Flooded
by Unusual_Underground
Chapter 4: Poltergeist Persecution

"You're late again, Lydia!" Chloe yelled as her niece walked through the backdoor.

Lydia set her books on the breakfast table. "What's for dinner?"

"Lydia, this is getting ridiculous! Where have you been!"

"I told you, I've been studying in the woods."

"It's nightfall!"

Lydia crossed her arms. "I have a flashlight."

"No more late-nights, Lydia! I mean it!"

Lydia rolled her eyes. "I'm perfectly safe. It's not like one of these bible-heads is going to kidnap or kill me."

Chloe slapped her across the face. Lydia stood there stupefied. No one had ever slapped her before. Not even Betelgeuse who was quite fond of popping women's rears. "I just lost my brother! I don't need to be worried about losing my niece too! Come home!"

Lydia sat down and let her satchel fall from her shoulder.

"And that's not the only thing! One of your classmates came by. They said they've seen you hanging out with some strange man!"

Betelgeuse. "Oh, um… about that…" Her aunt sat down next to her, awaiting the explanation. "He's a family friend. He came into town to checkup on me."

"And you didn't bother telling me this why?"

"Well, he wasn't staying here, so I didn't think it mattered."

"Lydia, I need to know where you are! Who you're with! What if something happens!"

"Mr. Beetleman is a close friend of my parents. They wouldn't care. They'd be happy if they knew."

"Well," Chloe sat back, "if that's the case, I want to meet him."

Lydia looked up at her aunt. Her? Meet Betelgeuse! "Why?"

"Oh Lydia, please. Wipe the worry off your face." As she pat Lydia's arm, Lydia twitched. "It's just lunch."

"L-Lunch?"

"What did you think?"

"You don't mean lunch here, do you?"

"Lydia, what has gotten into you? I understand the moping; I've been lenient with your wardrobe. What else is wrong?"

"N-nothing! I just… why can't we eat out? That way everyone can order what they want, and you don't have to cook an unplanned meal!"

Chloe shook her head. "Fine, we can eat—"

"Italian!" Lydia shouted. Italian was about the only way she was going to get Betelgeuse to not make a bug out of his meal.

"I was going to say 'out,' but okay." Chloe stood up. "I would go ahead and invite him, but since you're the one in contact with him, you can have the honor."

Lydia nodded in agreement.

[¬º-°]¬

Lydia yanked on the powder blue skirt of her "nice dress." "Where is that the bastard?" she muttered. She had called his name outside the restaurant; it wasn't blessed! There should be no problem. Where was he!

"So who is this friend of your parents?" Duane asked. "The Mister Beetlllle…?"

"Man," Lydia finished. "It's Mr. Beetleman."

"Ah, right. What a strange name."

"Not as strange as 'Deetz'," a familiar voice laughed.

"Where were you!" Lydia yelled. She would have stood, but her aunt was in the way.

"What? Had to freshen up, b—" Lydia coughed. "Had to freshen up."

"Well it's nice to finally meet you, Mr. Beetleman." Chloe held out her hand to shake, but Betelgeuse sat down next to her husband instead of taking it. Chloe awkwardly put her hands on her lap. "Shall we pray?"

Betelgeuse looked at Lydia. "Seriously?"

Before Chloe spoke up, Lydia answered. "Beetleman is a," she thought, "Buddhist! So he doesn't pray. Uh, not like we do."

"Well—" Chloe began, but Lydia kept going.

"Let's pray in silence."

"Okay?" After looking at Lydia as if she just came from the loony-bin, Chloe folded her hands and closed her eyes, as did her husband. Lydia pretended to do the same, but peaked out from under her lashes to watch Betelgeuse. He put his elbow on the table and rested his chin on his fist. With his other hand, he rapped the table with his red fingers. Lydia would have kicked him, but he was too far; she might kick Chloe or Duane by mistake.

When they finished, Lydia took a piece of bread and they ordered. It was silent until the food arrived: fish for her aunt; lasagna for her uncle; calamari for Lydia'; and, of course, spaghetti for Betelgeuse.

"So," Chloe broke the silence, also breaking into her fish. "Lydia tells me you were close with her parents?"

"Yeah," Betelgeuse shrugged a mouthful of pasta in his mouth.

"How did you meet?"

He swallowed, resisting the urge to make a pun of her sentence. "Eh, doing carpenter work on their house. You know. Not many people willing to work on that place."

"What did you think of my brother's house?"

Betelgeuse shrugged. "Not too shabby. Delia did quite a number on it. Really improved the look."

"You… think so?"

