Beetlejuice:
Back In The Game
(A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter, it's very much appreciated.)
Lydia woke up in her double four-poster bed, a dull ache in her temples reminded her of the previous night. After Max left, she and Nadine drank the night away in celebration of her award, and her date. Lydia groaned and turned onto her side, hoping to shake herself of the headache. She opened her eyes a little, the light flooding in through the crack in the middle of her curtains stung like nothing else. The digital clock on her bedside cabinet read: 02:36pm. She'd slept all day!
'Ugh…my head…' Lydia groaned as she sat up, amazed to find she was still fully clothed. Patches of white make-up were smeared over her pillow and she was missing a shoe. 'I'm never drinking again…' She promised, though, she'd promised herself that a thousand times before. She swung her legs over the edge of her bed and tried standing up. Lydia staggered slightly; overwhelmed by a giddiness she'd gotten to know better and better with each time she'd been out with Nadine. She stumbled to her wardrobe and pulled out a pair of grey sweatpants and a black t-shirt. It took a while but finally she managed to change and wash up, the cold water woke her up a little more and the headache had eased off slightly by now but now she had another ailment: her stomach. It was churning like a washing machine, she couldn't eat; if she did then she'd spend the rest of the day with her head in the toilet. She needed to take her mind off things.
After a few seconds of deciding what to do, Lydia decided to dust, it was the only thing she could think of. She cautiously walked downstairs and went to the utility cupboard in the kitchen; grabbing her cloth and a spray bottle of water she went into the living room to begin her morning chore.
Meanwhile, Betelgeuse was having an even less enjoyable day. After he'd left his appointment with Juno the previous day, the caseworker decided to give Betelgeuse the leniency to allow him one last trip to earth: to apologise to Lydia for what he'd done. He agreed, it wasn't his style to apologise for being himself but one last trip was better than no trip at all. As he walked down the twisted street, hands in the pockets of his black and white suit, he kicked a bone that was lying in the middle of the road. A skeleton ran up to him, with his left arm in his right hand.
'Excuze me, could you pass me zat bone?' The skeleton spoke. Betelgeuse, still in thought, blinked at him.
'Oh…yeah, sure bud.' He replied after a few seconds pause, the skeleton took the arm gratefully and reconstructed his arm.
'Thank you, my name is Jacques, and you are…?' The skeleton asked, holding out a bony hand to shake.
'I uh…can't tell you my name, I can't tell anyone.' Betelgeuse replied, Jacques nodded and smiled.
'So you are Betelgeuze, I 'ave 'eard about you.' Betelgeuse blinked again, he'd never met this guy before and he already knew who Betelgeuse was, seemed a bit weird to the ghoul. 'In case you are vondering, all of ze Neizerworld knows who you are, we 'ave been told to keep a close eye on you. I just deed not recognize you.' Betelgeuse sighed, now Juno was keeping tabs on him, what next? A collar?
'I gotta get goin', my last trip to earth an' all.' He said, Jacques nodded and stood to the side to let Betelgeuse pass.
'We will see each other again, no?' Betelgeuse just nodded and solemnly walked past the skeleton.
'Yeah…sure.' He replied quietly before disappearing in a spark of energy. Jacques stared at the spot where the ghost once stood, smiled and walked on.
Lydia had finished the living room by now, it was spotless, but it didn't make her stomach feel any better. Remembering that she hadn't dusted the half of the model that Adam and Barbara gave her for a while she hurried to the dining room, which was big enough for a table and the model with room to boot. She'd started to carefully dust the house that represented the Maitland's old home; it brought back good memories of her friends, and a nasty one involving Betelgeuse. That snake had terrified her beyond belief and she nearly lost her father because of it. Just then, a spark of light came from behind the house and the figure of a miniature Betelgeuse wandered around the corner.
'You!!' She screamed, dropping her bottle and the cloth. Betelgeuse jumped a mile and fell down the hill on which the Maitland home sat. 'What the hell do you want!?'
'Lyds, please, listen…' He pleaded as he stood up, dusting himself off.
'Don't "Lyds" me you creep, why are you here now?! Didn't you cause enough havoc the last time??' Lydia was getting more and more enraged with each passing second where Betelgeuse was in her vision, he knew this but his orders were to apologise.
'Hey! I'm tryin' ta say sorry here! Wontcha give me the chance to say it!?'
'I'm not giving you the chance to say anything!' Lydia yelled. 'The last time you said anything to me you tricked me into marrying you! And you have no idea how long it took for the nightmares to stop!!' The nightmares, Lydia had forgotten until she saw Betelgeuse's pasty mug. She became an insomniac because she had recurring nightmares about that snake coming back. Finally, after over a year Delia and Charles had had enough, they took Lydia to a doctor and got her cured through hypnosis. Betelgeuse took offence to this, now he was getting mad.
'I didn't trick you into anything you little brat!! I said I'd help your friends if you married me, you agreed and that's what happened!'
'You took advantage of me, I wanted to help my friends!'
'First rule of business, babe! Take advantage of any situation!' Lydia folded her arms across her chest and looked away from him.
'I doubt anyone would want to marry you outside of a business deal anyway.' She spat. Betelgeuse fell silent, never before had such poison been spat at him before. Betelgeuse sighed in defeat and sat down on the fake grass, leaning against a tree he looked up at Lydia, who did more than dwarf him.
