This one is a bit short, but important stuff happens, so please enjoy.
"'Eye-Scream'? Really?"
"Yep. Good stuff too. Chocolate Cockroach Crunch, Toxic Worm Cherry…"
"Gross!"
"Tomato-tamato Babes."
"What about a movie theater?"
"Yep, got plenty of those too."
"Drive-in or seated?"
"Both, but Grave Pictures Drive-in is the best."
Lydia laughed, shaking her head as she leaned closer to examine the assignment she was almost through with. "Um… Do you like… have a mayor or president or what?"
"Well… the Powers That Be control the Neitherworld, then come the stiffs in the Waiting Room. Juno's one of their top lapdogs. Then every district has a sort of mayor. Not one of which can take a joke. We also gotta Prince in the main part of the Neitherworld, but all he does is mope around and make everyone else miserable."
Lydia rolled her eyes, but the eager expression remained. "The Neitherworld sounds fantastic…"
"Maybe to breathers, but the majority of us hate it there. The food sucks, hardly anyone gets along, and since we don't really need anything, we just make up jobs and money and rules so we have something to do."
Lydia smirked, hitting the print button on the final assignment for her social sciences class. Photography and Art were easily taken care of, as she always had more than enough pictures and drawings to spare. Math would be murder…
"What else is there?"
Betel rolled his eyes, deciding he needed a smoke if she wasn't going to shut up. "I dunno. The Neitherwoods I guess..."
"The 'Neitherwoods'?"
"Yep. Most of the best of the creepiest shit comes from the Neitherwoods."
"Do I ever get to go see them?"
"When you're dead."
"Beej!"
"Fine. Maybe I should take ya, and leave ya in there overnight. You, of all people, need a good scare. Then maybe ya'll stop buggin' me…"
Lydia chuckled shortly, rubbing a hand down her aching side. "What else?"
"Geeze, ya know… you're really annoying. There's the Neitherbeach, but you wouldn't wanna go in the water."
Lydia frowned, though that may have just been because she was pulling her calculus book towards her. "Why is that?"
Betel shrugged. "Hey Babes, if you wanna swim in toxic waste, be my guest. But you're weird enough without a freaky green glow."
Lydia stared at him, shocked. "Toxic waste?"
"Did I ever say the Neitherworld made sense?"
"No…"
"Then don't be so surprised. Are you almost done?"
Lydia rolled her eyes, before focusing them on the textbook. "I have three math assignments I want to get done today, and then I'm all theirs."
Lydia is ours.
Our Lydia.
Betelgeuse should go home.
The poltergeist growled deep in his throat, glaring towards the ceiling as what looked like dark fog spread across it. Lydia just laughed, and nodded. "Yep, all yours. Maybe you could um… go talk to Juno?" Lydia shot a hopeful glance his way, clearly a little overwhelmed by her workload.
Betel shrugged, blowing a smoke ring across the room at her. "And wait for six months till she calls my number? Thanks, but no thanks. She knows anything, she knows ta call me. She doesn't call me tonight though, thought I would go to the Neitherworld Archives and see what they say about these kids' deaths… Because there's gotta be somethin'. There's always somethin'."
Lydia tensed, biting her lip. She wanted to ask him not to go, not to leave her alone with more nightmares, but she wouldn't. Finding out what happened to the students was more important. "Getting tired of watching me sleep?"
"You have no idea."
Lydia chuckled, before pulling on a faux-stern look and batting her hand at him. "Shh, let me concentrate."
It took a few hours for Lydia to finish as much as she planned for the day, and by that time the students and Betel had been at each other's throats at least a handful of times.
"There! Finished. Leave them alone Beej."
Betel shot her an irritated glare, before glancing towards the now burned ceiling. Oh, if only those cheeky little bastards had corporeal forms… "Fine. She has to fall asleep sometime, you know! Then I'll get you…"
"Beej!"
"Fine. Here." He thrust the small newspaper at her as she held her hand open, and watched as she slowly cleared the corkboard over her desk. She tacked the printed out article in the middle, and leaned close to read it once again.
Seventeen Students Killed in Peaceful Pines University Blaze
Tragedy struck last Friday (Friday, November Tenth, 1990) when the 'Vortex' house of Peaceful Pines University went up in smoke. Students and staff alike stood in shock as the old house burned slowly to the ground.
No one knew that the seventeen residents (less than a third of the amount of students the building was supposed to house) were still trapped inside.
