Side note to Kelly: Hey, it's great to hear from you and everything, but I wish you wouldn't use the review system to get messages to me. I'd understand if that's the only way you can contact me, but I don't see why you can't email me if you want to talk to me. Please email me only, if you want to talk to me, and save this review system for just reviews of my stories. Thanks. ;
Spencers13 1996 — Revised 2001
Beta Reader — Beetle Babe
Beetlejuice & all related charcters © Geffen Film Co.
Story concept & any original characters © Spencers13 (Lacey G)
R — Romance — Drama
Chapter 6 - Difficult Times
Lydia woke to a strange sound. Beetlejuice huffed again and rolled over, heavily thrusting his head back into the pillow. He was asleep, but something seemed to be bothering him. A nightmare. His breath quickened, and he pulled at the sheets.
"No" he mumbled.
Lydia lay silent, listening.
"G get away no" he mumbled on, his voice thick with sleep. "Don't wanna hurt you please Lydia"
Lydia's eyes widened at his mention of her. Is he having a nightmare about me?
"Lydia please get away" His breathing came spastically.
She began to worry and reached for him. Just before she touched his shoulder, he shot straight up screaming, "LYDIA!"
"BJ! What's wrong!" she gripped his arm and pulled him to her.
"Oh, Lydia! My Lydia, you're okay?" he asked out of breath, sweat pouring from his forehead.
"I'm fine, Beetlejuice. You were just having a nightmare. It's all over now." She hugged him close.
Beetlejuice pulled away and jumped out of bed.
"No, Lydia it'll never be over! I don't wanna hurt you!"
She gasped when he reiterated the phrase from his dream. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm sorry, Lydia, but it has to be this way. I can't let myself do that to you!" He started for her.
"Do what to me? What are you saying?" she became frightened by his frenzied demeanor.
Beetlejuice waved his hand in front of her face, and she immediately felt her breath escape her mouth, yet she was not suffocating.
"I'm sorry, Lydia," he breathed and kissed her quickly.
"What what did you just do?" she asked after he released her lips.
"I revoked your power to summon me."
"What?"
"I can't let myself do that to you, Babes! I have to make sure you'll be safe! This is the only way!"
"You're talking nonsense! What is going on?"
"I have to leave!" he stammered.
"What!" she practically screamed. "You said you'd never leave! You said you'd stay with me!"
Beetlejuice swallowed his tears. "I know and I'm so sorry I can't keep my promise. But this is for the best, Lyds. It's the only way I can protect you!"
Lydia was exasperated. "Protect me from what!"
"Me" he faltered and ran to her mirror. "Good-bye, Lydia. I'm sorry it has to be this way You'll" he gasped through a barrage of tears, "You'll never see me again."
"What is wrong with you!" she shouted. "I thought you loved me!" she began to cry as well.
He turned back to her. "I do love you, Lydia! That's why I have to leave! So I can protect you! I can't let you be hurt!"
"Who's going to hurt me!"
"I am!" he shouted back and turned to the mirror again.
"Don't you dare leave me, Beetlejuice!"
"I love you," he sobbed and vanished through the reflective surface against her wishes.
"NO!" she screamed.
The door to Lydia's bedroom flew open and her father rushed in.
"What's going on in here?" Charles asked worried.
Lydia rushed to the mirror and pounded on the smooth glass with her fists.
"Beetlejuice, you come back here! Don't leave me! Please! I need you!" she sobbed, then instantly became enraged. "You bastard! How dare you!" She inhaled sharply. "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!"
Nothing.
"Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!" Her calls were not working. He had revoked her power to summon him!
Charles rushed to his daughter's side as she fell to her knees in front of the mirror.
"Lydia! What happened?"
"He he left me!" She choked on the realization. "He's gone he left me" She collapsed on her father's shoulder.
Delia stood in the doorway and felt for her poor step-daughter, yet couldn't hide the smirk painted on her face. Finally, he was gone, and now maybe their lives could get back to normal.
Delia tuned and walked back to her bedroom, finally able to get some measure of rest.
Beetlejuice sat on the edge of his coffin bed and wept into his hands. He had just said good-bye to his only other true love forever.
What had he done?
It was for the best, though, for what he could have done to her would have been much worse than leaving her, or even the sandworm attack. His nightmare forcefully reminded him of that.