"Eh." He shrugged again, shoving more food in his mouth, tomato sauce dripping off his fork and onto the glass-covered tablecloth. Embarrassed, Lydia put her hand on her head. This wasn't going well.

"How are you liking your meal," Duane asked.

Betelgeuse shrugged again. "Fine… You know what's really good!" Oh no. "Salad!"

"But you hate salad!" Lydia said. Anything green—that was healthy—was off the menu for Betelgeuse.

"Not that kinda salad, Lyds." He laughed. "Bee salad! They keep the critters whole and crunchy! Nothin' beets it, except of course—"

"I don't think my aunt and uncle are really interested in hearing about… uh, exotic foods."

"So you've eaten… bees?"

"Sure, toots!" Sauce flung from his fork and splattered onto the table near Chloe's plate. "I've tried all kinds'a stuff, being a travelin' entrepreneur and all. I recommend the grasshopper chips when ya get the chance! Crisp and spicy! Better than that potato shit here."

"Did you know," Lydia spoke up, hoping to salvage the conversation, "that insects are an extremely nutritious protein and low in calories, making them a popular dietary option in other countries!"

"Very fascinating," Chloe droned, not caring about the health benefits of creepy-crawlies; she might look like Pumbaa, but she was no bug-eater!

Betelgeuse opened his mouth to speak, but Lydia sliced her throat with her finger, signaling him to stop. He did, slopping another spoonful of spaghetti into his pie-hole instead.

After a long period of them eating in awkward silence, Chloe resumed the conversation. "You know, you're not at all the type of person I envisioned my brother being friends with."

"Heh," he snorted, "thanks, babes." Chloe was not at all amused. "I was a little closer with Delia. Worked out some deals, if you know what I mean."

Chloe gasped. "I think I do!" She scooted out of the both. "Lydia!" She yelled, leaning over and seizing Lydia's arm. "Come with me! You are not to see this, this home-wrecker again!" She yanked on Lydia, causing her niece to bang the bottom of the table with her hip, almost spilling a drink. Chloe tugged again, this time forcing Lydia to slide across the pleather bench in order to get out.

Betelgeuse leaned over the table and snatched the arm which held Lydia. "Let go of her!"

"Excuse me!"

"You can't treat Lyds like this!" If the people in the restaurant weren't staring before, they sure were now. Maybe Lydia should have suggested a picnic in the backyard instead?

"Lydia is none of your concern! You may have thought you could feign being Delia's husband, but no amount of pretending is going to make you Lydia's step-father!"

"Well if I was her father, I'd sure as hell be treating her better than you do!"

Chloe tried to pull away from his grasp, still holding onto her niece. "As if I would let Lydia into your hands! A meatball-eating Buddhist with fewer manners than a Neanderthal!"

"At least I'm not a hoity-toity twat who'd sooner bang her bible than her husband!" Betelgeuse eyed the manager coming to escort them out as Chloe gasped, appalled at such language.

As Lydia's aunt was about to speak, Betelgeuse zapped a waiter nearby —which only Lydia noticed—to drop his try on Chloe, dousing her pretty pink dress in soda, bear, and iced water.

Chloe shrieked, finally managing to escape Betelgeuse's hold on her. "Why, I never in all my life! Honey, we're going! Now!"

Chloe's husbanded tentatively tapped on Betelgeuse's arm. Betelgeuse moved so he could squeeze by.

As Chloe dragged Lydia away, Betelgeuse shouted, "Leaving already, toots? We were just getting started!"

"Beetleman," Lydia shouted back. "Not now!"

"But, babes—"

Chloe tugged on Lydia's arm so she would speed up. "Later, Beetleman!"

When Lydia had gone, Betelgeuse plopped back down and was handed the check. "Great. Now I'm left here and with the check… bleck."

[¬º-°]¬

"He was right about you! You ARE a bitch!" Lydia ran up to her room—what used to be the attic until it was converted into a guest room—and locked the door.

Lydia couldn't believe this. How could her aunt be so cruel! Chloe was just looking for an excuse to hate Mr. Beetleman! She didn't even know him!

And Betelgeuse! He knew about her aunt; they went over how he needed to act during dinner. Why did he have to act like a slob, a jerk! Lydia knew he had manners harbored somewhere inside that rotting corpse of his. Why would he behave like that?

It didn't matter. Aunt's approval or not, Lydia wasn't going to stop hanging out with Betelgeuse, even if that meant traveling to the Netherworld more often. She NEEDED to travel to the Netherworld! That's where her REAL family was!

Delia, her dad, Ginger, Jac, Doom, Beej—they were her family. Not her prude aunt Chloe and her uncle Duane whose timidity rivaled Charles's nerves! Why did Chloe even agree to be Lydia's godmother? Why did she accept becoming her guardian? She obviously didn't want her.

