"What am I even supposed to wear to this?" Lydia paced her spacious bedroom. Barbara sat at the foot of her plush, purple bed as she held up one of Lydia's many gothic style dresses. She fingered one of the little lace spiders that decorated the hem thoughfully.
"Honestly, sweetheart, you could wear any of this stuff and fit right in..." she said, and placed the dress gently on a dark colored pile of rummaged clothing that Lydia created while trying to find a decent outfit. Lydia huffed.
"I still don't know why I even have to go..." she muttered, looking to the summons that sat on her mahogany desk. The yellowed paper with spidery green writing confirmed Juno's words, stating that Lydia would be required to attend the heiring and possible exorcism of the ghoul she strongly disliked. She sighed, and slumped onto the bed next to Barbara. The motherly ghost pet her dark hair in reassurance with her cool hands. Usually this helped Lydia when she was distressed, but today it seemed like nothing could make her feel any better about her situation.
"It'll be over before you know it.." Barbara said quietly. "And then we can get on with our lives." Lydia raised a brow at her, and Barbara tsked. "Well, you know what I mean."
"I just can't help this horrible feeling..." Lydia whispered. She placed her head on Barbara's lap and brought her knees up to her chest. Barbara stopped petting her hair then, and looked at Lydia's almost pained expression. She finally gave a deep sigh.
"Look at me, Lydia." she said. Lydia turned her head up to see Barbara's large brown eyes looking down seriously at her. "All Adam and I want for you is the best. You've made us so happy since you arrived, and we want nothing less than the same happiness for you. But..." Barbara looked to the floor, seeming to not want to finish her sentence. Lydia sat up.
"But..?" she asked. After a few second Barbara looked back up at her.
"I just don't want you to feel like it's your fault if tomorrow doesn't go in Betel-erm...his favor." she said. She took Lydia's hand in her own.
"I can't help but feel that way..." Lydia muttered. "I don't know what to do, Barbara." Panic took place of her unneasiness, and she began to breath heavily. Barbara reached forward and hugged her tightly as tears welled up in Lydia's eyes. "Why did this have to happen to me?" Barbara kissed the top of her head.
"I'm so sorry Lydia, this is all our fault." she whispered. Lydia shook her head.
"You didn't stick me in that wedding dress...he did..." she said bitterly. She wiped the tears from her cheek. "That evil, perverted...thing of a spirit. He deserves everything he gets at that heiring." she said, her words faltering slightly as she finished them. Barbara raised a brow at that, and nodded slowly before standing up.
"He is all of that and more, Lydia." she said. "But no matter what happens at the heiring, just remember, Adam and I will support your decision, whatever one you make." Lydia was surpised by this.
"What do you-"
"Oh look at the time, I should start lunch. Make sure you finish your school work young lady." Barbara said quickly, and dropped through the floor before Lydia could question her. The room became silent.
"Gee, thanks Babs." she huffed, and threw one of her red pillows where Barbara's ghostly form once occupied. She wished she could disappear like the Maitlands so easily did when they wanted to avoid unsavory situations. But Lydia knew even they wouldn't be able to get out of her situation if they were in it. Ghosts could only avoid so much.
She looked up at her dark ceiling, wishing she could disappear in the shadows that danced across it. Gripping her other pillow to her chest, she leaned back onto her bed, biting her lip in agitation. She was only eighteen, and she was already married and in charge of a soul that was the very definition of deviance.
"And the only way to detach me from that creep is exorcism..." she said, exasperated. How was so much responsability thrown on her shoulders? Why was she burdened with the choice of a soul's fate? She brushed her pointed bangs from her eyes as she sat back up, eyeing the pile of dark clothes.
"I can't even decide what to wear..."
...
"You look lovely, Lydia!" Adam beamed at the teenager as she decented the staircase to the awaiting Maitlands. Delia, her hands covered in clay, walked by as he said that, and she looked hopefully toward her. Her hopes were dashed immediatly as she frowned at Lydia's attire. It was a sleeveless black dress that stopped just at her feet, with a victorian style collar that covered most of her neck. A wide brimmed black hat donned her head, and a black lace veil fell over it to cover her pale face.
"Maybe to a corpse..." Delia said sadly as she walked on, no longer interested. Lydia rolled her eyes at her mother's words.
