Chapter 2: Seven Years
It only took Beetlejuice a few minutes to find Lydia's room. There were digital cameras, 35mm cameras, odd shaped cameras, film, tape, expensive camcorders, and all kinds of film and video equipment scattered about the room. There were pictures on her wall of nature scenes and of nudes.
Beetlejuice took a few minutes to appreciate it. She had kept the purple and green paint that Delia had attacked it with. Wonder how that went over with those bumpkins, Beetlejuice thought. He shrugged and pulled a bucket out of nowhere.
"Time to redecorate" Beetlejuice said to himself. He stuck his hand into the thick red liquid and proceeded to make a mess of Lydia's room.
From where Beetlejuice was standing, near his closet in his filthy apartment in the Neitherworld, Lydia's room looked like a complete disaster. Blood covered the walls. He had managed to scrape off some of the paint from the walls. He even left the balcony doors open so her drapes fluttered in a ghostly manner.
Beetlejuice had a beer open and was peeling off his red tux. He never wanted to see it again. Standing naked in front of his open closet he sipped his beer and pulled out his old ratty robe. He couldn't help but feel a connection with the robe. He pulled it on and tied it shut.
"Oh my god!" Lydia said from his mirror. Beetlejuice hovered over to the mirror to watch. She looked older. Wide-eyed, open mouthed, and older. She touched the wall and made a face when her hand came back red. "Ew."
"Lydia!" A small boy said in a demanding tone. Beetlejuice furrowed his brow at the small red-headed boy, who looked pissed. "Mommy said that you're supposed to read to me."
"Evan, I already read you three books tonight" Lydia said. The boy had no idea that Lydia's room was covered in blood. Beetlejuice cackled when he realized it. The cackle made Lydia jump.
"What's wrong with you?" Evan asked. He had a death grip on a strange clown doll that Delia had given him. Lydia tried to look normal. Itching to do something, anything but read Evan another story, she put her long black hair up into a bun. "I want you to read to me!"
"Evan!" Lydia snapped. "Get to bed. Now."
"No! I want you to read to me" Evan whined. He was almost red in the face. Beetlejuice could barely hold back the laughter as he watched Lydia deal with the little tyke.
"Fine. Here" Lydia snatched a small pea green book from her shelf. It had minimal blood on it, not that Evan could see it. "We'll read 'The Epiplectic Bicycle'. How about that?"
"No!" Evan howled. Lydia rolled her eyes as Evan went into one of his little fits that had him screaming and rolling on the floor. Lydia stretched her neck and put her book down. Evan's fits happened every time that Lydia had to watch him. Lydia grabbed his foot and dragged him into the hallway. It only enraged him further. Lydia shut her door and winced as the screaming became shriller.
"I can't believe he had a child with that woman" Lydia groaned. She moved back to the middle of her room. The blood was still there. It hadn't been her imagination. A message on the wall simply read 'I Do'. "What the hell does that mean?"
Lydia, who was now finishing up her last year at film school, was a whopping twenty-three years old. In the time that had past since Beetlejuice had tried to marry her, she had grown her hair out to her back, Delia and her father had had a demon child named Evan, and Lydia had moved from photography to film.
Lydia sat down on her bed. The Maitlands were upstairs, probably. No one, except Lydia, ever saw them now. Lydia had heard her father and Delia commenting on the ghosts, both figuring that they had just 'moved on'.
"They wouldn't do this" Lydia said. The cackling that she had heard earlier replayed itself in her mind. She knew who sounded like that. How could she forget? It couldn't be him, could it? "BJ?" Over time with the Maitlands, they had called him BJ out of fear that he'd come back. "Beetle? You there?"
Beetlejuice watched with interest from the mirror. She remembered him and she had given him nicknames. He grinned and couldn't help feeling devious. With a snap he was in her room, small, like when he was in the model, and was on her desk. He watched her wait.
"Hey babes" Beetlejuice said. Lydia got up from her bed and moved to sit at her desk. She grimaced when she saw that he was only in his robe. He still looked gross and grimy. She was glad that she didn't have any paper cuts or anything that could get infected.
"I thought it was you" Lydia said. "Don't you ever bathe?"
"That's how you fuckin' greet someone you haven't seen in years?" Beetlejuice asked. Lydia just raised an eyebrow. "Fine. Enjoy your mess."
