Andiclauds: I imagine it being a few hundred chapters. And it's Triple Treble.
Vickstik: You know in your head, you're still really trying to guess who it is. -wink-
96itadakimasu96: I think Aubrey is hilarious. Beca has just yet to appreciate it.
Pixie1913: So, what you're saying is, I should write a scene where someone is murdered in the shower just for you.
Malexfaith: I don't exactly lead the easiest life, so, it's kind of hard to update quickly.
SunDanceQT: The venn diagram thing made me laugh writing it.
Guest: Thank you for the review!
Arrhythmia
Nothing is the same;
There's a new world calling my name.
I can't escape this.
Shadows bring the dark,
And we know they can't be very far.
Our fate is beckoning;
It's beckoning.
- Ruelle
"Why move them?" Aubrey steps into the hallway, staring into the dining room. There's nothing more than blood stains now. The rest of the group should be back soon, so she's replaced her handgun with the rifle. She points the barrel at the stains and tries to think. "Why not leave them?"
"I don't know." Beca rubs her eyes with her thumb and pointer finger. "The smell?"
Aubrey shakes her head. That doesn't make sense. "They want this to be the worst possible experience for us. What could be worse than…" She motions around, not wanting to say it. What could be worse than watching all our friends rot? Smelling them decompose? There has to be a more sinister reason for putting in the effort to drag each body out of the inn and put it somewhere else. "So why do it?"
"How did they do it without us noticing?" Chloe asks. "The blood stops in the driveway. They had to use a car or something."
"Because they knew where we all were," Beca answers.
"How?" Chloe asks.
That question bothers Aubrey more than all the others. Because that question has an answer that adds up to what they know – how they know so much about her, how they've pinpointed where they would be and when. "Because somebody we know is in on it," she answers, "They have a mole."
"Aubrey, that's…no." Chloe shakes her head. "Why would one of us do that?"
"No one said they're doing it by choice," Beca answers.
"So you think somebody made a deal?" Chloe asks, "They give them information, and in return they live?"
Beca shrugs. "It sounds like a good deal."
"Okay, but who would do it?" Chloe looks doubtful – or maybe just distraught at the idea.
"Who wouldn't?" Aubrey replies.
"Not everyone is like you, Chloe," Beca reminds her, "You might have everyone's backs, but not everyone here is going to have yours."
"We all know Bumper would take that kind of deal," Aubrey says.
"Or Stacie," Beca adds.
"What?" Chloe asks, voice high pitched and incredulous. She rolls her eyes. "Stacie?"
Beca shrugs. "Instead of offering her a deal, maybe they threatened her kid?"
"This all started before Sophia went missing," Chloe argues.
"No, no, no, Beca might be right," Aubrey intervenes. She can't believe she's agreeing with her, but it's a good point. "Think about it. Maybe they threatened Sophia as soon as we got here, but they didn't do anything, because she cooperated. But what if she tried to back out?"
"They can't get Sophia alone, and they won't have as much leverage if Stacie is dead," Beca adds, "So they wait until the kid's with Donald."
Chloe doesn't believe it. Aubrey can tell from her face. No, that's not it. Chloe doesn't want to believe it. Not that Aubrey wants to believe it either. But this is the closest they've come to anything making sense.
"It would make more sense for it to be Bumper." Chloe looks at Aubrey. "You said so yourself."
That was before Beca's theory. As much as Aubrey wants it to be Bumper... "That would be too easy. If we told everybody else, they would all blame Bumper without a second thought. He's the best scapegoat."
"Okay, we should start narrowing it down." Beca walks toward the couch in the lobby. "We can rule out the three of us. We can rule out Benji." She sits down, and Aubrey sits down next to her while Chloe sits on the coffee table. "We can probably rule out Bumper, but we'll leave him in just in case."
Aubrey nods in agreement.
"Stacie is in. Luke?" Beca asks.
"In." Aubrey has caught Luke involved in enough shady shit already.
Beca puffs out her cheeks. "If it's Luke, there goes my job."
"I think we have more important things to worry about than your hobbies right now, Beca," Aubrey points out, "If we die, we won't be doing anything we love." She rolls her eyes as Chloe taps their feet together and murmurs 'or anyone'. "Moving on."
