This is my first fanfic for the Beetlejuice series. I may continue using one shots, but I haven't decided yet...
Please R&R!
Lydia Deetz had always considered herself strange and unusual. Since she was a little girl, she always held an interest for those that followed those words.
When she was five, she begged her dad not to kill the little black garden spider that had a made a home for itself above the kitchen sink in their home. When she started school the following year, she chased a defenseless beetle down the hall with her kindergarten teacher following right behind, shouting for Lydia to get away from the "school nuisance." Then in third grade, she saved, yet another, spider from one of the boys in her class when another girl screamed upon seeing it on their desk.
All in all, she loved the strange and unusual, she felt she was one that belonged to the group of strange and unusual creatures. But after she moved to Winter River, things began to get stranger and more unusual than ever before.
It all started with ghosts, then the strange creatures that appeared in her family's new home, then it ended with her nearly getting married to one ghost who called himself "the Ghost with the Most."
Now, Lydia Deetz was entering the end of her high school years, graduation only eight more months away, her eighteenth birthday less than four. A skilled photographer and seamstress, with an art school in Manhattan all lined up and ready for the following fall, it was more than what Lydia thought she could accomplish. But, something about everything didn't seem right.
True, Lydia probably had everything she could have wanted, but she had never felt so alone in her life. True she had Delia, as much as the woman drove her crazy, and her dad, Bertha, and Prudence, but she felt she needed someone else in her life.
Like a certain ghost.
No one had spoken of the ghost who caused more trouble than he was worth since the night that he had nearly gotten married to Lydia. Thankfully, with the help of Adam and Barbara Maitland, they had been able to send the bio-exorcist back to the hell from where he came. And it was because of what the Maitland's did, they were able to be processed and leave the Winter River house and the little goth girl who had become like a daughter to them.
And Lydia couldn't blame them for wanting to be free, but she could blame the Neitherworld Processing department for taking the couple who had become dear to her and very much like members of her own family. But, wishful thinking wasn't going to bring Barbara and Adam back.
She was sitting at her desk when things began to change. Her father and Delia were out for an art exhibition when the itch came. She had felt it before, many times during middle school almost a year after the incidents, maybe a week after Barbara and Adam had left the house. She felt the need to call that particular ghost, especially since things had gotten so rough that even she couldn't tell her own parents about her experiences with the school bullies.
Lydia leaned on her folded hands, deep in thought. She knew the words to call the creature, but what would be the cost? Would he be same as before? Would he be, dare she even think it, mad? Or would he be happy to see her?
Well, there was only one way to find out.
Lydia took a deep breath before uttering the first word, "Beetlejuice."
It was there that a light began to shine from the mirror on her vanity. She turned to watch as colors began to swirl, creating an almost portal-like image. Purples, whites, and greens rotated around and around clockwise slowly. She felt her nerve begin to fade ever so slightly, but she shook her head and spoke the word a second time, "Beetlejuice."
The swirling suddenly moved faster, and a face began to appear in the mirror, grinning like the devil himself. Eerie green eyes peered out at the goth girl and a wild grin with crooked teeth also appeared. It almost seemed like a Cheshire cat had made an appearance instead of the ghoul she was hoping to call.
"Come on, babes," a crackling voice echoed in the room, "Ya know the right word… let me out so we can talk…"
"BEETLEJUICE!"
Lighting flashed across the sky, and thunder crackled even though there was no rain outside. The lights flickered in Lydia's bedroom before going out. They slowly faded back on again to reveal another figure standing before the little goth girl.
He was tall and floating above about an inch or two off the floor. He wore a black and white pinstriped suit with a dirty white dress shirt and black tie. The boots he wore were scuffed and caked in mud. In fact, his entire figure was coated with moss and mud. His pale features grinned at the girl while his green eyes flashed in delight.
"Well, well, well," the poltergeist grinned, rubbing his hands together, "What 'ave we got 'ere?"
"Just you and me, Beetle-" Lydia began before the ghost covered her mouth with one dirty hand.
"Nobody says the 'B'-word, babes," Betelguese grinned.
Lydia pulled his hand from her mouth, "At least not for a while."
"Ya mean you'll send me back eventually?" he pulled a wounded look on his face, "How cruel you are, Miss Deetz."
"Lydia," she held out her hand.
The ghost looked at it suspiciously.
"Look," Lydia began, putting her hand down, "I want to start over. We met on bad terms and I want to rectify them."
"So…" Betelguese indicated that she should continue.
"I was hoping we could come to some sort of an agreement. Perhaps I let you out once in a while and we agree to be on better terms."
The ghost leaned back, floating in the air with his arms behind his head and legs crossed, "Are ya saying you want ta be friends? With me?"
"I suppose you could call it that," Lydia sat on her bed, "with the Maitlands' gone. I feel like I have no one else to turn to."
"Whada 'bout old Chuckie boy?"
"He's too busy with Delia and her art to worry about me."
'An abandoned daughter, eh?' He looked around the room. She didn't seem abandoned. There were photographs on the wall of her, Charles, and the Maitlands, and one or two with that Delia lady. There were also photos of bats, spiders, and cobwebs, as well as sketches of little strange creatures. There was a basket of fabric in one corner of the room and a mannequin with fabric draped around it. It looked like a black dress of sorts with spiderweb-themed lace and deep purple ribbon.
He looked back at the girl, 'She's obviously got talent…'
Betelguese cleared his throat to get Lydia's attention, "I don't see any photos of friends, got any?"
Lydia chuckled drily, "I sometimes wish I did, it'd make life so much easier for me."
The ghost chuckled and straightened out, "Well… I suppose I could… think about yer proposition."
The girl sat up and looked so hopeful in that moment that he couldn't help but smile. A human and a ghost as friends? It couldn't be the worst thing he'd ever done.
"Thank you, BJ. I do appreciate it."
"BJ?"
"Short for… you know."
The two of them laughed and for the first time in a long time, Lydia felt as if she could belong in this world.