PITCH PERFECT SPOOKFEST 2023 - DAY 2 - PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR

Summary: Jesse knows that he and Beca are heading for a breakup. In order to stop it from happening, he plans a Bellas/Trebles Halloween bonding event and promises Beca a night out that she will never forget. Little do they both know how prophetic those words are.


ESCAPE ROOM

"Come on, Beca," Jesse whined. "The Bellas always do something with the Trebles for Halloween. We're all Seniors now, and the usual costume party is so overdone. That's why I booked us for a Halloween Escape Room-type event. My friend runs it and is letting us in for free. It will be fun, I promise."

"I don't know, Jesse," Beca said. "I'll run it by the Bellas and see how they feel about it."

"You're their captain," Jesse said. "You're allowed to make decisions for them."

"I'm not going to order them to go to some lame Escape Room just because it's free."

"Dammit, Beca," Jesse said through gritted teeth. "Why can't you just do something I want to do for a change?"

"For a change?" Beca squeaked. "I always do what you want to do! I'm tired of trying to get you to-"

Beca stopped herself and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as she ran a hand through her hair.

"As I said," Beca said calmly. "I'll ask the girls, and we'll do whatever they decide they want to do. That's the best I can do, so take it or leave it."

"I'll take it," Jesse said.

"Fine," Beca said.

"Fine," Jesse mocked.

Beca clenched her fists and turned and stomped off away from Jesse. Beca made her way to the Bella house and entered, letting the door slam behind her.

"Arrgh!" Beca screamed.

"What did Jesse do now?" Amy asked.

"He is just so infuriating," Beca replied.

"Infuriating? It must be Tuesday," Amy said, chuckling as she left Beca and headed toward the kitchen.

Chloe was coming out of the kitchen as Amy was walking in.

"Beca and Jesse are fighting again," Amy said as she passed Chloe and continued toward the refrigerator.

"I wonder what it's about this time," Chloe mumbled.

"Okay, girls," Beca called out. "I need everyone in the living room right now."

"What's going on, Beca?" Chloe asked as she joined Beca.

"I have something to run by you guys," Beca said. "And I don't want to have to repeat it ten times."

All the Bellas came into the living room except Amy.

"Come on, Amy," Beca called out. "I haven't got all day. Get in here!"

"I'm coming," Amy said as she sauntered into the living room. Beca glared at her until she sat down. "Sheesh, Beca, what's got your knickers in a bunch?"

Beca inhaled and exhaled to keep from snapping at Amy.

"The Trebles want us to go with them to some special Halloween escape room type thing," Beca said. "I told Jesse I'd have to run it by you guys and let them know."

"Is it on Halloween?" Stacie asked. "Or before Halloween?"

"On Halloween," Beca said.

"It sounds like fun," Jessica said.

"I agree it does sound like fun," Emily said.

"How much does it cost?" Chloe said. "That could be a determining factor on whether we do it or not."

"It's free," Beca said. "Jesse's friend runs it, and he got tickets for all of us."

"In that case, I say we should do it," Cynthia Rose said. "I've always wanted to do an escape room."

The other girls agreed, and Beca said she'd let Jesse know.

~~Pitch Perfect SpookFest 2023 - Day 2~~

Jesse had been excited after Beca told him the girls would join the Trebles for the Halloween escape room adventure. He was sure working with Beca to conquer the escape room was exactly what the couple needed to get back to what they used to be.

On Halloween morning, Beca reluctantly led the Bellas to meet the Trebles at their bus. Everyone got on the bus and started taking seats. Jesse pushed past Chloe and the girls to get the seat next to Beca. When he sat, Beca sighed and stared out the window.

Jesse was smiling as the group chatted about what the escape room "theme" would be. Beca tried to hide that she wasn't too thrilled to be sitting next to Jesse. She noticed Chloe watching her and gave her a small smile.

"Is this it, Jesse?" Donald asked, looking in the rearview mirror at him.

"Um, yeah," Jesse said, looking out the front window as Donald pulled into the yard.

Donald parked the bus. Jesse was the first off the bus as a man came toward the bus.

"Jesse, I'm glad you could make it," the man said as everyone followed Jesse off the bus. "Welcome!"

"Hey, Joe," Jesse said. "Thanks for this, man. We're all excited to be here."

"Great," Joe said.

"Let me introduce you to everyone," Jesse said. He pointed to each of the Bellas and Trebles, giving their names. He pulled Beca to his side, adding, "And last by no means least, my girlfriend, Beca."