He had told Lydia the truth when he said he was more powerful than she realized. In actuality, he had the power to level the entire Neitherworld and be a plague upon the real world if he stayed there much longer. He was glad the nightmare came to him. It reminded him of what was to come. But leaving Lydia, especially after they had just gotten together, was the hardest thing he had ever done much harder than what he was to do in the weeks ahead.
He fell back onto the silken sheets in his coffin and yanked his pillow over his face, attempting to drown out Lydia's screams from beyond the mirror. It pained him all the more to hear her try to call his name, and it hurt twice as much when her summons failed her for the first time. But he could not go to her. He must not. It would mean the destruction of everything he cherished.
Destruction. Yes. That is what he must do. Destroy. Destroy everything in the Neitherworld. How had he forgotten that? True, it was a long stretch of time between the cycles, but still. The cycle of destruction and reformation of the Neitherworld would take a long time, several months at least. He must visit every town, every city, touch everything he sees, even the citizens if they get in his way. He would not be himself, though. He would change into a creature of darkness and evil, a creature he feared more than almost anything. Almost. His greatest fear was never seeing Lydia again until she died. And he hated her reaction to him leaving her even more than not seeing her again.
How had these cycles begun anyway? It felt as if he had always done it, but he had only completed his horrifying task once before. 512 years ago. A scant hundred or so years after his death.
Beetlejuice rolled over and cried more heavily into his pillow. He did not want to do it again.
"Damn this crazy Neitherworld!" He grated his teeth together angrily. Why him? Why not someone else? He wanted to be with Lydia, not worrying about changing into some creature of destruction. But he had no choice, so he lay in his coffin bed, sobbing himself to sleep and dreaming of his dear Lydia.
The next few weeks passed unbearably slow for Lydia. Delia had pressured her into choosing a college quickly after Beetlejuice had vanished. Her excuse was that continuing Lydia's education would allow her to move on with her life and not be caught up in nonsense about ghosts.
Day by day, Lydia forced herself to continue onward. However, the hurt and sadness she felt after Beetlejuice had left lingered on. She took some comfort in the fact that her father was interested in hearing her stories of their grand adventures in the Neitherworld. He also seemed to not have a problem with the fact that his daughter had fallen in love with a ghost. After hearing her fond recollections of their fun times in the past and how long they had been together, he admitted that such a thing was inevitable. Charles encouraged her feelings of love for the spectre and did his best to convince Lydia that Beetlejuice must have had a good reason for leaving so suddenly. Occasionally, Lydia would break down during her stories or when her father tried to cheer her by saying Beetlejuice would come back someday.
The following month was to be her first at college, and those days were rapidly approaching. Delia had forced Lydia to choose a college that was more than four hours away, and in doing so, she was forced to move out of their home and live in a small apartment on her own. The college was highly ranked, but did not provide dorms for its students. There were plenty of nearby apartment complexes that rented only to students, and Lydia found an agreeable residence in one of them. The rent was low, and the utilities would be cheap in the small apartment.
She was to move out in two days and would not be back until the end of the term in six weeks. Lydia walked about the house in a daze. She had most of her things packed and ready to go, so now it was just a matter of waiting to leave.
Beetlejuice did not appear to her since he had left, as she fully expected him not to, but she still hoped. She wondered what could have made him leave the way he did. The nightmare he had obviously had something to do with it. What could have scared him so bad that he would leave her stranded in a weary existence in the real world? And weary it was. She had no desire to go back to school, no desire to eat, sleep or move for that matter. Lydia was beginning to tire of it all. Several times she seriously considered ending her life prematurely so she could see Beetlejuice again sooner. Then she remembered how tenaciously he fought to keep her alive before, how he made a big speech about how much she had to look forward to now, and decided to keep trudging on for his sake. Strange, how a ghost would fight so hard to make sure a mortal stayed alive.
At times, Lydia's head filled with anger and tormented thoughts that he left her for someone else, maybe that ghoul he met at the Eye Scream Parlour, but then the emotion would fade when her heart reminded her of how long he had stayed with her, and of when he saved her life. She wanted so desperately to see him again.
Wait, she thought, I can see him again. At least in a way. It was getting dark, though, so she decided to wait until tomorrow, the last day she would be living in that house.