"Loving the support, Delia..." she said, offering a thumbs up to the comment. Adam waved away the comment and rest his hands on Lydia's shoulders as she walked up to him.
"Look on the bright side," he said. "Where we're going is nothing but dead people, so she really gave you a compliment, sort of." he said, looking over the brim of his glasses. She smirked.
"Thanks, I guess." she said. He smiled, and walked over to the broom closet.
"That's the spirit. Now let's get this overwith." he turned the handle, and the scenery shifted them back to Juno's neon lit office. Lydia blinked as her eyed adjusted to the strange light. Juno was gathering various papers into an ancient looking briefcase at her desk. She muttered in mild agitation to herself as she did so. Barbara was sitting at one of the weathered visitors chairs. Her hands were clasped in her lap as she chewed her bottom lip. When she saw them, she stood.
"You look wonderful, dear." she said to Lydia, walking over and looking the young girl up and down in approval. Juno snapped her briefcase shut and patted it. She opened one of the drawers to her old desk and removed a fresh pack of cigarettes.
"You look ready for a funeral." she rasped in mild amusement as she tapped the pack against her open palm. "Any hope at all in favor of our favorite headache?" Lydia fidgeted with the lack veil, suddenly aware of what Juno meant.
"I didn't mean to come off like that..." she said sheepishly. Barbara nodded.
"This is her typical weekly attire-well, the hat is at least." she said quickly. Juno nodded as she brought a cigarette to her thin mouth and snapped her fingers, setting the end of it alight.
"The offer still stands, kid." she said to Lydia, earning curious glances from the girl's ghostly companions. Lydia pursed her lips, watching the smoke of the caseworkers's cigarette seep from her throat. She couldn't help staring. Juno noted the obvious curiosity on the gothic girl's features and sighed. "I was murdered in my sleep." Lydia gave a small gasp.
"I-I didn't mean-"
"Eh, I'm over it. Life wasn't all it was cracked up to be for a woman in my day anyway, as you can see..." she gestured sarcastically to the slit in her neck and flicked her cigarette.
"I guess not..." Lydia turned her attentions to the rest of the dusty room. "So, we'll be leaving here, right?" she asked, unable to mask the mild excitement that was building in her voice.
"Yup, right now, actually." Juno grabbed her briefcase with her pale hand and waved the party to the door. "After you..." Lydia grabbed the handle and paused.
"Will this actually lead to somewhere outside, or are we going to teleport somewhere again?" she asked. Juno gave a rough laugh.
"Nah, the courtroom is just up the stairs. Ain't worth the trouble of alternate transportation..." she said. "Now go, go, or we'll be late. I have a client, you know..." she hurried Lydia to open the door, and the girl did as intructed. She stepped out into a neon green lit hallway. The floor was cracked black and white checkered tile, and the walls were decorated with ancient ornate wallpaper that had tears and splotches of mold and water damage. She looked to the right at a wood door that read "Waiting Room."
"Waiting room?" she asked. Barbara took her arm.
"That's probably the most boring place in the Netherworld, dear. You wouldn't find anything interesting in there..."
"This way." Juno called them as she walked the opposite direction, snapping her fingers in urgency as her black heels clicked against the tile. They caught up to her and stayed close as they made their way down the winding hallway. Lydia's eyes darted everywhere, absorbing as much as she could. A gangling spirit with blue skin and soaked clothes passed by them, and she turned almost all the way around as she studied him. Adam nudged her, and she snapped her attention back forward, blushing.
"Bizzare, isn't it?" Adam whispered to her. She nodded quickly and crossed her arms. It was suddenly feeling cold.
"Feeling a draft?" Juno asked knowingly, stopping in her tracks as she turned to face a black steel door. A metal sign was welded crudely to it, and Lydia leaned forward to see what was written on it.
"L.S.R.?" she read aloud curiously. Barbara and Adam stepped back, casting their gazes to the floor. Juno leaned against the frame of the door, her own arms crossed and her expression stony.
"Lost Souls Room. Open it." she said, nodding her head to the thick brass handle. Lydia hesitated.
"What's in there?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady. Juno sniffed.
