Word to the Wise

A loud shattering in surround sound. A strong force of wind. Cold air.

Lydia opened her eyes, expecting to see Beetlejuice underneath her. Instead, she saw that she was alone on the couch. Her front door was slightly open, which worried her. Maybe he actually opened it for once and was outside? She grabbed her coat and took a step out to watch the snow fall. Fresh footsteps that seemed to match Beetlejuice's boots were in the snow, leading out into the streets. She sighed, wondering if seeing her on him had freaked him out. A chuckle from around a corner caught her attention. You're not gonna scare me that way, Beetlejuice! She grinned a little, not playing into his little game.

"Come out! I heard you! You can't sneak up on me!" But the silhouette that jumped out at her was not one of Beetlejuice. A scream came from her when she recognized is as one of Vincent's friends that held her down before. An evil smile was on his brawny face as he held up a knife and pounced on her. Lydia cried out as she felt something pierce through her arm. Adrenaline filled her body as she sprinted towards her bedroom.

She slammed her bedroom door and locked it. Her eyes were frantic as they looked around her room for anything heavy enough to push at her door to keep it shut. Where's Beetlejuice? Lydia's head screamed inside as she threw herself at the door, feeling it being beaten on the other side. She finally looked down and pulled out the knife that protruded from her arm. Blood ran down her fingers and dripped onto her carpet, staining the light purple fabric with deep shades of crimson.

"I don't know what you did to Vince, you fucking whore, but you're gonna die for it!" A deep voice bellowed from the other side of her door. Sweat poured down her face as she tried to keep her weight against the door, knowing she wasn't strong enough to stay there.

"Lyds!" Beetlejuice's voice filled the room. But it was muffled.

"BJ! Where are you?" Lydia started to try in terror as splinters popped out from the door. The wood was cracking. One dug itself into her hand and she bit her lip to stop from whimpering.

"Lydia! The mirror!" His voice rang in her ears as she glanced over at the mirror on her dresser. The door was growing weaker by the second. Would she have enough time to get to the mirror? Well, either way she had only seconds to decide, since the door gave way. She ran towards her mirror as one of the men rammed through the door, spilling it onto the door and thrusting another knife towards her. She reached for the mirror, where she could see Beetlejuice holding a hand out. "Say my name!"

"Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!" Lydia screamed out as she felt a stinging pain in her side. Then everything spun around her, turning everything white and making her feel like vomiting.

She felt like she was on a ferris wheel that wouldn't stop. Everything was spinning so fast, it was like a blur. Then everything phased from white into deep shades of red as Lydia lost her balance and fell over.

When she opened her eyes, all she could see were Beetlejuice's jade eyes filled with concern. Something was terribly wrong. "B…J…?" She whispered as searing pain filled every fiber of her being. Her side felt like it has been torn out.

"Shh. Don't look. There's so much blood…Stay still…" Beetlejuice was holding her tightly. His stripes were stained with what seemed like splatters of red paint.

"Wha….t….happ…ened…."Lydia was crying now, forcing words to come out. "Whe…re…we..re…you…."

"Shh, will ya? I can't help you if you're talking!" Bettlejuice yelled at her. Lydia cried harder from the shock of everything, and she could see the pain in his eyes as he gazed down at her. She felt her body being lowered onto a cold, flat surface as Beetlejuice changed positions and raised his bloody hands over her stomach. "Now just stay still. I'm gonna heal ya as best I can."

Lydia shook as the pain around her stomach and side throbbed throughout her body. Her arm felt like it was sleeping; every movement feeling like needles stabbing into her. She tried to concentrate on what Beetlejuice was doing to take her mind off the pain. His hands began to glow a green color, similar to the glow that came from his hood when he scared away Vincent. Slowly, the pain began to subside. Muffled noises of chattering and shuffling papers mixed with the ringing in her ears that had to have come from travelling between worlds. Was that what she did? Was she in the underworld? A strange scent of cigarette smoke flowed through her nose, but the shock she felt from her attack and the travel was taking over her thoughts. The pain felt like it was melting away from her body, and the glow emanating from Beetlejuice's hand looked so pretty. His eyes were so intense…almost angelic to her sight. He looked almost human. Almost alive.

