Lydia closely examines the page of her journal, while sitting cross-legged on her unmade bed. There are just a few unscented candles lit on top of her vanity and near her on the nightstand. She has been lighting candles for years in the house and still Delia nor her father have yet noticed, but not realizing that is a good thing for Lydia. Her attraction to candles and their flames are powerful; the flame is like a trapped soul begging to be set free but yet it just dances there, fighting so hard to break away. It burns because it's strong and it's powerful like Lydia.
She raises her eyes up from the cursive words across the cream colored page and gazes over towards the open window. She stares off into the distance, gets momentarily lost in the warm arrangement of colors in the sky and licks her chapped lips, grabbing her pen from beside her leg and begins to write again. The young teenager reads over what she has written, taps the tip of the pen over her tights covered knee in thought and starts to add more to her mildly dark short poem. For the first time in a very long time, Lydia isn't sulking or silently crying to herself about how tough her 16 years of life has been so far; she is actually writing a poem about a certain poltergeist.
Sure Lydia has only seen him once, well, twice actually when he nearly killed everyone disguised as that weird snake-thing but something about him is very strange and unusual and, (excluding that snake-thing, which terrified the hell out of her), Lydia is completely in love with the strange and unusual. Scooting back to the headboard, Lydia leans back into it while re-reading her writing with her knees bent forward. She swallows and furrows her dark brows.
"Hm," a soft questioning sound goes off behind her thin lips as she begins to cross out a few words that have irritated her.
Her poem isn't dirty by any means but who knows what that 'beetle' guy will think about it whenever she gets the chance to show it to him. Would that-that ghost guy even care? Should Lydia even waste her time writing something for someone who isn't even alive? With a groan the young teenager tears out the page and crumples it up, tossing it across the very dim lit room.
Beyond her bedroom door, down the hall, Lydia can hear her father and Delia arguing about something and it's usually over something very silly. Lydia rolls her eyes at the muffled voices and hops off the bed, walking over to the only window. The autumn breeze is cool and whistles passed her ears and dances through her black hair, zig-zagging between each individual bang. A barely visible smile appears on her thin lips and she leans forward, peeking out of the window. She closes her eyes and drifts off into another world until a loud CRACK breaks her away from her fantasy world. Her fingers dig into the wooden window sill and she turns around, feeling sudden irritation kick in.
Lydia can only hope it had been one of Delia's ugly sculptures that made that loud banging sound. With a sigh, Lydia opens up her door to a tiny crack, just enough for her to peek through and see what's going on. Delia speed walks down the hall into her father's study and Lydia sees her father chasing closely after her. Lydia still can't understand what it is that had attracted those two together in the first place.
The young teenager closes the door and turns around, staring at her unmade bed. Another sigh passes her lips as she wanders on over to the said bed and starts to unwrinkle the sheets before laying them across the bed in place.
Lydia wanders up into the attic. She takes note right away that Adam and Barbara are no where up here and she closes the door with a click and turns back around to gander once again at the well made model of Winter River. Lydia is curious and confused about the 'beetle' man living in the said model and she walks over to it and sets her fingertips down onto an empty space on the fake grass.
It's a little pokie underneath her fingers but it doesn't bother her none. Her dark eyes scan the model quite anxiously, leaning herself closer into it. Lydia is careful with her weight as she bends her knees and squints, trying to get a better look, in search of that weird looking man.
Out from the corner of her eye, Lydia spots the 'beetle' man and jumps at the sight of him, leaning back to where she once was, removing her hands from the model. The ghostly looking man is dressed from shoulders to toe in black and white and it really makes him stand out in the faux version of Winter River. Licking her lips, Lydia crosses her arms behind her back and leans over the model again, eyeing the stripe wearing poltergeist. He's gazing up at the teenager, sitting on top of his own tombstone. He begins to pick at his yellow, nasty teeth and gives Lydia a smile with a not so surprising wink.
"Ready to release me babes?" the ghost asks teasingly in his unique gravelly voice. Lydia sighs and leans back, staring at everything but the Winter River model, thinking. There are sudden footsteps coming up towards the attic and the sound makes Lydia nervous; she swallows the ball of spit on her tongue, stares down at the miniture ghost man and coughs, standing with her back erect and her shoulders back.
Beetlejuice looks at her with a questioning look. He steps off the tombstone and scratches at the back of his neck. "Do it," Beetlejuice demands, his distinctive voice booming. Lydia readies her lips by rubbing them together and says his name one last time.
