Chapter Five: Spark Of Fire

He didn't move. Didn't blink. As if he were challenging the closed door to a staring contest. He exhaled in defeat and slumped further down the wall behind him. Beetlejuice hadn't heard movement inside the room opposed him for hours. The suns had risen long ago and it was long since noon. The whole situation struck him as odd. Why did he care if she was ok or not? He never had cared about anyone before, side from himself. Finally blinking he stood upright. 'No,' Beetlejuice decided straightening the front of his usual stripped suit. 'No, I don't care. The world won't end if I just walk away from this door. Nope…though if she dies in there, it'll be my head…'

"Fuck." He grunted through strained teeth, crossing his arms. As much as he hated her, he didn't want to lose his powers and he sure as hell didn't want to be put under security watch. So he guessed there wouldn't be any harm in seeing if she was still breathing.

Shoving his hands in his coat pockets and hunching his shoulders, Beetlejuice pushed his back off the wall to take the single step across the narrow hallway up to the door. He stared down at the doorknob. 'Come on old boy it wont open by itself.' His mind taunted him. Rolling his eyes he removed a hand from his coat and threw open the door. The door hit the wall as it was opened. The suns outside the small single window dimly lighted up the room enough to see. Beetlejuice looked around. As his eyes fell on her it felt like someone had hit him from behind. His mouth opened a slit and his eyes went wide.

Huddled in the darkest corner, knees to her chest, was the girl, Lydia. She was fast asleep, her head flopped to the side resting on the wall as if were a pillow, the black mess of hair flipped around her shoulders while bits and strands stuck to her face where the last of her tears where drying slowly, her tinny pale hands folded on her lap fisting the black material of her dress.

He turned to leave her be but he couldn't. The tender breathes, the steady heartbeat. It all entranced him somehow. Beetlejuice walked carefully over, kneeling down next to her. Looking over his shoulder confused as of what to do, he gently brushed a strand of soft hair away from her cheek with the tip of his middle finger. Her eyelids twitched but did not open. Cocking his head he watched her sleep. He didn't know why or how but all the frustration he had built up was now gone, all the anger and tension...gone. Her shoulders slowly rose and fell with each intake of breath.

His arms started to tremble as he reached out to her. Being as cautious as he could Beetlejuice cradled Lydia in his arms, picking her up as he stood. Her skin was warm under his hands, he caught the flowery sent of her hair as her head swayed and came to rest on his collarbone. She was so light, so small, and so…alive. How old was she anyway? Fifteen? Sixteen? Still a high school student for sure. He walked over to the large bed and set her down lightly so she wouldn't wake. Lydia stretched and rolled onto her side, back to him. She hugged the pillow underneath her head, Beetlejuice sighed as he watched her do so.

Shaking his head, he again turned to leave, this time stopping only once to look back at her. An eyebrow began to rise as an idea started to form in his head. He might not be able to force her to say his name but he could sure as hell trick her into it. A smirk came to his lips as he closed the door behind him, the shreds of his plan whirling in his mind. He'd be out of here in no time, a day maybe two. She was just some girl and tricking people had always been his speciality. Wouldn't be hard to do, couldn't be.

---

The early afternoon sunlight ran across her face causing her to stir. Rubbing her eyes Lydia craned her neck to look around her. She was still in the same room but somehow no longer in her corner. She lay in the same bed as her first awakening in this house. What time was it? It had been dark when she'd fallen asleep. Sitting up Lydia peered up at the window trying to see out. A murky grey-blue sky was all she could see, no trees or clouds. Lydia slid herself to the edge of the bed, her feet lowered to the floor. She stared blankly downwards. Her nails clawed at the bed sheets as she tried to keep herself from falling back. The memories of last night flashed through her mind. Memories of Beetlejuice and what he tried to do to her. She had to get out and fast.

Lydia stood up. The flooring felt cold under her bare feet. She quickly looked around before her eyes fell on something familiar, it was black and soft looking; it was her black coat. She grabbed it and looked around. Didn't she have shoes? Where were her shoes? She didn't see them right away. Lydia got down onto her knees and looked under the bed and sure enough there they were. Stretching out her arm Lydia grumbled under her breath. They were too far for her to get to. Lying down on the floor she reached out again, extending her arm as far as it could go. The space between the bed and the floor wasn't that big and she couldn't squeeze her body under any further.

The tip of her finger bushed over the surface of one of the scuffed black slip-ons. "Damn it." She cursed trying to force her shoulder under the bed. Expanded her fingers, one hooked around the rim of one shoe. Shoe in hand she used it to knock the other one closer and soon was able to pulled both out easily. Sliding the shoes on and once again picking up her coat she looked back down at her feet. The shoes would make a noise on the wood as she walked. So taking them off and holding the close in her arms Lydia headed for the door and her freedom.

