Queen of the Sandworms
Chapter 1: Punishment
...
Beetlejuice yawned and lightly patted his open mouth with his pale, red tipped hand as he half listened to the judge's words. He stood in the middle of a lit circle with the judge's over-exaggerated bench looming over him. Around him was total darkness, making the courtroom more sinister and eerie.
The judge was a skeleton wrapped in black robes. Perched on his skull was a white powdered wig. He held his gavel in his right bony hand. His white face glowed in the dim lighting.
Lydia stood a good distance away from Beetlejuice. She wore her usual scarlet red spiderweb poncho over a black tight coverall. She fumbled her fingerless gloved hands nervously. This was the nine-hundredth time this year Beetlejuice had to come before the judge. It made her very worried that the judge was really going to punish him for his wrong doings.
The Ghost with the Most glanced over at Kydia and gave her a crooked grin. He wore his usual, signature black and white striped suit. His blonde hair was uncombed and reeked of century old garbage. His emerald green eyes didn't read any emotions of worry.
He looked rather childish, as if he knew everything was going to be ok. He has gotten away with mischief countless times. This event was just another addition to the count...901 to be precise; but to Lydia... she felt something bad was going to happen to her best friend. She could feel it.
"Beetlejuice," said the judge in a cold, dark voice. Beetlejuice whipped his head back around and faced the black shrouded skeleton in the powdered wig. "Yes, Judgey?" he asked, flashing his rotten yellow teeth to him. The judge loomed over the striped clad ghostand narrowed his dark sockets.
"Your actions here in the Neither World have gone too far," he said. Beetlejuice pretended to look upset, but both Lydia and the judge could see a smile curl upward on his pale face.
"Aw, really? I thought I was improving." he couldn't help but to chuckle at his own words. The judge was not amused. Beetlejuice cleared his throat.
"Give me another chance. I can feel myself really making progress. Lydia has been with me almost everyday and she has seen herself! Right, Babes?" he asked as he turned his head over to Lydia. Lydia hesitated on answering her friend. She fumbled with her hands again.
They really got themselves into a big mess this time...well...Beetlejuice was the one who did the mess. He was always pulling pranks on people, putting gremlins down the mayor's pants, releasing wild creatures into the cities to start destroying buildings, but this time...this time he had gone too far.
The jury was shadowed in the darkness as they watched the striped clad ghost float there with a smirk on his face. The attorney shifted in his seat with an irritated look on his face as he tried rifling through his papers.
The judge sighed at Beetlejuice's lie. "I have had enough of your lies. You are not improving in the slightest. You continue to literally reek havoc all over the Neitherworld and disturb the nonliving."
Beetlejuice turned to Lydia. "So what do you think, Lyds? Should I give him the dance number I worked on yesterday? or the rehearsed scene with you fainting and me saving you?" he asked her. Lydia shook her head. "I don't think any of them are going to work this time, Beetlejuice...I have a horrible feeling that-" Beetlejuice pressed his cold index finger to her black lipsticked lips and gave her a crooked toothy grin.
"Relax, Babes. I have this in the bag," The Ghost with the Most said as he turned into a huge brown paper bag. "We always are able to get out of sticky situations like this," then he turned into a wad of gum.
"I...I don't know, Beetlejuice-" Lydia started again, but was interrupted when the judge spoke again.
"I find you...guilty," he said. Beetlejuice rolled his eyes and hovered over where a trapdoor was supposed to appear. Instead of hearing the usual gasps in the jury, he heard a scream near him. He opened his eyes and turned his head, just as Lydia fell through a trap door.
"Lydia!" Beetlejuice screamed as he watched her fall through the open trap door. "Beetlejuice!" she screamed with her arms flailing over her head. He flew over toward her. Just as he did, he saw a Sandworm head appear from below. Fear jolted through him and he instantly froze up at the sight of the horrible creature. The trapdoor closed. Beetlejuice skidded along the cold ground where Lydia once stood. His yellow tinted eyes were wide.
"H-Hold on, Lydia! I'm coming!" he yelled at the floor. He tried scratching his nails along the ground to find the trapdoor, but it was turned into a black and white striped cat and clawed furiously at the ground. When that didn't work, he turned into a jackhammer and tried creating a hole in the ground. Nothing worked. He finally turned back to his normal form. Heaving and gasping out of exhaustion.
The jury whispered amongst themselves and seemed to be happy with the choice that was just made.
Beetlejuice felt panic flood through his entire body. He finally turned to the judge with rage in his eyes. Steam blew out of his pointy ears and his face turned red as he flew up to the judge's bony face.
"Bring my Lydia back NOW!" he screamed as his face turned into a huge hideous monster face. "If this is a joke, you messed with the wrong ghost to pull a prank on!" he shouted angrily. The judge stifled a cringe at Beetlejuice's horrible form and shook his skull head.
"I'm sorry, Beetlejuice, but you did this to yourself. You have been warned so many times, that we had to do what we had to do," Beetlejuice instantly felt very cold and stiff. His fault...
His face changed back to its normal state. "No...no! How could you?! She's my best friend! You cant do this! She doesnt deserve this!" he screamed.
The judge shook his head. "There is nothing that will change our minds. She has been sent to Sandworm Land-"
"No! She will die! She wont last for five minutes out there! Please oh please oh pllleeaaasee! Bring her back! I-I don't want her down there! Please-!"
"NO!" the judge shouted loudly, making the whole place shake. The whole dark courtroom fell silent. Beetlejuice instantly turned small and flaoted back to the ground.
The judge glared down at the black and white striped clad ghost from his place.
"What's done is done! Lydia is being punished for your wrong-doings. I cannot bring Lydia back until you behave yourself. She will stay down there till we feel that you have been punished enough... And that is final!" the judge said as he brought down his gavel
Right when the hammer made contact with the skull on the desk, Beetlejuice felt as if his heart exploded. Lydia was trapped in the realm of the Sandworms, the one place he feared the most... and he couldn't do anything about it!