Lydia might as well be kidnapped or killed. It'd free aunt Chloe from her charity. To keep being a burden here, why, why it was a disservice to these people, like being forced to harbor a criminal! Leaving would be the kindest thing Lydia ever did!

But then… Chloe did care. Maybe she didn't show it in the way Lydia wanted, maybe she didn't really "get" Lydia, but Chloe was trying. After all, it was partly Lydia's fault… She was the one going out without telling Chloe, and Lydia was hanging out with some stranger Chloe never met.

Maybe she didn't approve of Lydia's clothes or friends, but it was only because Chloe wanted what she thought was best for Lydia, even if Lydia disagreed. Chloe just wanted Lydia nearby.

Safe.

Lydia turned onto her stomach and hugged her pillow. She missed her fraidy-cat, Percy. Her friends at Winter River. Her nervous, bird-watching dad. Her step-mother's yelling and constant redecorating. Adam's tutoring and lame jokes. Barbara's sweet hugs and advice. Her birth mom…

Even when Lydia visited her parents, Charles and Delia weren't quite the same now that they were dead, in the Netherworld, knowing her secret. Everything had changed…

Nothing felt right anymore.

[¬º-°]¬

"Sorry about not calling last night to send you home." Betelgeuse shrugged. "I was really upset with… well, everything. I'm not really sure what to think."

"Babes, why don't you just come back with me? Skip school. Fuck, skip life! Let's blow this joint! God, or whoever, knows this place already blows! Whad'ya say?"

Lydia looked down at the concreate. "No. I mean, I don't know… Beej, I'm not well enough to make that kind of decision."

"What do'ya mean you're," he air-quoted, "'not well enough'? I've never been 'well,' and I'm always makin' decisions!"

"Beej, I'm sick."

He put his hand on her head. "Seem fine to me, babes." She swatted him off as he laughed.

"Not that kind of sick. Beej, I've been… suicidal again. I almost killed myself that day at Cliffside. With the worm."

"So?"

Lydia sighed. "You never did get it…"

"All I know, babes, is that I'm somehow the reason you never die. I don't get it; the first time we met, it was because you WANTED out!"

"The first time we met, you almost killed my dad as a snake."

"Eh-heheh." Smirking, he rubbed the back of his neck. "I wouldn't exactly call that 'meeting.' But you gotta admit, I did leave a pretty deep impression."

Annoyed, Lydia rolled her eyes. "Yeah, deep."

"Babes?"

"Just forget it, Beej! I don't want to talk about this!" As weird as it was, his obnoxious jokes and attempts to make her feel better usually gave Lydia the hope she needed that, maybe, just maybe, living wasn't all that bad.

Lightheartedly encouraging her death, though? That wasn't funny.

Death was a HUGE decision, a decision that Lydia was too emotionally jeopardized to make. Once the choice was made, there was no going back.

The severity of the matter somehow eluded Betelgeuse, and that stung.

"I get it, babes."

"No you don't! Just shut up!"

He spoke anyway. "You want to disappear. Dying ain't gonna do that. You know it isn't an escape, especially with your folks down there and all. You don't think I've felt like I wanted to disappear? Believe me, babes; once you've been in a sandworm's gut, you want nothin' but to disappear! Swimmin' in that shit ain't fun!"

"Disappearing does sound awfully good right now…"

"Heheh," he chuckled. "See! I told ya I—" Betelgeuse stopped.

Lydia looked behind her. "What's wrong?"

"Uh, blessed property. Can't exactly, ya know, haunt."

"Oh, right." Lydia had just walked onto the school's front yard. "Want me to call?"

"Nah, I'll just wait for ya." Betelgeuse crossed his arms and smirked, eyeing the people walking by. "Lots of suckers I can mess with while you're gone—eh, just don't become GONE gone, kay babes? I don't want to be stuck here!"

"Sure," Lydia rolled her eyes again, somehow managing a smile, and continued off to school.

[¬º-°]¬

Oh no. "Beetleman!" Lydia shouted. "Beetleman!" Where the hell was he now! This was an emergency! "Beetle—"

"I'm here, I'm here! Quit your hollerin'!"

"You've gotta go!"

"What?"

"Some of my classmates, they—" Lydia looked around, grabbed Betelgeuse by his blazer and tugged him behind a tree to insure they were out of site. "They're onto you."

He scoffed. "Please? These idiots!"