Beca hunched her shoulders and grimaced as Jesse squeezed her to him.

"It is a pleasure to meet you all," Joe said. He clapped his hands together and rubbed them back and forth. "Let's get everybody inside so we can get started."

Jesse walked next to Joe, and Beca joined the Bellas as they followed the two men.

~~ Pitch Perfect SpookFest 2023 - Day 2

Once inside, the group was broken up into groups of four to play in the escape rooms. Each room was different, so neither team knew which room they would need to escape from.

The first group was Beca, Jesse, Donald, and Chloe. They were directed to Room #1 and given a packet with their story/clues. Jesse opened the packet, and their 'game' began.

"You are on a quest to prove your true love is really true," Jesse read. "Your true love has been rather distant for a while now. You need to find your way out of the room and to find your love in order to win back their heart."

"Excuse us," Beca said, frowning as she dragged Jesse away from Donald and Chloe

"Did you write this?" Beca asked. "Because it sounds an awful lot like it's about you and me."

"Yeah," Jesse said, shrugging. "Joe asked me to help write a story for one of the rooms. I thought if we had to solve this one together, we could get back to the way we used to be."

"I can't believe you," Beca said. "Making me play this stupid game isn't going to fix us. I'm going to wait on the bus until you guys are done."

Beca turned away as if to leave, and Jesse grabbed her arm, stopping her.

"I'm sorry, Beca," Jesse said. "I just don't know what else to do to show you how much I still love you."

Beca looked down, feeling guilty.

"I'll give it a try and see the game to the end," Beca finally said.

"Thank you," Jesse said.

They rejoined Chloe and Donald.

"Is everything okay?" Chloe asked Beca.

"Everything is fine," Beca said. "Just Jesse being Jesse. I'll tell you about it later."

"Okay," Chloe said. Turning to Jesse, she asked, "What's our first clue?"

~~ Pitch Perfect SpookFest 2023 - Day 2

"It's got to be a book or something," Donald said, looking around the room.

"Are you sure?" Jesse asked.

"Positive," Donald said. "If we find the book, it should open the door like one of those secret hidden room kind of things."

"That makes sense, Jesse," Chloe said.

"Fine," Jesse said. "Let's divide the room into four sections. We'll each take a section and look for the book; we'll save time that way."

"I'll start in this corner," Beca said, walking over to the area and looking up, down, and all around.

The four looked around for a bit when Donald called out, "I think I found it." The others looked at him as he pulled on a book.

Beca squealed, and Choe screamed as a wall suddenly separated the four. Jesse and Chloe were on one side, while Beca and Donald were on the other. Beca looked at Donald, and they both looked at the wall. Glass went about halfway up, and they couldn't see anything.

Chloe screamed again, and Jesse yelled, "What the hell?"

Beca ran to the wall, calling for Jesse and Chloe. She heard a muffled scream and put her face to the glass to try and see in.

"I can't see anything," Beca told Donald. "Can you?"

Donald cupped his hand and looked through the glass. Or he tried to.

"I can't see anything," Donald said. "But it does sound like someone's fighting."

"Jesse!" Beca called out, trying to see through the darkness behind the glass. "Answer me, dammit!"

Suddenly, they hear Chloe scream.

"Chloe!" Beca called out, banging on the glass. "Somebody answer me!"

Donald started looking around for a way to get through the wall or have the wall disappear in the same way it suddenly appeared.

"Where's the book?" Donald asked Beca.

"What book?"

"The book I pulled that made this wall appear?"

"I don't-"

Beca and Donald both suddenly threw their hands up in front of their face when bright lights came on behind the glass.

"What the fuck?" Beca said, her eyes blinking quickly due to the bright lights.

The lights dimmed somewhat, and they could now see behind the glass.

"Chloe!" Beca cried out, running to stand facing Chloe. "Chloe!"

Beca banged on the glass, trying to get Chloe to look at her. Chloe was strapped to a table, not moving. A gag covered her mouth. Beca heard Donald call out Jesse's name and looked over to see Jesse in the same position as Chloe.

"Look!" Donald yelled, pointing up to the ceiling.

Beca looked up and gasped. Suspended above Jesse and Chloe were rotating circular saws

"Oh, God!" Beca cried out.

"Beca Mitchell!" a voice called out.