In the hall she stood silently looking around. She needed to find the way out. Picking the first door on her left she placed her ear to the wood listening in. When she heard nothing she turned the knob and peeked in. The closed door had led to another hallway of more closed doors. Frowning she went the door on the right, more halls with more doors. Narrow hallways, large once, even slanted ones.

As she padded from door to door Lydia felt as if she were Alice trapped in Wonderland. More and more doors leading to nowhere, empty rooms upon empty rooms, locked doors, and boarded ones never to be opened, rust locks and keyholes of different sizes. Lydia sighed in frustration leaning back against a random wall. Her head lolled to one side and she closed her eyes. This wasn't good, she knew this and she wasn't afraid to state the obvious. She had to save herself. This was no fairytale. No prince charming on a white steed, or other brave rescuer. She was on her own. Slowly she opened her eyes and looked down the hall where she stood. 'One more door.' She thought to herself, well the last door in the hall anyway. 'Still closed,' it was probably locked anyhow. Lydia stared at it not sure to open it or not. All the others had been literally dead ends, why wouldn't this one be the same? Still couldn't hurt to try.

Her disappointment was at it's highest at the moment. She wanted a way out of these hallways. Her hand softly landed on the doorknob. She wanted to find the way out. Opening the door a crack Lydia looked in.

Her heart swelled with a sort of joy as the room turned out to be an actual room. Large and with a cracked ceiling and broken floorboards, the room opened up in a oddly shaped rectangle with splattered walls of greys and purple where strange clocks hung that didn't appear to work, there were furniture of black and white and large double doors at one end next to a glassless window.

Lydia quickly closed the door after she had stepped inside. Hugging her shoes she ran on tiptoe towards the double doors. She paused looking back before holding onto the cool metal of the latch handle. With a deep breath she pushed down on it and opened the door hesitatively. She only had the door open a small bit when the over powering smell of ash, and smoke filled her nose. Low thick grey fog entered and wrapped around her legs. The cold air from the outside felt like sharp pins on her skin. She walked outside into the cold her feet starting to hurt as they were set on the rocky ground. Dropping her shoes and working her feet into them, Lydia took a second to look around, stunned by her bizarre surroundings. The road she stood in the middle off was rocky and badly paved, the sides of it falling off into nothingness, above hovering lamp posts hung old-fashioned metal lanterns that swung precariously in the wind, floating islands of rock and purple grass drifted through the grey sky, as wispy black clouds proceeded to block out the double suns. A thud made Lydia jump. The door she had opened had closed by itself or from the wind. Looking up at the building before her, puzzlement and a hit of wonder flooded her mind.

The house or the "RoadHouse" as the large sign on the roof said, was much smaller looking on the outside then it was on the inside.

"Weird." Lydia stated starting to walk at a fast pace along the waved road. Every sound and suggestion of movement made Lydia increase her speed. Her feet hurting as they bounded along the rocky pavement, heart loud in her head. Her breaths came as gasps as she started to run, eyes clenched shut, her open coat billowing behind her. How long was this road? Where did it go? Either question she didn't care much for the answer. All Lydia wanted was to be as far away from that ghost as possible, even if it were just for a little while.

Heart pounding, head throbbing, eyes shut tight. Too many factors got in the way of Lydia being able to see what was coming. She ran and kept on running, until her foot went to land and hit no ground but fell through and Lydia toppled forward, balance lost, and tumbled down to, wherever the ground was way below.

Her breath caught in her throat for a second. Her mind finally snapped and she screamed, loud and long. The air blowing past her pushed her hair back, she couldn't see where she was going to land, only the pink and purple mist beneath her.

Falling. Her screaming was enveloped by the rushing wind. Lydia was becoming light-headed, forced breathes of air entering her lungs improperly. She was going to die. That's all she could think of, the end of her. She raised her arms up in front of her face and closed her eyes once more as the mist consumed her.

---

Beetlejuice sighed heavily and ran a shaky hand through his ratty hair. Silence was a grand thing. He layback, head resting on his blood red pillow, right foot hooked up and over the top of the coffins' lid. Gradually falling into a light sleep his one arm slid from his side and fell over off his bed, knuckles brushing against the cold floor. He signed gruffly.

Silence.

A high-pitched scream filled the room and Beetlejuice fell to the floor in surprise. 'That was no regular scream,' He thought. Not a dead scream. A dead scream was shallow, nasally and wavering. This was different. It was heart stopping, bone chilling, and terror filled. It was the scream of a mortal, a living scream.

When this dawned on him he raced for the door. Not stopping to open it, he phased through the wood and ran down the hall.

Only one thing came to mind. The girl. Lydia. A scream like that could only have come from someone in trouble. The lingering effects of her echo remained in the air. The feel of fright filled him and made him run faster. Phasing and sliding on his heels Beetlejuice went through her closed door. The bed where he had placed her was empty. Looking around he found the whole room empty. She was gone.