"Shh!" Lydia glanced around the tree, then back at him. "You know the Salem Witch Trials? Well, this is becoming the Spectral Seaside Poltergeist Persecution! I overheard it in the girl's restroom. Someone saw me go into the woods with a shovel. Apparently, one of them followed me after school and saw you! Betelgeuse, this is bad! Really, REALLY bad! The town hasn't been looking at us funny because, well, you're weird and I'm strange. They've been watching you—us! They think I summoned you from Hell!"

"Heh," he laughed. "Hell, huh? I can show 'em hell!"

Lydia yanked on his blazer, tugging him down. "Not funny! You're in danger! And I'm in huge trouble! You have to go!"

Betelgeuse pulled her arm off him. "The hell I'm leaving you here after what your aunt did."

Lydia looked down. "Betelgeuse, she… she didn't do anything… I overreacted."

"Bullshit."

Lydia groaned. They didn't have time for this! "Sorry!" She shoved him back and ran off. Before Betelgeuse could react to what happened, she chanted his name, sending him to the Netherworld. "Sorry Beej," she whispered. "But I can't risk it."

After all the people Lydia lost, she couldn't lose him too. If he got caught, it'd be all Lydia's fault. She couldn't be the one responsible of another death. Not after her mother.

Lydia couldn't let that happen again!

[¬º-°]¬

A rapping at the door woke Lydia. "It's Sunday!" Harder knocking. "Time to get ready for church!"

Moaning, Lydia covered her head with the blanket. "I don't do church… I do sleeping in…"

"Lydia, up!"

"Can't you just go without me?"

Chloe banged on the door. "You have twenty minutes! Now hurry up or you're grounded!"

"I'm already grounded," Lydia groaned. "I'm buried underground! Suffocating on dirt! Choking!"

"Twenty minutes." Lydia could almost see Chloe's gray eyes rolling on her doughy cheeks like misplaced olives on raw pizza, sick of Lydia's melodrama.

Before flinging the sheets off and forcing herself to crawl out of bed and to the wardrobe, Lydia listened to her aunt's heals clicking on the wooden stairs. Chloe would want her to wear something bright and perky for church. Ick.

Lydia pulled out one of her few red dresses to wear. If her aunt had a problem with it, then she could send Lydia back to bed! That's where Lydia belonged. Asleep. In a garden bed. Of poppies. Sweet, red poppies. Just like her pills.

[¬º-°]¬

"Shit!" Lydia clutched her cat keychain to shut it up.

"Lydia, was that Beetleman's voice I heard?" Chloe looked around.

"If it was, he wasn't talking to me."

"Huh? Well come on; let's find a seat." The church was hosting some annual fundraising brunch at the local park. It was the first one Lydia ever attended and her aunt and uncle wanted her making a good impression.

"Actually, can I go to the car really fast? I left my… lip gloss in it."

Chloe dug in her purse and pulled out the keys. "I'll save you a seat."

"Thanks!" Lydia snatched the keys and ran to the car. Once in it, she released her keychain.

"You tryin' to suffocate me!"

"You're dead. You'll live." He coughed. "You know what I mean, BJ. What are you doing here?"

"You haven't come down in a while, babes."

"I'd have to summon you, and you know why I can't do that."

"Exactly! That's why I'm in your pussy, babes."

Lydia glared him. "Seriously, wording."

He chuckled. "Sorry, I couldn't resist." Lydia rolled her eyes. "Ya sure you don't want to ditch?"

"I can't."

"Oh come on, babes! Pleeeeeease! Delia is driving me nuts!"

"I said I can't, Beej."

"Well then at least let me stick around. I'm bored as fuck over here!"

"Fine. Just be quite, okay."

"Yeah, yeah, no problem!"

Lydia got out of the car to join the churchies at their picnic table. Some of her classmates were there. They looked up at her and started snickering as she took her seat next to Chloe. Lydia wondered what it was this time: her style or her being the town witch who summoned a demonic spirit to go shopping with?

"Lydia," Chloe spoke in a hushed voice. "People are saying that Beetleman is demon you summoned?"

Lydia blushed, clutching her keychain. "What do you expect? He's a strange guy."

"Strange? He catcalled my daughter!" The woman across from Lydia shouted.

"So? She's an adult. It's not like she hasn't been hit on by older men before," Lydia defended. Who was this woman to interrupt her conversation with her aunt?

A girl in her algebra class joined in. "Jack says he saw you summon that guy in the woods after sacrificing a rabbit!"

Lydia stood up. "I'd never sacrifice an animal! Not even a spider!" How could anyone think that of her!

A man on the other end of the table stood up too. "That's the guy people are calling a demon! He's the reason people got food poisoning at my diner!"