"Nothing that can do anything. Not anymore, anyway. You'll be alright, breather." she said, and rapped her knuckles against the steel. "Go ahead." Lydia swallowed, not very much reassured by the caseworkers vague reassurance. But she wouldn't harm Lydia, surely. Barbara and Adam wouldn't let that happen. Lydia steeled herself as she finally took the handle in her shaky grip and wrenched open the heavy door. She gasped at the void that greeted her. There was nothing. Just pitch black.
"What is thi-oh!" she jumped as a heavily wrinkled spectre in rags and chains floated slowly by. It's sunken gaze dragged towards her, and she froze as their eyes locked. It blinked once, and looked slowly away. Lydia took a deep breath when it finally disappeared into the consuming void. "That was..."
"Terrifying? Nerve-wracking?" Juno asked, shutting the door.
"Sad..." Lydia muttered. She remembered how it looked at her. There was so much loneliness in it's hollow eyes. So much sorrow, and yet nothing at the same time.
"Yep, well, that's an excorcised ghost for you. They aren't exactly bouncing with glee in that pit." Juno said. She snapped her fingers again and resumed her pace before Lydia could react. Lydia jogged up to her and kept next to her as she spoke again.
"That's where they go?" she asked, pointing behind her.
"Yep." Juno said matter-of-factly. Lydia scoffed.
"It's practically a broom closet-"
"I don't assign the living spaces, kid. I just guide people away from going there as best I can." Juno threw her hands up dismissively. "Don't get me wrong. Most ghosts that go there deserve it. They terrorized, possessed, and murdered innocents in unforgiveable ways. Then there are those that just did a lot, and I mean a lot, of stupid, tiny, idiotic things that gave me headaches for weeks on end..."
"You're talking about-"
"Yep." Juno stopped again at an elevator and pressed the button to go up. She tapped her foot as they waited in awkward silence. "Damn elevator takes forever-"
"Dead man walking!" Juno stopped as the groupe turned down the hallway to see two hulking figures in ripped, too small security guard uniforms lumbering down the hallway. They flanked another, smaller figure, hands cuffed in thick shackles. Lydia stilled.
It was Betelgeuse.
"Dead man walking!" one of the guards shouted, spit flying out his wide, crooked mouth as he seemed to smile at his own comment. The other chortled, clapping Betelgeuse hard on the back. Betelgeuse rolled his sunken eyes as he steadied himself.
"Hardy-har fuckin' har..." he spat, earning a sock to the stomach from the guard on his left. His eyes bulged as he toppled forward, landing on his face. The guards laughed again, high-fiving each other.
"Hey!" Lydia heard herself shout, and she brought her hands to her mouth in surprise as the two guards eyed her.
"Who'er you, lady..." one asked. Lydia looked to Juno, who seemed to be completely ignoring the situation as she remained focused on the elevator. Barbara and Adam shook their heads vigorously as Adam took her arm. Betelgeuse rolled his head weakly, his brow furrowing as his eyes landed on her. Lydia cleared her throat.
"A...friend..." she managed to say. The words tasted almost vile as she used them to describe the deviant that lay pathetically on the floor before her. But surely he deserved some semblance of dignity before his own trial. She took her arm from Adam's grip and rest her hands on her hips, forcing an air of confidence. "I don't think you're permitted to assault your charges like that. Are they, Juno?" she asked. Juno turned her head then to the guards, and their grey faces paled as they seemed to recognize her.
"No...I think not, kid..." she said calmly, her eyes like spears as they pierced into them.
"Uh, uh, I-Uh..." One guard hurriedly grabbed Betelgeuse's arm and wrenched him up onto his feet. The other patted and straightened his clothes a bit. "He's fine, ma'am."
"Good..." Juno muttered, turning back to the elevator as it made a faint ding. The doors squeaked as they opened, and she stepped in. Barbara and Adam followed, motioning for Lydia to do the same. Lydia looked at Betelgeuse, who was rubbing his stomach.
"You're...good?" she asked. His dark eyes hooded, and he shook his shackles in mock excitement.
"Fan-flippin'-tastic..." he said. Lydia huffed and turned to enter the elevator. "Didn't know you cared, darlin'. Thanks for bein' a pal." he called after her as the doors shut in front of her. She rest her head against one of them and sighed as the elevator lurched upward.
This was becoming one hell of a day.