"Oh fuck!" He breathed. Where could she be? What would scare her enough to get a scream like that? Even he wasn't that scary. Nothing around his house, did she leave his house? She'd get lost out there. Or…worse…

"Shit." His jaw dropped, mind yelling at him to stay away and yet, go after her at the same time. There was only one place she could be, and only one place he dared not go.

---

Dirt. No sand. Shaking her head Lydia found herself face down in orangey yellow sand. She coughed, the breeze continually blowing sand in her mouth. Flying sand blurred her vision. The burning suns above her shone down making her shield her eyes. Where was she? A desert it appeared, or what looked like one. It wasn't hot like a normal desert. Off to her right lay nothing but orange and green sand and oddly shaped red rocks, while on the other side of her were tall green grass pocketed around skinny palm like trees.

A low rumble could be heard in the direction of the open desert. Lydia started backwards looking for its source but only saw the vast wasteland. Scared and alone she walked towards the grass in difficulty. Her feet sank into the sand, which constricted her movements. Lydia bit her lower lips. The sand in her shoes where becoming wedged between her toes uncomfortably.

'Where am I? Where am I going? How'd I get here?'

It didn't take her long to making it to a grassy patch. The grass grew up past Lydia's standing five foot six height, the trees where even much taller then that. She felt like a mouse, short and vulnerable, like someone was going to come alone and step on her. Lydia pushed past the blades of grass, which she found surprisingly heavy, beyond the grass was a hole, but not any type of hole. It was a nest. In it lay four purple and green striped eggs. She stepped up to the edge looking down. 'What in the world could lay something this big?'

Another low rumble from behind,

Lydia jumped. Turning too fast she tripped over her heels. Her arms reached out forwards grabbing at the air but her body fell and she slid down the sandy slope. Stopping only when her spine hit the side of one of the eggs and knocking it over in the sand with a noisy plop.

Using the fallen egg, Lydia pushed herself up to her feet. Once again she heard low rumbling behind her. This time it grew louder, closer. She froze, bits of different memories coming to mind at once. She knew where she was. Once, a while back, Barbara had told her of a place like this. The desert, the rocks and…

Lydia swallowed heavily, turning slowly.

"Oh god…" Was all she could say but her mind screamed out, "HELP ME! OH PLEASE. PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME!"

Towering above her was something she automatically recognized. It was almost identical to the one she saw three years ago. It was a sandworm. The exposed sharp teeth dipped with drool, the dark and deep-set eyes were focused on her. She didn't know what to do. A blow to her shoulder forced her to the ground. She got to her knees and looked up in disbelief. Standing between her and the sandworm was, the last person she ever thought to see in a place like this.

'Beetlejuice' Lydia mouthed staring up at him. Beetlejuice watched the worm, daring it to make the first move. Finally the sandworm reeled back. Beetlejuice narrowed his eyes and exhaled his breath slowly. Lydia hid her face in her hands and she tried to back away.

The worm bolted down at them. Before it could do anything Beetlejuice swung out his arm, silver light came from his out stretch hand and hit the giant worm in the side. It screeched loudly, as if dove away, before it did one of its' teeth managed to thrash through Beetlejuice's forearm. The sharp tooth tore through the flesh and he gritted his teeth together to stop himself from howling in pain as it grazed the bone. The sandworm descended into the sand at the feet of a pained Beetlejuice who was grabbing at his arm with twitchy hands. Blood socked through is sleeve, he had enough power to stop the bleeding but he would have to wait to heal the skin.

Doing his best to hide his own pain her turned to face Lydia. She was still huddled on the sand beside him, hiding her face in her arms. He felt a pain deep inside of him, one that hurt more then his fresh wound. Beetlejuice grabbed Lydia by her elbows and pulled her off her feet.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? Are you really this stupid?" He yelled in her face. She looked up at him with her glossy brown eyes. His hands loosened on her arms, her feet regaining their contacted with the ground. A moment of silence paced between them. Beetlejuice looked around, avoiding the look of fear on Lydia's face. Finally he wrapped an arm around her and said, "I hate this place." And they vanished in a puff of grey and red smoke.

---

"Stupid girl."

Lydia was dropped to the floor of the roadhouse's main room. She was angry and scared but she wasn't going to let him see that any more. Pushing herself to her feet she did the one thing she could think of. She yelled at him.

"What do you want? Please, just let me go!" The shrill livid voice behind Beetlejuice took him by surprise. He had never heard her yell before. It made him feel atypical. He didn't like that.

"YOU'RE. NOT.going.anywhere!" He shouted turning on her. Their faces where barely inches apart. His eyes burning with furry, but Lydia refused to be intimidated by him any longer.