Beca shakes her head with a tight, forced smile. "Okay, so we can rule out Jesse."
"I think Jesse is the last person you should be ruling out as you demonize our friends," Chloe intervenes, "He has motive."
Beca stares at her. "Dude, what motive?"
"You don't think Aubrey and I are a motive?" Chloe asks.
"To help kill everybody that we know?" Beca replies.
Chloe shrugs. "How well do you know him, Beca?"
"I was about to marry him. Look, I am making the choice to rule out Aubrey, and she is somehow more involved in this shit than anyone else. So, I think you can agree to rule out Jesse," Beca says, "How well do you know Aubrey?"
Aubrey doesn't like where this is going at all. "We're getting off topic."
"I know Aubrey better than Aubrey knows Aubrey," Chloe answers.
Aubrey tilts her head, because…
"She's looking at me with her face all scrunched up, because she doesn't think that's possible," Chloe says, looking straight at Beca, "Aubrey is extremely predictable."
She is not.
"Now she's glaring at me, but she isn't going to say anything, because I'm saving her skin right now."
"Okay, that's enough," Aubrey and Chloe both say in unison, Chloe mimicking her hand motion to stop.
"Okay, that's some witchcraft bullshit," Beca replies.
Chloe folds her arms and makes the face. The face that Aubrey absolutely hates. The sulky pouting face that she will continue to make until she gets her way.
"Okay, fine," Beca concedes, "We'll leave him in, even though it's not him." She shakes her head. "Fat Amy?"
Aubrey doesn't want to say anything to that.
Beca nods. "I love Fat Amy," she says, "But Fat Amy loves Fat Amy more than she loves anyone else. She'd save herself first."
Chloe just shakes her head.
"Lilly?" Aubrey asks.
"Lilly is fucking insane," Beca says, and that answers that.
And that's it. That's everyone they have left. Aubrey tries not to dwell on it.
"Why aren't Jesse's parents here?" Chloe asks. "I know you don't talk to your mom anymore, but your dad and Sheila were here. The only family of Jesse's I've seen was his uncle."
Beca cringes at the word were. "Jesse's mom has cancer," she replies, "She couldn't make it. We were going to do a small ceremony with his family when we got home."
"Why not do the entire ceremony there?" Chloe asks.
"Because the original plan was to do it all here," Beca answers.
Chloe has a point. Aubrey is still trying to find a way to agree with her without starting World War 3 when she hears voices outside. "One of us has to tell Stacie."
"I'll do it." Chloe stands up.
Aubrey nods. If they're being honest, Chloe is the best one to tell Stacie about Donald. Because all Aubrey can think to say is, 'Beca found Donald dead.' Chloe can flesh out the facts with empathy. It isn't that Aubrey doesn't feel it. But saying, 'Sorry, Beca found Donald dead' doesn't sound much better.
"Should we go outside?" Beca asks.
Aubrey stares at the back of Chloe's head as she leaves. She nods, even though she makes no effort to stand up. She doesn't want to see who might not be out there. "Beca?"
"I swear to god, if you ask me about Luke again…"
"Do you really think it could be me?" Aubrey asks. So maybe she's not best friends with the Bellas and the Trebles hate her – but enough that anyone could think she'd sell them out like this?
Beca exhales and stares toward the door.
"You do." It figures. They've all thought the worst of her ever since they met her. Aubrey crosses her arms. How Chloe can be a person who sees her, really sees her, she'll never understand. No one else can see her like that.
"I didn't say that...verbatim," Beca replies, "I don't think it's you. Unless you took a deal for Chloe too."
That changes everything. To take a deal for herself is one thing. To get Chloe out of here alive? "I would have. I still would." No matter how wrong it is, she'd throw them all to the wolves if it meant Chloe got to leave. She'd throw herself in the fire first, if she had to.
"I know." Beca pats Aubrey's knee then stands up. She offers Aubrey her hand.
Outside, Stacie starts to cry. Loud. Angry. Did she really take a deal? Either way, they still have to go out there. Aubrey takes Beca's hand and lets her pull her to her feet. She lets go to make sure her gun is securely hidden under the back of her shirt and to regather their things, this time with Beca's help. The bags feel heavier every time she picks them up. She has to brace herself against the couch after bending down and standing up again, and wait for the sharp, stabbing pain in her chest and stomach to dissipate.