"Wait" Lydia said. It was Christmas break. Winter River was fine if you were old or if you were a Boy Scout, but Lydia was desperate for company that wasn't her brother. Beetlejuice turned and looked hurt. "Sorry. What have you been doing? It's been seven years you know."
"Seven years" Beetlejuice chewed. He sat down on a stack of mini-dv tapes. "I've been stuck in a waiting room." He looked at his nails and brought his feet up to rest on the edge of the tapes. He leaned forward and propped his arms on his knees. "You've been growing up, I see."
"Yeah, I'm almost done with college" Lydia tried not to look at him. Since he was only in a robe, his lower parts and pieces were somewhat hanging out. "Could you not sit like that, or put on some clothes, or something?"
"Never seen a man's nether-regions before?" Beetlejuice asked. He moved to sit more normally.
"I have, but that's not the point" Lydia said. "I just don't want to see yours."
"Whatever" Beetlejuice said. "So, give me the skinny, babes. Is that Delia's kid?"
"Unfortunately" Lydia said. "He's six."
"Seems like a little bastard" Beetlejuice said. In the back of his mind he was kicking himself. He was supposed to be getting Lydia back for sending him to that hellish waiting room. What was he doing making small talk?
"He is" Lydia said. She leaned back in her chair and looked up at the bloody walls. "Why'd you do this to my walls?"
Beetlejuice shrugged and stood up.
"Why don't we make a deal?" Beetlejuice asked. Lydia's face turned into one of scrutiny and curiosity. "I'll clean this shit up and won't do it again, but you've gotta pull through on your side of the last deal we had."
"You can't still want that" Lydia said. "I'd never marry you—"
"Lydia!" Evan screamed from the other side of her door. He kicked it repeatedly.
"Evan, knock it off!" Lydia yelled. Beetlejuice narrowed his eyes at the door. He grinned and disappeared. Lydia looked around nervously. "BJ?"
From the hallway Evan screamed out of fear. There was a strong difference from his scream and the tantrum he had been having. Lydia was up and out the door quickly.
Evan was backing up to his bedroom. Beetlejuice was full-sized and had the clown doll in his hands.
"Mr. Clown!" Evan shrieked. "Lydia!"
"Evan, when I tell you to go to bed, you better do it" Lydia remarked. She walked towards Beetlejuice and yanked the doll from him. "Give me that." She tossed the doll to Evan, who dropped it like it was on fire. "Get to bed. Now."
Evan ran into his room, which was the overly large guest room that was next to her parent's room. Beetlejuice let loose the cackle that he had been holding back. Lydia turned to him and punched him in the shoulder.
"Don't be a jerk" Lydia said. She walked past him, back to her room and stopped. Beetlejuice watched her with a smirk. Her back stiffened and she slowly turned to him. "Who…? How'd you become big, I mean, normal sized?"
"Well, babes" Beetlejuice said walking towards her. He threw an arm over her shoulder and ushered her back into her room. "That's my secret." He circled her, a predatory action, and noticed that he stood a good three inches taller then her. "Now, let's talk about that deal."
Lydia slowly walked over to her closet with Beetlejuice slowly following her.
"What're you doing?" Beetlejuice asked. Lydia reached in and pulled out a black metal rod. It was for the shotgun microphone that she used for her films. Beetlejuice chuckled. "You think that's going to stop me?"
"No" Lydia said. She immediately hit the ceiling with the rod several times. "It'll get some attention though."
Beetlejuice tackled her and took the rod from her. He tossed it across the room and covered Lydia with himself so she wasn't flailing about. He covered her mouth to block her screams.
"While I love this position with you babes, I ain't gonna do anything to you" Beetlejuice said. The wooden floor outside of Lydia's room creaked and the door knob turned. Beetlejuice grinned and planted a grimy kiss on Lydia's lips before disappearing.
"Lydia?" Barbara called out. Adam came in first, followed by Barbara.
"I'm fine" Lydia said. Adam helped her up.
"What happened?" Barbara asked. Lydia brushed herself off.
"He's back" Lydia said.
"Who is?" Adam asked.
"BJ" Lydia replied. Barbara's hand touched her mouth in worry. Adam gaze glazed over in thought. "You just missed him."