"You don't need me anymore. Can't you just leave me alone?" She asked trying to hid the shakiness of her voice.

"Sorry but I can't do that."

"Why not? Take.Me.HOME!!!!"

Beetlejuice shrugged, "Can't."

"WHAT?" Lydia yelled.

Beetlejuice huffed, "Yeah, again, I'm sorry and all but until you say my name again three times, you and I are both stuck here."

"Didn't you know that before hand?"

"Yes I did…. No. What do you think? Do you really think I want to be stuck here with you?"

Lydia put her hands on her hips. "Well if you didn't kidnap me in the first place we wouldn't be stuck together."

"If our deal wasn't interrupted three years ago then I wouldn't have come after you."

"If you just left after you got out, instead of coming after me then, then none of this would have happened. You'd be out and I'd be home."

Beetlejuice opened his mouth to say something back but couldn't. He stood back from her and grunted. "Ok ya have a point."

"Why are we stuck here?" Lydia asked softly. Beetlejuice put his hands in his pockets and shock his head.

"I danno know."

Lydia sighed. "You do know I wont say you're name willingly."

'We'll see about that!' He thought to himself but instead said, "Then you can't leave."

Lydia hung her head biting her lip hard enough to leave a mark. Beetlejuice looked at her for a second before turning away and started to leave her standing alone. He had almost gotten to the door when he heard a tinny concerned voice. "You're hurt." It was so small he almost couldn't tell what it said. He turned to see Lydia's sad eyes looking at his damaged arm. He scrunched his eyebrows but then smiled, 'ah poor, sweet innocents.'

He couldn't help it, "What?" he asked.

Lydia pointed to his injury with a thin pale finger and repeated a little louder, "You're hurt."

Beetlejuice glanced down a his arm, "Oh yeah." When he looked back up Lydia was standing beside him looking at it. Lydia figured he'd laugh at her for wondering if he was ok but he didn't. She looked up at his face. His mouth hung slightly open, had one eyebrow risen, and his dirty blond hair was falling into his eyes. He looked almost human. Lydia looked away quickly and asked, "Does it hurt?" Out of stupidity, she didn't know if ghosts could feel pain, or real emotion, or the difference between cold and hot. She never asked Barbara or Adam, they always seemed so happy all the time, didn't complain, or get mad. Beetlejuice was different though. She didn't understand him like she did them.

"Yeah, kinda." He answered her. Where did that come from? Normally he'd laugh at kindness, but he didn't. He couldn't, wouldn't laugh at her. Beetlejuice stared at her small hand that came up to lie on his arm lightly. His arm flinched under her warm skin. Lydia removed her hand quickly and the moment she did Beetlejuice almost missed her touch. Their eyes locked and he saw the sweetness of a child, but she was no child, not anymore, not like she was back when they first met.

"Are…are you-you going to be ok?" She asked breaking the silence that formed around them.

"Yeah, I'll heal." He said giving her a cocky grin.

Lydia smiled. "Good."

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What you have just read was 8 pages on word that took me a long, long, long time to write. Ok so this only took a really long time to do cause I couldn't find time to do it. I had a lot of work to do and I was going through a stress full couple of weeks due to school and other stuff. Namely the STUFF is my way of blaming my bad mood. I have had an immense intake of caffeine through form of coffee and energy drinks in the past little while and I haven't been sleeping a whole lot. I'll thank you all in advance for reading and review my story so far and I hope you all like and appreciate what I went through to finish this!

So by now I'm sure you are all wondering what's going to happen between them. Will they be friends, lovers, or what? Well to level with you, I don't really know. I mean I know how I want the story to end and all and I know some parts of my story I just need to figure out the in-between stuff.

And again I am doing my best to write as well as I can. Spelling was never my strong point…along with math but that has nothing to do with this. So I hope you all liked this and I hope to hear from you.

Shout out corner:

Yuniko1987: there ya go!!! More, hope to hear from you again.

Darkbangle: yea sure, blame please who suck at the English language! But thanks for the review and I hope this chapter was better.

1woof1: sorry for not having any sexy scenes in this chapter but I guess good things are worth waiting for, right? And I hope you read this chapter over-and-over like you where the last one smile hope to hear back!

jillybear: again with the cookies? Really do you ever think of anything else? Anyway thanks.

Suzuka13: your wait is over for today! Here is the fifth chapter hope you like it.

Siamese2005: Yes another update! And another, and another, and another…laugh and I hope you found this one equally as awesome as the last or at least close to.

Jade-FM: ok now maybe you can stop complaining during class!!!! So review and there ya go.

Becky: there ya go Becky. How ya like it? Sorry it took so long, EPT was pissing me off too much to write.

Crayon-Chan: thanks and all, you really need to get into the habit of reading this right away and reviewing.