"Beetlejuice," Lydia says it for the third time and suddenly the miniture ghost man isn't at all miniture anymore. She turns her head to the right and he is standing there, tall with an unattractive beer gut. Lydia swallows a bundle of nerves and takes a step or two back at the sight of the poltergeist; the closeness of the two of them gives her a chance to examine his facial features and the mold that has grown on him in certain spots. Lydia is too distracted with Beetlejuice that she doesn't notice that Barbara is right behind her, with an expression that's definitely more surprised than Lydia's.
"LYDIA!" Barbara's voice knocks Lydia out of her everlasting trance and the young girl spins around but Beetlejuice grabs a hold of her forearm and his secure grip tells Lydia that he is not going to let go any time soon. The teenager is trapped between two otherworldly beings, just one being more powerful than the other.
Lydia turns her head in Beetlejuice's direction and her lips open a little. Barbara then grabs onto her other forearm but doesn't pull. Why do annoying things like this always happen to Lydia? The two ghosts stare at one another and Lydia looks back and forth between them, noticing their different expressions.
"Let her go!" Barbara demands and this time she pulls teenage Lydia into her, but the action doesn't release Beetlejuice's hand from her. The creepy poltergeist snickers and copies Barbara's execution, but since he is a lot stronger than her, Beetlejuice pulls Lydia from the older woman's grip, allowing Lydia to crash into him. The young girl wiggles her nose at the sudden smell coming from Beetlejuice and coughs, stepping away from him. Barbara doesn't bother to reach out for Lydia again, the girl is not her daughter but she's afraid of what will happen to her in the hands of Beej.
Beetlejuice snaps his icy cold fingers and a lit cigarette appears between his lips. Lydia looks back and forth between them again, crossing her arms.
"So, what was the reason the two of you were fighting over me?" Lydia asks, looking up at Barbara then Beetlejuice, who she is actually seeing in full form for the first time. Beej simply expels all of that lung damaging smoke, while eyeing Barbara like some type of predator. Lydia furrows her brows and punches the dead man in the arm, not worrying about the consequences for doing so.
"Ouch!" Beetlejuice whines, with an ugly frown and tosses his cigarette aside, rubbing the heel of his palm against his sore arm. Lydia snickers a little bit and turns to Barbara.
"I know you are just looking out for me but could you just leave me alone, you are starting to act just like Delia," Lydia admits, and on the final part of her sentence, her voice suddenly dies and she stares down at her two tights covered feet. Lydia doesn't want to hurt Barbara in any kind of way but she wants her to understand that she isn't a little child anymore; she wants to do whatever her heart desires, of course, nothing too terrible but what is so wrong about wanting to be inside that Winter River model? It will give Lydia the chance to finally get away from Delia and roam the entire town of Winter River freely with little to no consequences.
The thought of it makes her smile but it fades after she turns her eyes back up to gaze at Barbara. "I'm sorry Lydia, I had no idea that I was treating you that way," the brunette haired ghostly woman says carefully, picking at the underside of her nails. The air between the two of them has gone completely silent and still, well, until Beetlejuice puts one of his arms over top of Lydia's shoulders, holding her against him.
"You better be sorry, babes, now, I think it's about time for me and this little babe to get outta' here," Beej informs the two women, and the closeness of him causes Lydia to shiver. His breath is ice cold and rank. Lydia waves her hand in front of her face to blow away the nasty smell of the poltergeist's breath.
Barbara opens her mouth and stands up straight as if she is waiting to say something but nothing comes out. "If you are going to take her from me then please let me pick the place where I want you to be?" the older woman reclaims her voice and says, looking deeply into Beetlejuice's green eyes. The bio-exercist cocks his head and raises a brow. He's waiting to see what this woman has on her mind.
"Take Lydia to the model, at least there I can check up on her and besides, I am not going to let you roam earth causing destruction, I just won't do that," Barbara tells Beetlejuice and crosses her arms, making sure he can identify the tone in her voice and the dominance in her body language. The ghost rolls his eyes and drops his forehead onto Lydia's shoulder sighing as well as surprising her. With a moment to think, Beetlejuice raises his head up and nods his head childishly. Lydia watches as his wild hair moves with every movement of his and she mindlessly reaches out to touch it.
Both Beetlejuice and Barbara don't take note of Lydia's action and once she pulls her hand back down to her side, the two otherworldly beings are staring at her. "You know what to do now, babes," both of Beetlejuice's cold hands grab onto her shoulders and he shakes her a couple times.
Lydia swats at him and looks over at Barbara one last time before parting her lips to say that infamous name.
.
Within seconds of saying his name for the final time, Lydia is standing on the fake rubber grass of Adam's lovely model. Beetlejuice is a few feet ahead of her, scratching his head while bending over to pick up unknown things from the ground.
"Whoa, this is amazing," Lydia says silently to herself with a smile, practically turning herself slowly into a circle, skimming her eyes over everything. Every building, every street lamp and every street looks just like the real thing; she is astonished. Beej wanders back over towards her with two hands full of beetles and spiders. Lydia looks down into his hands and jumps at the sight.