The school decided to leave the area untouched, as a memorial to the students' memories. The students that died in the fire were: Tallisah Simons, Markus Greenburg, Timothy Hart, Rick Svenson, Abigail Marsh, Johanna Thurman, Kattie Watts, Matilda and Jonathon Teller, Garth Bicks, Shaun Michaels, Alex Butler, Damien Carter, Alexis Garrett, Samantha Cein, Joshua Nelson, and Victoria Manson.
"I can't believe that's all they say about it…"
"Yep. Whatcha think we should do next?"
"Well… find out what happened to the memorial idea. Why they built this new house over the burned grounds… Then we need to figure out why this was kept so… quiet."
"Quiet?"
"Do you have any other explanation as to why no one on this side will talk about it? And why no one on the other side knows anything? Something happened… and it was covered up. It's the only logical explanation."
"You're a detective now?"
"Well… what are your ideas then?!" She snapped.
Betel chuckled, biting down on the end of his cig as he thought for a moment. "I suppose it could be a cover up. It would explain a lotta things… it's a slippery slope kid."
Lydia nodded, but turned towards the computer, not moving to type or open anything, just staring blankly at the screen. "Where… how do we even start?"
The Phis.
"What about them?" Lydia asked, staring up at the ceiling. Betelgeuse snorted, flicking his spent cig into her trash after snuffing it out on his palm. The second the withered stick hit the can though, the entire thing burst into flames.
Lydia screeched, falling backwards off the chair as Betel stepped back, eyes wide in shock at the fiery illusion.
The Phis did it.
They had to have…
They wanted our house…
They cheated.
The fire died, and Betelgeuse growled, crossing the floor to help Lydia back up, muttering something about useless floaters. "You alright Babes?"
Lydia nodded, stumbling slightly as he helped her up. "Yeah… just… wondering…"
"…'Bout?"
"Why they're suddenly so violent around me."
Beej shrugged, pulling her back towards the computer. And idea hit him, and he leaned closer, staring intently at the screen. "What about looking at the other part of this story? The Fries?"
"The Phis."
Betel cocked an annoyed brow at her. "Whatever."
Lydia chewed the inside of her cheek, before she leaned over her keyboard and began clacking away at the keys. Betel watched her for a moment, before he leaned back, scratching his chin. "This internet thing is crap."
Lydia glared at him. "There can be thousands of files of garbage to look through, before we find what we need, so give me a break, okay? Anyway, what else are we going to do? The house burned down two years ago. The Phi's bought and re-built it just before I got here. That's old news."
Betel rolled his eyes but leaned over her shoulder, reading through each page she clicked open.
It took them nearly an hour of sifting through outdated news archives and topics that were supposedly related, but finally Lydia found another little snippet.
Memorial to be Moved
It was announced Saturday afternoon that the school could no longer afford to have an empty lot where the 'Vortex' once stood among the other dorms of Peaceful Pines. The school has announced a special plot is being set aside at the Peaceful Pines Grave for a new memorial to be built.
"'No longer afford'?" Betel quoted.
"This was back when… when the Phis bought the lot… The January before I came here in '91. Why wouldn't they just say that they bought the house?"
Betel frowned, and finally, something clicked. "The Phis and these vortex kids had a history, yeah?"
Lydia frowned, but nodded. "Correct. A long one."
"These Phi girls really wanted the space, right?"
Another nod.
"And no one will talk about the fire."
Lydia's frown deepened, until the pieces fell together in her mind too. "You think…"
"The Phis set the fire. Or did somethin' that led to the fire."
"But… but why?"
Betel rolled his eyes. "Fuck's sake Lyds, I thought ya were smarter than that. Pranks don't always go according to plan. Your floaters keep groanin' about loosin' the house if they don't get better scores or more people. What if…"
Lydia sighed, running a hand through her hair. "The Phis wanted the new lot bad enough to prank the Vortex students out. If the Vortex students beat their scores… The Phis wouldn't get the house… So they…?"
"Double their efforts to break'em, pull one grand finale, and it goes wrong. Real wrong. Smoke clears, ya got seventeen new floaters who have no idea what the hell happened, Juno's none the wiser, and the top dogs on this end cover everything up. You come with your… weirdness, and wake the things up. They call me, and here we are." Betel shrugged, gesturing around the room with his arms spread wide.
Lydia frowned, staring at the screen. It… made sense. Things fit… But… "But why would the school cover it up?"