"You good?" Beca asks.
Aubrey nods and focuses on one more slow breath.
"Okay, because you don't look good."
"I'm fine." Aubrey stands up straight. "I'm fine." The first time, she says it to Beca. The second, she repeats it for herself. Her whole body just fucking hurts. All she wants is to go home and go to bed. She looks around to make sure they have everything. It feels like she's forgetting something. Bags. Guns. She has Chloe's sweatshirt. She turns in a full circle, scanning the area. Nothing. Just Beca staring at her. "Well, go."
"I was waiting for you," Beca states.
"Well…" Aubrey doesn't have time to process Beca trying to be nice to her right now. "Walk while you wait." She ignores the look that earns her and places her hands on Beca's shoulders, pushing her to the door.
xxxxx
In an effort not to think about Beca trying to kiss her again, Aubrey found herself with an exceptional amount of time to think about Beca trying to kiss her again. She tried to make herself busy with housework, with her job, with studying, with traveling into the city. But it only kept her body busy. She found herself reading the same line in her books over and over again, until she was forced to put them away and move onto another menial task that she could only pretend required her focus. And when Chloe finally asked what was wrong, Aubrey just feigned confused with a smile and said she'd bring her back a donut when she was done studying then walked out the door. At least she remembered to bring back the donut.
Nighttime was the worst. Chloe was insistent on sleeping with her, but kept trying to ply her with melatonin so they could both get some sleep rather than deal with Aubrey tossing and turning all night long. But it was fine. Everything was fine. Aubrey was fine. She started going to bed before Chloe in an effort to be asleep before Chloe got to bed. She just needed to stop thinking about it. She just needed to stop thinking. Stop thinking. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. It didn't even sound like a word anymore. She tried to count the ceiling tiles to distract herself, but instead only ended up imagining the word printed on each one. Stop. Stop. Stop.
There was only two nights until Beca left.
Stop.
Stop.
Stop.
Her stomach felt sick.
Stop thinking stop, Aubrey.
She sat up on her bed and glanced at the clock. It was nearly two in the morning. Chloe hadn't even attempted to come to bed. Maybe she had decided to get some actual sleep and sleep in her own bed. She pushed her blankets back and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, telling herself she was just going to check on her. Make sure she was okay. She got up and made her way across the dark hallway toward Chloe's room, only to find it empty. The living room light was still on, and Aubrey could hear the TV on low volume. She must have still been awake with Beca. If they were awake, they weren't talking.
Aubrey crept closer to the living room, peeking around the corner at them. Beca was on the couch, watching something on the television. Chloe was on the floor, hunched over the coffee table, creating some sort of colorful chart for her class. Stop. She leaned her head against the wall, watching her draw.
"Hey," Chloe greeted her, finishing a square before looking up – prompting Beca to prop herself up and look at her too. "What's up?"
Aubrey almost asked if she was coming to bed, but stopped herself when she remembered Beca was listening. "I have to show you something."
Chloe nodded and capped her marker. "What is it?" she asked instead of standing up.
Aubrey stared at her, mouth agape. "Ummm…" She hadn't thought that far. "It's late. I'll just show you in the morning." She waved it off and turned around, walking back down the hall. Instead of retracing her steps back into her own room, she came to a standstill in the middle of the hallway, and glanced over at Chloe's room.
It was like their secret code, sleeping in Chloe's room – code for something isn't quite right without Aubrey needing to say it. But it wasn't a useful code if Chloe wasn't in her room. She could have just joined them both in the living room. Only then, she'd be trying even harder to figure out why Beca had kissed her. Was it a ploy to get to Chloe? Maybe Beca had some kind of hate-sex kink. Stop. In a moment of frustration, she slammed her hand against the wall. It wasn't hard enough to leave a mark, on her hand or the wall, but it was enough for Chloe to pick up speed on her way down the hall.
It felt good, so she did it again. Only, it didn't feel as satisfying the second time around. It felt more like eating a second slice of cake and then realizing you shouldn't have and then just saying fuck it and going in for a third, because your calorie intake was already screwed up. Only Chloe caught her by the arm on the third hit and spun her around into a tight hug that sandwiched both of Aubrey's arms between their chests.