"That must be why my sister got pneumonia!" another person shouted.

"I bet that car wreck was his fault too!"

"He wouldn't do, I mean couldn't do, any of those things! You can't blame your misfortunes on guy you don't even know!"

"Lydia is this true?" her aunt asked. "Did you summon a demon?"

"No!"

The girl in her algebra class stood up and slammed her hands on the table, brown hair falling over her shoulders. "Everyone knows you're a witch! It's amazing you don't burst into flames every Sunday! I don't know why they even invited you to this event!"

"I'm not a witch! I'm a Wiccan! And I don't sacrifice animals! And I haven't summoned a demon!" Lydia took a step back. Everyone was suspicious. They weren't going to burn her at the stake, were they? That was a medieval thing, right? Right?

"He said you summoned him by saying… 'bug guts, bug juice'?"

"Beetle juice!" Her friend said.

The girl snapped her fingers. "That's it! Beetle juice!"

"His name is 'Beetleman'!" Lydia lied. "Betelgeuse is the name of a star."

"I guess witches are into astrology, then?"

"It's astronomy!" How was this girl an honors student? "And you can't summon anything with the name of a star!"

"If he's really not a demon, then nothing should happen if I say it, right?" Lydia inched farther away. She could feel the heat leaving her face, the cat ears of her keychain stabbing the palm of her hand; hear Betelgeuse muttering "ow!"

"Beetle juice," the girl glared at Lydia.

"What do you think you're accomplishing?" Lydia asked. "You're just making a fool of yourself."

"Beetle juice," she continued.

"So now you're the witch? I thought that was against your religion. Are you sure you want to do this in front of everyone?" Lydia knew her classmates were a bit creeped out by her, but she didn't know they hated her. This girl might be worse than Claire, the queen bee of her previous school. At least Claire (for the most part) left little, gross Lydia alone.

"Beetle juice!"

"NO!" Lydia opened her hand. Her cat was just a normal keychain again.

"Guess the cat's outa the bag now, babes." Betelgeuse appeared beside her and flicked her keychain. Lydia jerked away.

Chloe stood up. "You did summon a demon!"

"He's not a demon!" Lydia yelled. "He's just… dead…"

Chloe turned to the table of churchians. "He's the evil entity that's been influencing my niece! Father, you have to do something!"

"Wait what!" Betelgeuse snatched Lydia's shoulders and forced her to look at him. "There's a priest here! Why didn't you say anything!

"I thought you knew!"

"Fuck!"

Chloe grabbed Lydia's arm and yanked her away from Betelgeuse, mumbling a prayer. "Aunt Chloe, stop! You don't know what you're doing!"

"Yes she does!" The girl from her class took her friend's hand and the hand of the man beside her. "We're exorcising the evil you brought here from our town!"

Lydia watched in horror as everyone followed her lead, holding hands.

"Stop! He's not evil! He's my friend! Aunt Chloe! Please!"

"Don't worry, Lydia. We'll cleanse you as soon you're free of his influence."

"Betelgeuse!" Chloe slapped her other hand over Lydia's mouth.

"That's it! No more Mister Nice Ghost!" As Betelgeuse rolled up his leave to blast her aunt, the priest skidded in front of Chloe and Lydia. "Da fuck!"

"Your demonic powers are useless here!" the priest shouted. "Now be gone!"

"I don't think so, daddy-o." Betelgeuse flung his arm, but zilch happened. He growled, "Okay then. Try this!" He snapped his fingers, but nothing came of it but more praying Christians. "Fuck it! I'll handle you the old fashioned way!"

"MMM!" Lydia moaned in protest, pulling against her aunt who held her back.

Betelgeuse took a swing at the priest and was blasted away. His back slammed against the ground, stupefying him. Lydia elbowed her aunt in the stomach and broke free. With Cleo's yelp, Lydia ran to her friend. "Betelgeuse!"

"Lydia, get away from him! You'll be corrupt!"

"I'm not corrupt! I'm just strange!" she shouted, shielding Betelgeuse with her body. "And he hasn't done anything wrong! You can't do this! Chloe, Father, please!"

"You don't belong here!" The priest yelled at Betelgeuse, mistaking Lydia's pleas as some form of possession or mind control.

Lydia could see Betelgeuse stand in her peripheral vision. Something was off. She turned around. "Betelgeuse, you're fading!"

He glanced down at himself and barked, "Shit. No fucking kidding!"

Lydia looked around. They were excising him! "No!" Lydia snatched onto his blazer, quickly spitting out his name before they could complete the exorcist, and vanished.

But they didn't transport to the Netherworld.

They were trapped.

In Dead End.