Your gonna miss me when I'm gone

Chapter 6

They had agreed to meet back at the bus in one hour. They knew it wouldn't take that long but they thought better safe than sorry. In fact, it only took the girls about twenty minutes before they were all back at the bus again.

They had all gone for the same look. None of them cared about how they looked. They had wiped off the makeup that they had worn for their set. That seemed like such a long time ago now. They were dressed in jeans and tracksuit bottoms. Dressing for comfort as Fat Amy would say, but nobody was in the mood for jokes.

Once again, the girls piled silently onto the bus. Chloe sat nearest the doors. She wanted to be the first to get off the vehicle and into the hospital to see Beca. Cynthia Rose had volunteered to drive to hospital as Amy had driven to the competition and back. Aubrey would have sat next to Chloe but she knew that she needed some space. She did what any best-friend would do; she would just be there for her.

Chloe didn't even know what to think. What if by the time they got to the hospital Beca was dead? She knew that that was an unspoken thought that all the girls shared. The redhead put her headphones in and started listening to music. She hoped that it would distract her from her dark thoughts. She hated thinking negatively. She always had believed that love is louder but she couldn't help the doubt that was slowly trickling into her thoughts. The music did little to help. It only reminded her more of the short brunette DJ and when Party in the USA came on shuffle, Chloe nearly threw her iPod off the bus. It seemed as if the world was against her. Against Beca.

The journey had taken less time than the girls had thought. Chloe found that she was hesitant to get off the bus. She wasn't ready for any bad news. She stood by the open doors of the bus, unmoving until Aubrey gave her the gentle push that she needed.

The walk into the hospital was silent too. There was a tension in the air as the girls wondered if Beca was still alive or not. The hospital was cool and smelt of sterility and sickness. Chloe knew the smell well, being a med-student meant that she was often in hospitals, looking at different cases, more often in her last year. She knew that after this year at Barden she would go to a finishing med-school. But, today, the smell of the hospital turned her stomach. All she could think about was death now.

Aubrey walked up to the reception desk. The receptionist looked up at the group of girls and smiled in welcome. Her smile faltered when she saw just how tired and distressed these girls were.

Aubrey forced a smile onto her face. "Hi. About an hour and a half ago, a friend of ours was in a car accident and was brought here in an ambulance. Her name is Beca Mitchell..." Aubrey let the sentence hang, hoping that the receptionist would understand her drift.

Luckily she did and started typing into her computer. Aubrey watched her face carefully, searching for any signs of bad news. After what was possibly the longest and most antagonising minute of their lives, the receptionist looked back up.

"Miss Mitchell is still in the OR. If you go down this corridor and then go down two floors to the ER department and ask there which OR she is in." Aubrey thanked the woman and the Bellas continued down to the Emergency department.

As the Bellas reached the Emergency department, the dread that they had been feeling was overwhelming. Again Aubrey went to the reception desk, asking after Beca. She was told that Beca was in Room 1; the room that the hospital reserved for the worst cases.

For now, all the Bellas could do was wait. They took a seat in waiting room which, incidentally, gave them a perfect view of Room 1's doors. They would know if anyone went in or out.

Hours went by and no one emerged from those doors. Most of the Bellas had fallen asleep, tired from the day's excursions. Finally it was only Aubrey and Chloe that were left awake. They sat side by side, unmoving in silence. Aubrey looked over at Chloe and saw the redhead's eyes droop.

"Chlo, go to sleep. I'll stay awake and wake you if anything happens." When Chloe opened her mouth to protest, Aubrey beat her to it "I couldn't sleep even if I wanted to."

Chloe nodded and mumbled a thank you before she let her eyes close. Within minutes, she was asleep. Aubrey watched as her best-friend's features smoothed out in her sleep. She looked so relaxed. So peaceful. Aubrey knew it would be a long time before she saw that face on Chloe whilst she was awake again.

It was around 4a.m., six hours since the Bellas had arrived at the hospital, that Aubrey saw a doctor emerge from Room 1. The blonde was out of her seat in a heartbeat, striding over to the surgeon.

The surgeon looked up at the tall blonde girl approaching him. He was tired and hated giving bad news. Aubrey stopped nervously in front of this man. She was almost too scared to ask the question. Almost.

But she didn't need to. The look in the surgeon's eyes told her everything she needed to know. She knew then and there that everything wasn't going to be alright. Everything was about to change. The doctor motioned to two empty seats and after they had both sat down, he began to explain everything to her.