Queen of the Sandworms
Chapter 6: Losing Sanity
...
The next morning, Beetlejuice woke with a start when he heard a noise outside the small cave. He hit his head on the roof of the small cave. "Ow!" he said and rubbed it. After the pain settled, he blinked a couple times. At first he was confused of why he was in a small cave somewhere, then gradually began to remember where he was and why.
Beetlejuice quickly sat upright and squatted where he was. His pointy ears listened from under his blonde disheveled hair. Silence. Beetlejuice rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and stared straight ahead at the opening of the cave. Was it the same Sandworm from yesterday? The scared ghost tensed up in fear.
Suddenly, the noise came again. Beetlejuice looked down and sighed in relief. It was just his stomach. He laughed softly and placed his hand over his face. "Ah...I'm scaring myself. Gosh...if I stay here too long, I might go insane!" Beetlejuice said to himself as he shifted onto his hands and knees and crawled out of the small cave and to the opening.
The sunlight greeted him as it warmed his face and the front of his chest. The winds were blowing the sands on the surface of the desert realm. Long, morning shadows stretched out from behind the red, twisted rock formations.
Beetlejuice stood outside of the hole and looked out at the gold bathed scene before him. He stretched his arms and yawned a long yawn. He stopped when he felt a small pain run up the sides of his arms.
"Ow," he groaned as he rubbed them. "Sleeping on rock is not as much fun as I thought," Beetlejuice muttered to himself as he continued rubbing his arms gently. Just then, his stomach growled again. He narrowed his eyes a bit and looked down. "Ok, ok! I'll look for something to eat!" he snapped at his stomach and threw his arms into the air.
He looked away from his stomach and looked out to the sea of sand. There was no way he was going to find a single crunchy beetle out in the middle of a harsh, desert wasteland. Beetlejuice sighed in disappointment. He was really craving for a couple of those critters.
His stomach growled loudly again.
"Fine fine! I'll look! There's bound to be something out here in this...nothingness!" he snapped angrily. With that, he straightened his striped suit, and took one step out toward the sands. He stopped when he felt a jolt of fear run through him.
He quickly tensed up and squeezed his eyes shut. "Don't do this, BJ ol' boy...th-there's nothing to be af-f-fraid of...n-nothing to b-be af-f-fraid of..." he told himself, but his body wouldn't move.
Somewhere, deep in the depths of the shifting sands, there was a Sandworm...waiting for him. "No...no, no no," he told himself again. His body shook. "Come on! We can't stand out here forever! Sandworms will get us for sure!" he shouted angrily. Instantly, his legs locked, and he fell forward. He face-planted into the sand.
Beetlejuice lifted his head up, spitting out a mouthful of sand. He coughed and sat upright. "Well, that's one way to do it..." he muttered and began slapping the side of his head to get the sand out of his ear.
After that, he brushed the sands off the front of his striped suit and began making his way out into the open desert. The winds pushed him along as he walked alone. Next to him, his shadow moved with him. It was stretched out seven feet across the sands. Beetlejuice would sometimes talk to it, just to keep him sane and to not feel alone.
Sometimes he would tell jokes to himself so he wouldn't think about the Sandworms that were possibly underneath his feet. Once, he thought of Lydia, and she appeared walking right next to him in her scarlet red spider-webbed poncho.
"Hey, BJ," she said, smiling up at him. Beetlejuice felt his dead heart leap inside his ribcage with excitement. "Lydia!" he said excitedly and hugged her. Unfortunately, he went right through her and he landed face down into the sand.
Beetlejuice quickly turned around and looked up at Lydia. "Wh-what? I...I don't understand!" he cried as he stared up at her. Lydia just laughed, then faded away. Beetlejuice screamed in terror and got to his feet. He grabbed the sides of his head and shook it.
"No! No! No! I can't be losing it! No!" he cried. Then he went down and pounded the sands with his fists angrily. They sank into the sands. Beetlejuice quickly pulled them out and jumped to his feet again.
No. He couldn't stop. He had to keep moving, or he would be sucked into the sands. Beetlejuice moved away from where he stood, and held himself. "No...no...you have to keep yourself together...you can't lose it now...Lydia is counting on you..." he told himself, comforting himself as he began walking in the same direction he was heading for the last couple hours.
The sun continued to climb higher and higher into the sky. Beetlejuice licked his dry lips and wiped the sweat that was running down his face. It was so hot out, and he was beginning to feel very thirsty. On and on the sands continued to go on, never-ending.
Soon, all the rock formations and endless hills of sand began to look the same. (This was another reason why Beetlejuice hated Sandwormland.) It was a place where everyone lost their sanity. It made Beetlejuice worry about Lydia.
Was she strong to keep herself together and not let the insanity of Sandwormland take over her? Beetlejuice wrapped his arms around himself, worrying as he continued walking.
He turned his head upward and winced to the open, blue sky. The scar shaped hole stayed in the middle of the sky with the sun. A couple moons were barely visible above as well.
Suddenly, Beetlejuice felt his feet become cold and wet. He stopped walking and looked down. Water! Beetlejuice took a step out of what looked to be a stream. Beetlejuice blinked. "What? Water? In the middle of Sandwormland?" he asked himself. He stared down at it, then slowly shook his head.
"No...has to be an illusion..." he said, but then looked down at his wet pantlegs. Though...maybe it wasn't? He went down on his hands and knees on the edge of the small stream and scooped the water into his cupped hand.
He lifted it up to his lips and took a sip. The water was clear and tasted sweet and mineral-like. He smiled and lowered his head close to the water and drank deeply. He laughed happily as he licked the sides of his lips with his striped tongue. "Ah, refreshing," he told himself.
