everyone."
Numbly, Chloe walked forward and took the open space next to Beca, who turned to give her a lazy smile.
"Now that we're all here," Lilly addressed the green beings in the doorway, "you can come meet them."
The aliens hopped forward on their stump legs, looking a little ridiculous as they moved to join Lilly in the center of the circle.
Lilly pointed to Chloe first. "This is Chloe. She's a great singer, and is our co-captain, along with Beca," she said clearly, pointing at Beca next. "They are both very nice people, even if Beca pretends to be grumpy. Also, those two are totally in love with each other, even if they don't know it yet."
Something in Chloe's chest stirred but calmed almost immediately. She glanced over at Beca to see blue eyes trained on hers, but it only lasted a moment before Beca looked back to the center of the circle of Bellas.
The green beings seemed to converse, little bubble sounds filling the air for a while before they fell silent and turned to look at Lilly almost expectantly.
Lilly then raised a hand to point at Amy, who was on Beca's other side. "This is Amy. She's very funny but doesn't like cardio. She's also good at singing fast parts and bringing life into our set."
The aliens again bubbled at each other for a while before returning their attention to Lilly. And so it continued, with Lilly introducing each of the Bellas in turn to the beings and then waiting while they seemed to talk. It didn't take long; Lilly was efficient.
At the end, she turned to the beings and said, "Now you've met them all, we'd like to ask for a favor: help us win Worlds next week. I've told you how great they all are, and now I'll leave the judgment to you. Thank you."
Lilly stepped back to give the beings some room to talk. She sent Chloe one last, beaming smile, then everything went dark.
Chloe woke up in her own bed the next morning, head pounding. She felt awful and had no idea why. They hadn't been drinking last night, and the last thing she remembered was crawling into bed after what had been a long day.
Wait. Chloe sat up, rubbing her eyes. She'd had some kind of weird dream involving lights and Lilly… but the more she chased it around her memory, the more it eluded her. Damn.
She shrugged, her headache easing. It couldn't have been that important.
After taking a few minutes to wake up fully and make herself presentable, Chloe made her way downstairs to the kitchen. She was surprised to see all of the other Bellas down there already eating breakfast, even Beca, who was notorious for hating mornings.
"Hey guys," she yawned, scratching absently at an itchy patch on the side of her neck. She figured a bug must have gotten her in the middle of the night.
Grumpy grumbles met her greeting. She sat down at the table and blearily picked at the pancake Stacie set down in front of her.
They all ate in silence, which while not unusual, felt somehow different. Lilly was sure smiley, Chloe noted with mild alarm.
"So…" Beca broke the quiet. "I had the weirdest dream last night."
Chloe glanced up, only to see the other Bellas looking at Beca as well.
Cynthia-Rose nodded. "I did too. Something about bubbles, I think."
Beca frowned at her, then said, "That's weird."
They returned to silence, Chloe chewing her pancake happily.
Talk of strange dreams didn't come up again, and eventually, the quiet turned into the typical rumble of nine girls talking to one another. It wasn't until Chloe was taking her dishes to the sink that she finally heard it.
"I'm glad you finally met my parents," Lilly whispered.
Chloe dropped her plate.