Beej gives her a funny look and chews three at a time, not bothering to close his mouth as he does so. "I thought you'd get a kick out of these crawly things, considering most emo girls like this shit," he says to the young girl nonchalantly and begins to eat a few more from his hands. Lydia isn't an 'emo'. She considers herself 'dark' and very 'mysterious', not somebody who cries 24/7 and cuts themselves. Lydia is bothered by his perception of her but she lets it slowly roll off her shoulder and continues to cringe at what and how he's eating.
"Sooo, what do you do here?" Lydia comes out and asks, feeling a little wave of nervousness splash over her as she crosses her arms. Beetlejuice raises his head from the palms of his hands and looks at her with a toothy grin, bug remains poking out from his teeth.
"I don't do shit here on this model but what I DO do down below can be quite entertaining...sometimes," the ghost with the most acknowledges her with a calm tone of voice, wiping both of his hands onto the sides of his pants. Lydia watches him fix his black tie and blow a wad of snot from his one nostril to the side. She cringes again but afterwards, a smile is showing softly on her lips.
How come Barbara and Adam don't want her near this ghost? Sure he's gross in a lot of ways but he has a good sense of humor and he hasn't displayed any kind of inappropriate feelings towards her so that's good. She's just dying to know the reason why she shouldn't see him. The unknown has always sparked her curiosity. "What do you mean 'down below'?" Lydia asks again, stepping closer towards Beetlejuice, who is smoking another cigarette, levitating crosslegged. What the hell? Everything this ghost has done so far surprised the hell out of young Lydia but seeing him levitate is beyond amazing.
The man turns his head quickly to look at Lydia and his lips curve up at one side of his mouth. That's quite the devilish look he's giving her. "Let me just say this, a girl like you would NOT make it down below okay, so you are safe just standing there, wondering mindlessly around this cheap fucking model," Lydia doesn't mind his cursing and she absolutely admires the constant movement of his arms when he tries to make a point or is speaking in general. Lydia watches him flick his second cigarette ahead of himself and he continues to levitate, leaning over into his lap, staring blankly ahead.
"Um, can-can I climb on top of you?" Lydia asks and instantly recognizes the hot wave of nerves crash into her face. Lydia doesn't want to look at him any longer so she stares down at the fake grass.
Beetlejuice perks up at her choice of words and hurries to outstretch his arms and legs. Now he is just floating a couple inches from the ground but the sight of it continues to knock the sound out of Lydia. "Come over here then and grab my hand," the ghost man says softly to the young girl, firstly clearing his gravelly voice. Lydia looks back up at him with a little smile and does as she's told.
The air around them is cool but it's not bothersome. Lydia stares up at Beetlejuice and reaches for his hand, taking note of all of his wrist watches and his one gold ring. His fingernails are dirty and long but she continues to reach for his hand and latches on. His palm is very cold and gives her sudden goosebumps but she is immediately distracted by the temperature of his hand when he pulls her up into his arms and holds her like a toddler at the hip. Lydia now understands how intimate this is and how badly Beetlejuice must be struggling to hide the awkwardness but he doesn't let her go and she grabs on tighter to his shoulders, trying to keep her focus on the rest of the model.
Coughing, Beetlejuice looks over at Lydia and smiles almost unnoticable. He is confused by his own emotions right now and when he smiles at the young teenager with such sincerety, it makes him suddenly weak and they both fall together. Lydia raises her head from the ghost man's chest and stares down at him with a surprised set of eyes. Beetlejuice on the other hand just folds his arms behind his head and snickers.
"I had no idea you liked dead guys haha," he teases with a harmless wink and chuckles as Lydia bounces while his stomach rises and falls with each seperate chuckle that passes his lips. The young teenager shakes her head and removes herself from him, ultimately wanting to take back asking him in the first place.
Lydia lets her arms fall still at her sides and raises her head up to the fake but well made stars. Beetlejuice stands up and brushes himself off, straightening the lapels of his jacket and he pulls a tickling bug from behind his ear. He bites the head first and then swallows the rest whole. Turning to see Lydia, Beetlejuice swallows a bit nervously just by watching her stand there gazing curiously at all the model has to offer for a young girl. Something, he can't figure out what, is very different about her. She's human, that's one and her interaction with him so far is certainly something that has surprised him.
No woman, in fact, no girl her age, in their right mind would even think about calling out Beetlejuice's name. The young girl ahead of him wants to know more about him and that truly means a lot to the creepy dead man.
Beetlejuice continues to follow close behind Lydia; walking through the cemetary, he would levitate and once they found a spot to sit down, he would just keep his feet planted on the ground. He enjoyed messing with people, especially Lydia, who actually enjoyed being toyed with by Beej.