Lydia walked along the well beaten path in the woods near her house. In her hand, she carried a bouquet of flowers she had picked along the way. She looked this way and that, trying to find something familiar that would let her know where her goal was. Finally, she spotted the tree with a name carved into it. It was not far from where she was.
Beetlejuice's grave stone stuck out from the ground in the same place it had been for over 600 years. Lydia walked up to it and brushed a few leaves from the top of the stone and knelt beside it. She placed the bouquet of wild flowers in front of the weathered rock.
"These are for you, Beetlejuice," she said to the ground. "I hope you like them. I wish you hadn't left, you know. I miss you." Lydia knelt there for a few moments longer then stood. "I guess I should go now. Nikulás Beetlejuice I love you."
Instantly, the ground began to shake beneath her feet and Lydia lost her balance and fell on top of the grave. A skeletal hand burst from the ground in a shower of dirt and wildflowers and grabbed her arm. Lydia screamed in fright at the hand's vice-like grip. Then she saw another hand burst from the soil and grab into the dirt, attempting to pull up the body it was connected to. Lydia tried to pull away, but the skeleton's hand would not let go.
She screamed again as a head emerged from the ground followed by ribs and the pelvic bone of the skeleton. Long spindly legs lifted from the ground as well. The skeleton wore a tattered leather tunic and boots and reeked of decay.
"Lydia," Beetlejuice's voice issued from the skeleton's slack jawbone, "What's wrong? Why are you afraid?"
Lydia screamed again and tried to pull away even harder, but Beetlejuice reached out with another bony hand and gripped her other wrist tightly and pulled her close to his rotting body.
"Don't be scared, Lydia. I love you," his voice came again, a haunting echo from the open jawbone of the skeleton. "Kiss me, Lydia. Let me love you."
It leaned in closer to Lydia's face. The pungent odor of rotting flesh filled her nostrils and gagged her.
"Kiss me, Lydia kiss me"
Lydia screamed and thrashed about. "No! No!"
Covers flew off of Lydia's bed, and she tossed her pillow across the room in a frenzy as she woke suddenly.
A nightmare. It had been a nightmare.
Lydia wiped sweat from her brow and tried to ease her breathing. She looked at her clock, 6:35 AM. She might as well get up now, since her alarm was set for seven.
Still shaking, Lydia got up, retrieved her pillow and blankets from the floor then went in search of a hot shower.
Beetlejuice woke to a stream of light dancing across his eyes. He squinted toward his bedroom window at the crack in the curtains, annoyed. The sun had moved to a position in the sky that allowed it to shine through his window and right into his face. He rolled over, grunted and closed his eyes only to be met with a picture of Lydia's face painted inside his eyelids. He thought of her nonstop since he ran away a little over a month ago. They had never been apart for this long. He almost gave in once or twice and started for his mirror, fully prepared to go see her, but he stopped himself short every time. He did not know when the cycle would start, and so he was forced to wait. And so Lydia would have to wait too. He had resolved he would return to her as soon as his mission was complete. Now if it would only start.
Beetlejuice finally rolled out of bed and slipped into a house-coat and his bug slippers. He shuffled out of his bedroom and into the kitchen in search of breakfast. The refrigerator yielded nothing as did the freezer. Beetlejuice began checking the cupboards when Jacques wandered in with the morning paper.
"Ah, Be-atlejuice! Good morning! 'Ow was your night?" Jacques asked cheerfully.
"Fine," Beetlejuice grumbled slamming the cupboard door shut.
"By ze way," Jacques continued oblivious to his friend's sour attitude, "I 'ave not seen Lydia for a couple of months now. I am wondering 'ow she is doing?"
"Don't ask me, bone-breath, I haven't seen her either."
Jacques gasped slightly. "I 'ope nossing is wrong!"
Beetlejuice chanced to picked up a stray beetle from inside the sink, but realizing he was not actually hungry, dropped it back in and watched it scurry away.
"Me too," he said sadly.
Jacques did his best to imitate arching an eyebrow. "Be-atlejuice? Is zere maybe somesing wrong with you? We did not see you for about a month, zen you show up suddenly and 'ave not seen Lydia since. Are you maybe fighting?"