"Beetle…"Lydia began to whisper before losing consciousness.

A loud slamming noise woke her up. She tried to sit up and held a sharp pain in her head.

"Easy there, Lyds. I healed you mostly, but you're still a bit wounded. Don't move too fast. I'll get that bastard." Beetlejuice growled from beside her.

"Where am I?" Lydia coughed as the smoke smell grew more intense. She could taste it now.

"You're in my office," an elderly woman's voice replied, with a hint of irritation to it. "And I don't appreciate that you brought her here, Geuse. So much paperwork will have to be done, and I am a very busy ghoul." Lydia peered across from her to see a short woman who looked to be in her mid 70s, with a long trailed a smoke around her head, leading from a horizontal slit across her neck. Her eyes were sunken in and her hair was a very faded shade of grey. She was wearing a grey business suit and held a cigarette in her wrinkled fingers.

"Are you Juno?" Lydia pondered aloud. She could feel the tension between the woman and Beetlejuice, and figured that it had to be her.

"Bingo." The woman said as she approached the young woman.

"Look, Juno, I had to bring her here, otherwise she would've been, well, you know." Bettlejuice grumbled.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know that. I'm no dummy. You have to make everything so damn complicated for me." She was leering at Beetlejuice as if scolding a child. Lydia could see the anger in his eyes. "Now let me take a look at you." Lydia turned to the ghoul caseworker and watched her as she unwrapped bandaging and inspected the wounds. She had a gash down her arm, but it looked as though it was mostly healed. Juno proceeded to lift up Lydia's shirt and pull off the bandaging around her stomach. The wound there was still bleeding a little, and it looked as though the cut was really deep. Just how bad was she injured? "Not bad, Geuse. I'm actually impressed. Nice to see you do something for someone else, for once."

Beetlejuice was silent, as was Lydia. What do you say to a ghoul like Juno, who's top dog and knows pretty much anything and everything about the world of the dead?

"Woulda' healed all the way if I was fully charged." He finally mumbled to himself, and Lydia caught a tad bit of guilt in his voice.

"That's not my fault. You brought that upon yourself with all the trouble you cause around here and among the living." The squabble between the two of them reminded Lydia of a bickering mother and son. It made her want to laugh, if she wasn't terrified of the whole situation.

"If you hadn't waited so damn long to get me, this wouldn't have even happened!" Beetlejuice growled. Juno looked at him sternly, which frightened Lydia. From what Barbara and Adam told her in the past, Juno was not one to be messed with. Before any more heat could be added to the fight, Lydia decided to intervene.

"Is that why you weren't at the apartment?" She asked, turning and looking at him. His face turned more pale (or at least it looked like it did, if it were possible) and a bit sheepish.

"He wasn't at your apartment because I summoned him here to have a discussion. He broke a rule."

"What rule?"

"Telling you about my life before death, sotaspeak." Beetlejuice said. "I'm not supposed to say anything. Apparently it's taboo."

"It IS taboo, Geuse. And I wouldn't mock it. When people die, it's their own business what happened in life. You don't share it with living beings. It creates conflicts."

"Oh…weren't you supposed to pick him up after he helped me?" Lydia was still confused about the sharing of information, but the mystery around why Beetlejuice wasn't brought back because of his completed 'mission' worried her more. Juno only sighed and puffed from her cigarette, causing more smoke to seep from her neck.

"That's an entirely different matter that I will not discuss at this time. For now, he will stay with you." Juno shrugged and glared at Beetlejuice. "And I suggest you do something about that man who attacked her. If he figures out what happened, we will have some serious issues." Lydia glanced over at Beetlejuice as he twiddled his thumbs around each other. He seemed torn with something.

"I don't get it. Is he not done helping me? Will something worse happen?" The raven-haired mortal turned back to Juno as the elderly ghoul faded away into nothingness. "BJ, could you please tell me what's going on?"

"Later, Babes. Need to get you outta here first."