"Are you ready for my help now?" Chloe asked.
Aubrey ignored the question.
Chloe released the hug and grabbed her by the arms, forcing her to make eye contact. It wasn't the rhetorical question that Aubrey wanted it to be. But it didn't require a verbal answer either. She waited for Aubrey to untense her muscles and soften her expression before letting go. "Go," she said softly and nudged Aubrey into her room, "I'll be right back."
xxxxx
Everybody is back. Aubrey stops in the doorway to do a mental attendance check and assess the situation. Everyone has stopped talking – except for Chloe, who is whispering into Stacie's ear as she cries. All the times she snapped, 'I just need you all to be present and silent,' during Bellas practice, this wasn't quite how she expected to feel when it finally happened. Reality never did quite match up to her expectations. They need another plan. She quickly grabs Beca by the back of her shirt before she can walk away.
"We need two plans," Aubrey whispers to her, "One to follow, and one to make everyone think we're going to follow. If we can outsmart them, we might have a chance."
"And what, pray tell, might those two plans be?" Beca whispers back.
"I don't know," Aubrey admits, "We need time to think."
xxxxx
Stop. Stop. Stop. Aubrey hit the back of her head against the wall a few times as she waited for Chloe in her bed – not to hurt herself, but to relieve some of the pressure building up in her skull. She stopped when she heard Chloe's footsteps coming back down the hall, because Chloe wouldn't understand. Chloe's head wasn't a boiler with a broken pressure relief valve. It was more like a very intuitive cloud – and it must have been nice to always feel that light. She rested her arms in her bent knees and stared straight ahead, watching Chloe through her peripheral vision as she walked in.
Chloe sat down and scooted back next her to, mirroring her posture – back against the wall, their shoulders touching as she shifted to rest her arms in her knees without spilling the glass of water in her hand. She offered over the water. "Aubrey, I don't understand why you let things get to this point," she said as Aubrey stared down at the ripples in the water. "Talk to me."
What was she supposed to say? Beca kissed me again, and now I'm confused, but I can't admit that I'm confused, because I don't like what that implies? I'm scared that if we let Beca any closer, I'll lose you? She held out her free hand flat.
Chloe sighed and laid out three pills on her palm.
Aubrey swallowed them all at once then downed the entire glass of water. She placed the empty cup on the nightstand, then rested her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. And waited. Xanax was never a pleasant feeling. It started out by making her want to crawl out of her skin then faded into a sensation that made her even wonder if she was attached to her body at all. And she hated it. But feeling nothing was better than feeling anything else.
"Just give it a minute," Chloe acknowledged her discomfort. She reached over and brushed Aubrey's hair away from her face.
"Chloe, I -" love you "-m just tired."
xxxxx
"Everybody," Aubrey announces from the top of the stairs, "We're going to go inside and think about our options." What haven't they already exhausted?
"We're fucked," Beca mutters.
"We cannot be fucked, Beca, okay?" Aubrey whispers and grabs her by the arm, dragging her right back inside the door they just walked out of, "We can't be. All we have to do is survive. Eventually, someone has to notice we're missing, right?" Is that really all they have? "Chloe's mom and dad will get worried when she stops answering the phone." She's putting a lot of trust into Chloe's parents – more than she'd ever put in her own. "They have to call the police."
"And if they don't?" Beca asks.
Aubrey glances behind them to make sure no one is close enough to hear them yet. "They will. They love Chloe. They're going to notice if something is wrong."
"Dude, we have days left on this island that they could just think she's having a little too much fun."
"So, we hide," Aubrey suggests, "We gather up some food and some supplies. There's an entire town of empty houses out there. If anything, we can hide long enough to buy us time to think of a real plan."
"And everybody else?" Beca asks.
Aubrey looks back at them again. Not everyone has betrayed them. Chloe is right – these are their friends. Chloe might never forgive her if she abandons them all just to save her. She'll never forgive herself. But at least Chloe will be alive. She hadn't been joking about taking a deal for Chloe – even if Chloe has made it clear she doesn't want to be alive without her. Aubrey will just have to survive too. "Screw 'em."