Lydia sits down with her legs at her side and she grabs the hem of her black dress and pulls it down her thigh. Her eyes are directed ahead of her, staring at a faux dead tree but after a while of blankly staring, Lydia moves her eyes to the side and catches Beetlejuice's stare as she continues to pull the hem of her dress down. Just a little part of her feels grossed out after finding him staring but the rest of her feels a prick of excitement and shyness. Beetlejuice is soo nasty and cocky with a crude sense of humor but Lydia believes that is something that she is very attracted to.
Lydia has been around guys her age before; when she lived back in New York, they were all over the place, but she didn't find herself attracted in any way towards those young men. Not a single one. Such blah personalities with a prude sense of fashion.
The poltergeist ahead of her is someone she wouldn't mind being around all the time if she was being honest. Letting go of the hem of her dress, Lydia turns her head towards Beetlejuice who is again lounging on top of a tombstone, picking at the tips of his black boots. She has a question she is curious to hear the answer to. The young girl stands up and licks her lips, making her way over to Beej. His head doesn't perk up when she stands before him and she knows that he can see her.
"I have a question for you," Lydia begins and the sound of her voice captures his attention and he cracks a goofy smile once their eyes meet. "Sure, shoot!" Beej replies and jumps off the tombstone, now sitting with his back against it, locking his fingers together. They both stare at each other and Beetlejuice's smile gets bigger. Lydia swallows another hard bundle of nerves and inhales deeply, completely forgetting to exhale before she starts again.
"Well, I was wondering, since you are dead, do you have a wife?" her forehead gets hot as well as her cheeks after realizing what she sounded like after asking that question. Her hands are still at her sides but she anxiously plays with the hem of her dress, awaiting Beetlejuice's answer.
His expression gets soft and his smile vanishes but it doesn't seem to Lydia that the question has bothered him too much. "Hm, interesting question, well I used to be married but certain things played out that ended up in us splitting up you know, so no, I am not a married ghoul, why do you ask babes?" Beetlejuice answers her strange but perfectly normal(?) question, and bends his knees up to the attic celing, resting his arms on top. Their gazes are still locked and Lydia can't help but nibble and chew lightly on the inside of her cheek, thinking of a response to give him.
"I am not married but I do get laid every once and a while, and no I don't have a 'girlfriend'," Beetlejuice breaks the sudden silence and quickly quotes the word 'girlfriend'; it seems that that word doesn't sit well in his mind and Lydia snickers, hiding it with one of her hands. Maybe she snickered because of thought of a dead man like him getting laid is pretty funny or maybe because of the way his voice sounded at the word 'girlfriend'. Lydia continues to snicker now using her other hand to hide it. Beetlejuice gives her a questioning look and he is quick to stand up.
"Why are you laughing?" the moss covered ghoul barks while trying to keep his voice low and he snaps his fingers, sucking on another cigarette. The teenage girl bends to her knees; she is breaking down from all of her laughing, completely covering her mouth the best she can with both of her sweaty hands.
The ghost growls at the sight of her practically crying from laughing so hard, and at what? Is him getting laid once and a while that funny to her or is she laughing because he doesn't have a girlfriend? Beetlejuice stomps his way over to Lydia and yanks her up to her feet by one of her shoulders. The girl is still laughing but it's not as powerful as it once was when she was on her knees. Beetlejuice holds his cigarette between his teeth while using his unoccupied hand to pull away Lydia's hands from her face. He exhales from his nose and Lydia shivers at the contact.
He notices the tears and the flushed cheeks. "Oh for fuck sakes, what was so damn funny?" Beej raises his head to the attic for only a minute and returns back to her watery gaze, completely forgetting that he still has her small hands in his one. She's warm and soft. The differences in their body temperatures shocks the both of them and Lydia looks down at her hands cradled inside his, lightly wiggling her thumb to get a good feel of Beetlejuice's mossy hand.
Lydia's eyes are lost in the ticking wrist watches on Beej's wrists, watching the little skeleton hands tick tock back and forth and while she stares off into the faces of Beetlejuice's watches, he stares at her, no, examines her. He doesn't want to let her hands go, at least not yet. The beating pulse in her palm welcomes him and he can't seem to get enough. Her face is round, pale and colorless but her peach lips and big brown eyes make up for that, which isn't anything bothersome. Beetlejuice is dead, he is definitely sure of that, but Lydia isn't. He would love to take this little earth-dweller with him, down to the netherworld but he is right about her not making it; humans are at least 90% vulnerable down there and even though he has just truly met her, he doesn't want to be the reason for her death.
This young girl has a lot of life left to live.