Betel shook his head. "Oh sweet, naïve little Lyds: aintcha Phis all rich and popular?"
Lydia took a deep shaky breath, leaning forward to hit the print button. "Maybe…" She chewed her lip, trying to come up with another possibility, any possibility at all. Even… even if there was money involved… Surely someone would have spoken out? She picked up the article as it printed out, and tacked it up next to the first one. "Well… We have two fragments. Nothing we didn't know though. What now?"
Betel shrugged, picking his teeth with his pinky. "Stumped."
Voices…
Someone is here…
Lydia and Betel looked towards the ceiling, suddenly tense. The goth curled up tighter in her chair, biting the inside of her cheek. "Who… Who's here?"
Heard them… before.
When it was hot.
They're here.
Not here.
Just watching…
Betel growled, deep in his chest, and stepped towards Lydia. "Shit… someone is watching…"
Lydia felt her hand move with a mind of its own to grasp the back of his coat. "What… what do you mean?"
Betel shifted his weight, his eyes darting from one corner of the room to the other, and back again. "I mean someone in the Neitherworld is watching us."
"Juno?"
"No… I think I would know if that hag was watching us…" Betel tensed, turning to glance at the goth as she cowered behind him. "They ain't here… they're just watching." The room was silent for a few minutes until, finally, Betel let out a low sigh. "They're gone."
Lydia chewed her lip, still nervously staring at the ceiling. "Are you sure?"
Betel nodded, turning sharply so that his coat was yanked from her grasp. "Positive. You gonna pass out again?"
Lydia rolled her eyes. "No, thanks for the concern though." She replied sarcastically.
"Any time Babes. So what now?"
Lydia sighed, dragging herself reluctantly from the chair and across the room to sit on the edge of her bed, facing the Ouija board. "Do you guys remember anything else?"
Too hot.
"Yeah, we got that. She meant anythin' else." Betel snapped.
Trapped.
We were trapped.
The showers…
Lydia frowned, lifting a hand to tug on a lock of her hair. Betel watched this, wondering what was going through her mind. "Know what they're talkin' about?"
"This building was attached to a gym like… sixty years ago. When this area was still a piece of the main campus. But they moved everything and remolded this house to match the others. I guess… Well I guess they kept the locker room that this house was built around. There are still some of the older houses that are like that: bits and pieces of the Gym or Auditorium or whatever other building they were built into. That could be what they mean… Maybe we should go to the memorial the article was talking about. Maybe… Maybe there'll be something that will tell us why the memorial was moved, or how the fire started."
Betel gave her an odd look. "You really think that?"
"No… but isn't it worth a try?"
Betel snorted, and gestured to her hand which had been absently rubbing her side. "What, you gonna walk over there and play scavenger hunt through the graveyard?"
Lydia glared at him, before jumping off the bed and storming towards the door. "If I have to, then yes. With, or without you irritating me along the way."
Betel cackled, floating after her as she stormed from the house, her goodbyes to the girls that poked their heads around the corner were short and curt. She leapt down the steps, hissing in pain as the shock sent a painful jolt up her side. Lydia turned towards the bus stop, since she knew she wouldn't be able to walk the five miles to the graveyard without being in serious pain.
One nasty, bumpy bus ride and a two block walk later, ignoring the poltergeist as he trailed after her, Lydia slipped through the tall iron gates of the Peaceful Pines Cemetery.
Betelgeuse grimaced, stopping short just outside the gates. "Er… Babes… somethin' don't really… feel right…" He called after her.
Lydia paused, turning to see the worried confusion on the ghost's face. "Chicken." She snapped.
Betel snarled at her, shaking his head. "Ya wound me kid: the bone yard ain't what's buggin' me. It's whatever's in this bone yard that's givin' me the heebie-jeebies."
Lydia stared at him for a moment, before one corner of her lip quirked up in a lopsided smirk. "Coward."
Betel growled, but stepped through the gate. "Fine. But this time, when some big-bad monster comes after ya, I ain't savin' your ass."
Lydia smiled, gesturing around the graveyard. "Well, get looking. There are a lot of graves and memorials here, and the paper didn't give any clue as to where it would be."
"Bossy bossy bossy."
Lydia turned; ready to go up and down each line, and check each grave if she had to, when a familiar voice caught her attention from behind.
"Lydia?"
Ooooh, who beeth it? Oh don't worry, you'll find out in the next chapter, along with more good supernatural plot points of evil.
You guys have like… no idea. :D