Then his eyes followed the stream till it came upon a small oasis. Beetlejuice's eyes widened. The oasis contained alien-looking trees that twisted out like octopus tentacles and had strangely shaped fruits hanging from them. The other plants looked like hands, or fox-tails.
All in strange multiple colors in tones of sunsets and inks: deep purples, oranges, blacks, and blues, and some light colors in tones of moons and flesh, like white, grey, periwinkle, and peach. The colors twisted or blended with each other in the thick jungle foliage of the oasis.
Beetlejuice felt compelled to enter, but at the same time felt almost fearful. What if the Sandworms thrived there? It was the only place any living thing in Sandwormland would be in. It had everything it looked like any alien creature would need in order to survive on the ringed planet.
Beetlejuice made up his mind and decided to head toward the oasis and enter. He needed to get out of the sun, or it would cook him. Also, he was in dire need of food. If there were any giant beetles that lived in the oasis, he wanted to be the first to encounter them.
With that, Beetlejuice began walking alongside the stream toward the strange oasis.
...
When he arrived, the exotic plants loomed over his head. They were taller then he expected. They looked like a strange world you would find in the deepest, darkest depths in the oceans of the Neitherworld, not in the middle of the desert realm of Sandworm land. It seemed out of place and that it was dying where it was trying to grow.
Beetlejuice shrugged and headed into it. Strange buzzing and clicking sounds were heard amongst the foliage, and stopped for a couple seconds when Beetlejuice entered.
The sun seemed to disappear as the tentacle, and spider legged-like branches of the trees began to interlace above, not allowing any sunlight into the oasis. Beetlejuice didn't seem to mind. He was glad his brain wasn't being boiled like an egg anymore.
The stream continued to flow alongside Beetlejuice, like a guide into the jungle. It curved and twisted from the uneven path of striped rocks and spiral bushes that continued to unfurl before Beetlejuice's feet as he continued to walk to the heart of the oasis.
The place was creepy, but beautiful in its own way at the same time. Beetlejuice was amazed by it as he stared up at the plants, that he forgot that he was looking for food and didn't feel hungry anymore.
He didn't know how wide or deep the oasis was, but he didn't mind, he felt somewhat safe inside it. He didn't feel exposed to the outer world of the planet where the Sandworms could see him. He felt hidden, and safe from those giant predators-
Hiiisssssssss!
Beetlejuice stopped dead in his tracks. His heart began to flop around like a dying goldfish out of water inside his chest. He spun his head around in all directions. Silence. Sunlight strained through the thick alien foliage from the top of the oasis. A couple shaded leaves fell from above. Other then that, and the stream softly trickling along by his feet, it was quiet.
Beetlejuice began to walk again. His eyes darting around to everything in the jungle. Suddenly, a loud, familiar screech was heard and a Sandworm shot out from the ground to the left of Beetlejuice. The striped clad ghost screamed in fear and stumbled backwards from the creature.
The Sandworm's head broke through the foliage of the jungle, ripping the roots and making the strangely shapes trees topple over as it loomed over Beetlejuice and revealed its two sets of sharp teeth. Beetlejuice stared up at the striped snake creature in sheer terror.
He quickly looked away to look for something to use as a weapon against the Sandworm. He found a sharp stick that was five feet long and decided to use it. Just as he went down to pick it up and grab it, the Sandworm moved its head toward him. Beetlejuice screamed and quickly moved out of the way.
The Sandworm pulled its head back, then lunged again. This time, Beetlejuice was ready and struck the Sandworm's snout. The Sandworm screeched in pain and shook its head. A small line of blood was seen across its nose. Beetlejuice raised the stick on his hands. Then, he cried out a war cry and charged toward the Sandworm.
Just as he was about to strike the Sandworm again while it was distracted, something from above came down on top of him. Beetlejuice fell backwards and felt the wind get knocked out of him as he landed on his back, and the creature press its weight on top of his chest.
Beetlejuice groaned as his head began to hurt from hitting against the damp ground. He opened his eyes and found himself face to face with another Sandworm. Beetlejuice tried reaching for his stick, but it fell a couple feet from his arms out of reach. Helpless, he screamed and started to kick and flail his arms.
This was it. He was done for. He was going to be eaten. Beetlejuice stared up at the Sandworm that sat on top of his chest. He blinked and narrowed his eyes a bit as he stared at the Sandworm. Gradually, he stopped kicking and flailing his arms and legs. He stared up at the Sandworm. It looked weird. The face glared at him with lifeless, dull red eyes.
Beetlejuice noticed that the snaky body was not there, and instead had pale arms and legs. The scaly, striped skin just hung loosely around the human- like body like rags.
Then, the arms brought out a spear. It brought the sharp tip close to Beetlejuice's throat. Beetlejuice didn't seem to care as he tried looking past what seemed to be a disguise.
Beetlejuice felt his heart jump inside his chest when he began to see past what he was looking at. Inside the slightly open mouth, Beetlejuice could make out a human face inside. His eyes widened. He slowly opened his mouth. "L-Lydia?" he choked out. Tears began to appear in his eyes.
The Sandworm moved when it heard the name. The spear moved a couple inches away from Beetlejuice's Sandworm head lifted up and was thrown back like a hood. Lydia's face was revealed. She wore a dead carcass of a young Sandworm. The rest of the striped snake hung down over her shoulders and was roughly cut to a certain length that only went down to her waist. The back part went past and acted like a jagged striped cape.
Lydia stared down at Beetlejuice and nodded her head with a stoic expression on her face. Her raven black hair moved in the gentle breeze. "Hey BJ," she said in a flat tone.