Beetlejuice shrugged. "Naw, not exactly, I-" He was cut off by Jacques' startled gasp. "What?"
Jacques pointed at Beetlejuice with a trembling bony finger. He looked down at himself and realized he was becoming transparent and growing rapidly!
It was beginning.
"Jacques!" Beetlejuice's voice echoed inside Jacques' skull, "Take Ginger and get out of here! I don't want you guys getting caught up in this! Warn everyone else too!"
Jacques said not a word and ran from the room. He pounded on Ginger's door with his bony hands and grabbed her when she appeared.
"What're you doin', Jacques!" Ginger wailed in surprise.
"It's ze cycle, Ginger! Be-atlejuice is going to destroy ze Neitherworld again! We must get somewhere safe until everysing is rebuilt!"
The skeleton and spider burst through the roadhouse doors and ran across the street to warn the Monster and Poopsie. Then all four of them took off toward the city to prepare everyone else.
Ugly black clouds rolled across the sky and blue lightning shot in every direction. Soon, the bright morning sun was covered and the land darkened. From inside the roadhouse came a tremor, then the entire structure crumbled and fell to the ground in a cloud of dust.
When the air cleared, it revealed a massive creature. Cloaked in nothing but black stripes that whipped around in a nonexistent wind, the creature floated several feet off the ground and was over twenty feet tall. Red eyes glowed from inside the cloak's blackness, and the entire being was slightly transparent.
It hovered across the road to the Monster's house and whipped outward with one of its black tendrils, brushing the edge of the building. Instantly, it turned into dust and collapsed in a pile to the ground.
The creature turned toward the city. It's mission had only begun.
Lydia trudged up the stairs of her new school. She had been attending for almost a month now and had memorized all of her teachers names finally. As soon as she reached the top of the stairwell, a group of boys burst through the doors and plowed right into her, knocking the books she carried to the floor.
"Weirdo!" one of the boys jeered while the rest laughed and continued down the stairs and out of sight.
Lydia sighed. I thought we were out of high school now. She bent and retrieved a few of her books. A pair of feet appeared in front of her, and a hand reached down and picked up her Physics book.
"You dropped this," a smooth, deep voice issued from above.
Taking the book, Lydia looked up at the person kind enough to stop and help her. He was tall, thin for his height, yet well built. His blonde hair was neatly trimmed but drooped a little lower than most boys let theirs. He peered at her with sparkling blue eyes.
"Th-thank you," Lydia stammered.
"You're welcome," he smiled. "What's your name?"
"Lydia," she replied more calmly.
"That's very pretty." Lydia blushed. "My name's Kevin. Nice to meet you. Have you been going to this school long?"
Lydia readjusted the books she was carrying. "About a month or so. You?"
"I've been her for about a year now. You'll find that things get boring after a while. Old man Finklestein is a real snoozer, know what I mean?"
Lydia's eyes widened when Kevin unknowingly spouted the same phrase Beetlejuice was so apt to.
"What? What are you staring at? Lydia?" Kevin waved his hand in front of her face, snapping her back into the present.
"Huh? Oh! I'm sorry. You you just reminded me of someone, that's all."
"Oh, yeah? Who?"
"You don't know him, he's an old friend of mine," Lydia tried to wave it off.
"I might. I get around a lot."
Lydia giggled. "You don't know him."
"What's the name?" Kevin persisted.
"BJ."
He looked thoughtful. "Nope, you're right, don't know him."
"Told you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get to class."
"Hang on!" Kevin stopped her. "I like you, Lydia. Would you like to go out? Maybe tomorrow night?"
Lydia was shocked by his forward nature. Well why not? It's not like Beetlejuice is with me anymore She looked saddened for a moment, then looked back up at Kevin. "I'd love to. What time?"
Charles trotted up the stairs toward the sound of heavy furniture being pushed around. He noticed Lydia's bedroom door open when it was usually closed. Pushing it open all the way and looking inside, Charles discovered Delia rearranging Lydia's furniture.
"Delia? What are you doing?"
"I was going to turn this room into an art studio for myself!" she gloated. "It'll look just lovely with my sculptures standing around and my art table in that corner and my clay wheel in this corner" Delia went on and on pointing at various places in the room and saying what would look best where.