'Listen, I came ta say sorry about the whole marriage thing. Not my idea, hey it aint even my style, but I got orders, ya know?' He said. Lydia glared down at him, not believing a word he said.
'And why should I believe your phoney apology? You're just trying to get me to feel sorry for you.' She replied.
'This is my last trip to earth; I'm banned from here for good.' He sighed. Lydia's mouth curved into a smile, which quickly turned into a grin.
'Good, then I won't have you living in my model for the rest of my life.' There was no way she'd empathise with him after all he'd done. But there was a small part of her, just the tiniest region in her back of her mind that felt sorry for him. But she ignored it, Betelgeuse was getting what he deserved and nothing else could make Lydia happier.
'You've got no idea, Lyds. I'm on my own down there, I got no friends and I don't think anyone likes me, I got the whole of the Neitherworld watching me and I got nowhere to stay.' He sighed; he always put out the impression that nothing got to him. That he was the tough guy who never gave in, but now, now his barriers broke down. He didn't care what Lydia thought of him, to start off with he didn't want to apologise, it was a chore to him, but now he felt he had to. He wanted to. 'I'm sorry about the nightmares, I'm sorry I ruined your life.' He muttered before standing up.
Lydia stared down at him, not in anger or disgust, but in wonderment, she'd just witnessed Betelgeuse apologise, something she thought she'd never hear. Betelgeuse stuffed his hands into his pockets and wandered across the model to the graveyard.
'What makes you think I don't know what it's like?'
'Huh?' Betelgeuse turned and looked up at the girl, who by now had lowered herself to his level.
'What makes you think I don't know what it's like? I was treated like an outcast in school, my nickname was Morticia and no one wanted to be near me. So don't you dare tell me I don't know what it's like to be alone, because I do know.' Betelgeuse looked down at the ground and sighed.
'Then you should understand that…that I don't want to be somewhere where no one likes me.' He was letting it all out, no going back now. He turned around and looked over the graveyard, he climbed off the small mound he'd scaled and stared at his own headstone. 'You kept it…why did you keep that there?' Lydia shrugged nonchalantly.
'Haven't had the time to get rid of it.' She replied. 'Come to think of it…' Lydia reached over and tore the headstone from the model. Betelgeuse watched in horror as the only mark he'd left that wasn't a scar, physical or otherwise, was torn from the cardboard, she might as well have torn his insides out. One of Betelgeuse's greatest fears was to be forgotten, he never told anyone and, until now, he didn't even know himself.
'Maybe…you could visit?' He asked quietly, hopeful that she'd agree. Lydia leaned forward, a smirk on her face.
'Not on your afterlife.' Her voice was like a foghorn to him: loud and harsh. This was pathetic; Betelgeuse was reduced to a child looking for love. She understood his situation but she still could not forgive him for the years she suffered because of him. He sighed and nodded.
'Alright…I guess I understand…' He mumbled '…see ya…' Betelgeuse disappeared in a spark of light, much like the way he appeared.
The distraught ghoul reappeared in the Neitherworld, angry and upset, but not at Lydia: at himself. Lydia was a good kid; he could tell when he first met her. And he really sympathized with her when they spoke for the first time.
"I wanna get in…"The words she spoke rally hit him hard, why anyone wouldwant to get into the Neitherworld was beyond him. Maybe…maybe he should let her get in; there was a way, death-free. But he was unsure, would she understand things more from his point of view? Would he get into more trouble? Would he get Lydia in trouble? He stared down the warped road, feeling eyes watch him with scrutiny and abhor. He decided to do it, Lydia wanted to get in and now she was going to. He just needed to do it without getting caught.
Lydia flopped on her settee, the headstone still in her hand. She examined it, running her fingers over the inscription "Here lies Betelgeuse". Was she too hard on him? She certainly thought so. But he did deserve it, he'd caused her years of mental and emotional anguish, this was justified, right?
'I'm such a cow…' She groaned. She really did know what Betelgeuse was going through, and in some small way…she felt sorry for him. She saw his face when she spat in it; it was one of hurt but also one of understanding and acceptance. He accepted the fact that he hurt her, he took the blame, and he understood that she didn't want to be around him at all, ever. She'd caused him the pain that others had caused her before. Now she was the one who wanted to apologise, to take it back, to make sure that he doesn't feel the pain that she did when she was younger. She stood up and walked back to the model, she cocked her head at the sight of the empty space where Betelgeuse's headstone once was. The graveyard somehow looked empty, as did the rest of the model. Lydia took some superglue and re-stuck the headstone to the model base. It looked right now; it looked better.
A gust of wind blew a piece of paper onto the model; it landed in front of Lydia, who looked at the windows. They were closed and locked. 'Weird…' She muttered, though with all the things she'd seen, this was the least weird. Picking it up she started to read.
"Read it out loud."
'There's nothing else on it.' With that, another piece of paper blew onto the model. Lydia picked that up and did as was instructed. 'Though I know I should be wary, still I venture someplace scary. Ghostly haunting, I turn loose Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betel…geuse…'
(A/N: Hope you enjoyed and I apologise severely for the poor Jacques accent ;; It was the best I could do. And I'm sorry it's shorter than the first chapter, but I like to leave things on a cliff-hanger ;)