Beca froze and looked around. Seeing no one, she looked at Donald.

"Did you hear that?"

Donald nodded.

"What do you want?" Beca asked, looking around.

"They're moving!" Donald yelled, looking up at the saws.

Beca also looked up and noticed that both saws were a few inches lower than they had been.

"What the fuck do you want!?" Beca cried out.

"I want you to make a choice," the voice said. "One of your friends has to die, and you get to pick which one."

"WHAT?!" Beca screamed, looking at Jesse and Chloe lying feet from each other as the saws came down a bit more. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I can," the voice replied. "Now decide, or they both die."

"That's not fair," Beca said as tears slid down her face.

The saws fell a bit more, and Beca looked at Chloe. Chloe's eyes were wide as she stared at the saw above her. Beca saw the glint of tears falling down Chloe's cheeks.

She turned to look at Jesse. He was staring right at her, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Let them go and take me," Beca called out.

"I can't do that," the voice said. "It's against the rules of the game."

"Game?" Beca repeated. "You think threatening to kill someone is a game?"

"Choose!" the voice said.

"NO!" Beca yelled. "I will not choose."

"Fine!" the voice said as the saws started dropping.

"Please stop!" Beca begged.

The saws buzzed loud enough for Beca to hear through the glass. She looked up to see them drop more. She screamed and fell to the floor as the lights went out, and the sounds of the saws cutting through something echoed through the speakers. She continued to scream even as Donald rushed over to help her up.

"You killed them, you son of a bitch!" Beca sobbed.

"Game over!" the voice said as the door to their room opened.

"Let's get out of here," Donald said as he half-carried Beca out the door.

~~ Pitch Perfect SpookFest 2023 - Day 2

Beca was practically comatose as Donald picked her up and carried her to the main entrance.

"What the hell happened?" Stacie yelled, rushing over to Donald and Beca, followed by the rest of the Bellas.

"They had Jesse and Chloe tied up with a rotating saw hanging over them," Donald said. "Beca was told to choose one to save."

"They killed Jesse and Chloe," Beca mumbled. "I couldn't choose, so they killed them both."

"What!?" Stacie asked, confused.

All three suddenly turned when they heard Chloe yelling at Jesse.

"I fucking hate you," Chloe yelled at Jesse as they came in from a side door. "That was mean and cruel."

Chloe saw Stacie holding Beca and rushed over to them.

"Beca," Chloe said softly.

"I thought they actually killed you," Beca mumbled, hugging Chloe. "And Jesse."

Beca whimpered and pulled back to look at Chloe. Chloe gently placed her hands on Beca's face and held her gaze.

"I'm okay," Chloe said. "See? I'm alive. Jesse and I are both alive. Nobody was killed."

"Dude!" Donald yelled at Jesse. "What the hell was that? Beca was really traumatized. And I nearly shit my pants when I thought they actually killed you and Chloe."

"I don't know what that was," Jesse said. "That wasn't supposed to be part of the game."

"It was better," Joe said, chuckling with glee from behind Jesse.

Jesse turned and grabbed Joe by the shirt and pulled him to him.

"You asshole," Jesse yelled in Joe's face. "Look at her! Does she look like it was better to you?"

"Look, man, I'm sorry, okay?" Joe said. "We didn't think it would affect her that badly. Besides, you wrote the story."

"I didn't write THAT story," Jesse said, pushing Joe away. "I wrote it so Beca would choose me, and Chloe would be let go. I did not write it so that Beca would be severely traumatized."

Beca stood and went over to Jesse.

"They may not have killed you," she said. "But you are dead to me." She then slapped him, adding. "That's for scaring me, Donald, and Chloe."

"I guess I deserved that," Jesse said, holding his hand to his cheek.

"Let's go home," Beca said, looking at the group. "Anyone want to stop for pizza on the way?"

Chloe rushed over to join Beca and smiled.

"I want pizza," Chloe said.

"Then pizza you shall have," Beca taking her hand.

"I want veggie pizza," Chloe said to the group as she walked toward the door with Beca.

Everyone then started talking about what pizza toppings they wanted as they followed Beca and Chloe out the door.

Donald saw Jesse watching Beca and Chloe with a sad look on his face. Donald grabbed him by the arm, saying, "Come on, Jesse, let's go so we can get some pizza."

"Do you think we can get anchovies on one?" Jesse asked.

"I think we can," Donald said.

Jesse grinned, and the two followed the group out the door.