"Delia Delia!" Charles stopped her ramblings. "I won't have you changing this room around. Where will Lydia stay when she comes home to visit? Certainly not on the couch! No, she'll be able to come home and sleep in her own bed in her own room. Now put everything back to normal." Charles left, having said his last word.
Delia grudgingly replaced Lydia's furniture to its rightful place.
"Lydia? Honey? Hello?" Kevin waved his hand in front of Lydia's hazy eyes.
"What? Oh! I'm sorry, Kevin, what were you saying?" Lydia shook off her reverie. She had been thinking of Beetlejuice again. Wishing he was there instead of Kevin at times. Sure, Kevin was a great guy, but he was a bit over protective and a little controlling. However, she tolerated him, and he was very kind to her most of the time.
"I was asking what you wanted to do for our four month anniversary. It's in two days, you know."
"Oh! Right! Uh well, I don't know. Why don't you think of something?"
"How about a nice fancy restaurant?" he suggested.
Lydia wrinkled her nose. "But you take me to a fancy restaurant every other weekend. It won't seem that much like a special occasion."
"I guess you're right," Kevin mused. He thought for a moment longer. "Hey! How about a drive-in theatre? There's one not too far from here, and I think they're playing a great flick by Tim Burton. I know you like that guy."
"Ooo! Alright! I love drive-ins. And Tim is my favourite!"
"Good! It's settled then. Thursday night at the drive-in at dusk."
Lydia was glad that their anniversary if it could even be called that, fell only a day short of her term ending. She would be able to get away from him for awhile and go home to visit her parents. Even though Kevin was sweet and did nice things for her, he was smothering, and Lydia needed breathing space.
Are all living men like this? she caught herself wondering at times.
The two days between their conversation and the date passed quickly, and soon, Lydia found herself showering and dressing for the occasion. A red wool sweater and blue jeans would bee good enough since the weather had turned cold.
She waited for Kevin on the steps in front of her apartment complex. He pulled up in his dark blue Mustang, and when she was buckled into her seat, he squealed his tires and headed for the theatre.
During the movie, Lydia sat in the passenger seat and ate her popcorn while watching the huge screen through the windshield of the car intensely. However, Kevin seemed to be quite distracted.
"You look good tonight, Babe," he eyed her up and down.
"I asked you not to call me that, BJ called me that all the time" she distractedly corrected him for what had to have been the dozenth time.
"I wish you'd stop talking about this BJ guy and concentrate on me," he said scooting in her direction.
"I'm trying to watch the movie, Kevin," Lydia warned.
"I'm done with the stupid movie, all I want is you, Babe," he slid his hand up her thigh.
"Kevin!" Lydia shouted through a mouthful of popcorn.
He grabbed Lydia around her waist and pulled her closer causing her to spill her popcorn all over the floor and front seats of the car.
"You're mine, you know. You have to do what I say."
"Excuse you!" Lydia snorted. "Keep your grubby hands to yourself!"
"Grubby!"
"That's what I said! I'm tired of you trying to take advantage of me when that is not what I want! Now, if you stop right this instant, I'll forget this little event happened."
"Not this time!" Kevin growled. He pulled Lydia across the seats and grabbed at her chest under her sweater as he held her arms behind her back and attempted to kiss her.
"Ow! My arm! Kevin, that's the one that was broken before! Stop! Leave me alone!" Lydia kicked up with her knee and slammed it into Kevin's forehead, knocking him dizzy. His grip loosened on her, and she quickly squirmed free. "It's over, Kevin! I don't want to see you ever again!" she shouted as she jumped out of the passenger-side door.
"Come back here, you bitch!" Kevin called after her, but Lydia did not return. She ran all the way back to her apartment five blocks away and quickly packed her suitcases with clothes for her week-long vacation at her parents' house. She ran out to her car, tossed the suitcases into the back seat and sped away from the curb. She did not care about tomorrow's classes. It was her last day of the term anyway, so she would definitely not get any assignments.
Lydia would drive the four hours it would take to get back home tonight. It would probably be three o'clock by the time she got home, but that did not matter. Anything to get away from Kevin.
"Beetlejuice, where are you I need you. Help me" she whimpered through blurry eyes.
Lydia cried the entire trip home.Next to come...attack.