AN: Hello again. For those who asked, and as well for those who have wondered, the NYC public library was indeed build on the site of the old Croton Reservoir, which was built on a 'decommissioned' graveyard back in the mid 1800's. It's all true. In fact, if you go into the basement, you can see the old reservoir walls built into the foundation. And yes, Poltergeist scared the hell out of me when i was just a little kid, and i have never quite gotten over it. There's all my dark little secrets for today.
Chapter Seven: Scared of the Dark
After a moment of silence, Beetlejuice took Lydia by the arm and pulled her to her feet. She steadied herself and shot him a questioning glance. He looked solemn, but resigned. "Well, we had better get moving an' get out of here as fast as we can. Where's your stuff?"
She pulled herself back to the moment at hand. "Um, it's on the third floor, next to the main reading room. We can take the elevator. I don't know if I feel well enough to use the stairs." He nodded at her, concern shadowing his eyes and mouth, and held out his arm for her, looking awkwardly gallant in the half-light. His eyes glinted, and his vividly blond hair shone with silky highlights. Her brain balked again at the impossibility that he could share the same space as she during a possession, and then the next moment be as solid and real as a living man. As she took his arm, she could feel the muscles of his forearm tighten as he pulled her closer, as well as the velvety texture of the skin on the inside of his arm. Her body told her the lie, though, didn't it? He glanced at her, and she gazed back at him, and immediately felt the tension spark again between them. Anytime they made prolonged eye contact, she felt it. Last time, her nerve had cracked. This time, it was he that looked away first.
That gave her an odd sort of courage, as if seeing that he was also afraid somehow made her fear less so. She gave him a cheeky grin, and he glanced at her, looking more than a little perplexed, and tugged her toward the elevator.
"You know, Beej, you really are the strangest friend I have ever had. Counting my imaginary ones, too." He swung her lightly into the elevator and followed, a deep rumbly chuckle in his chest.
"Yeah, I'm a real pussycat once you get to know me." He grinned darkly at her, and the lights in the elevator flickered. Blithely ignoring the electrical surge, he punched the button for the third floor. The door slid shut, and suddenly Lydia had that odd elevator claustrophobia, magnified a dozen times at least because she was alone with a being she had just confessed, however innocently, that she liked. Granted, she had been alone with him for countless hours. Elevators always made that aloneness seem really really intense. She concentrated on not looking anxious. Beetlejuice just stared at her, which definitely didn't help. Pussycat, indeed. Then the blue florescent light above them flickered violently, and a chill shot up her spine.
"Are you doing that?"
He shook his head carefully, his green eyes still focused on her. The elevator shuddered violently, and stopped moving. And the light popped off with an audible crack, plunging them into complete darkness. Lydia couldn't suppress a scream, and it echoed loudly in the silence. She heard him snort next to her, but she didn't let him go. "You afraid of the dark, Lydia?" His voice was right next to her ear, a rough growl full of mischief.
"No," she whispered.
"You afraid of me?"
His tone made her brindle. "Of course not." She almost believed it, too.
"Then the only thing left in here to be afraid of is yourself." He slid his arm gently out of hers and stepped away, and his green eyes gleamed in the black. And then he must have closed his eyes, because even that light vanished.
"Quit, it, Beej!" Silence. She could feel her heart pounding. "Okay! I'm scared of the dark! Happy?" She felt his arms slide around her from behind and give her a quick squeeze.
"You're a lousy liar," he whispered in her ear. His lips brushed against her earlobe and she shivered. "I'm gonna go check this out, babes." And she felt him go, a pressure change, a breath of wind. His voice echoed in her ears. Lousy liar. But she was afraid of the dark. Especially now, trapped in an elevator by herself, in a building that she had just been informed by someone who should know was built on a desecrated graveyard. The fact that she had come here with a powerful poltergeist should have comforted her, but the entire journey through the leys had rattled her, and all she wanted to do at the moment was burrow under the covers of her own bed with the nightlight on and squeeze shut her eyes so that the monsters couldn't see her.
With a shudder that made her scream again, the elevator restarted, but the light did not come back on. "Beej?" she ventured. But he wasn't there, or wasn't answering. She knew she could make him come by using his true name, but she was afraid to say it aloud. Afraid of who might be listening. So she just stood in the heart of the dark, blood pounding in her ears, praying to whatever god that might be tuned in that she just make it out alive.
