Chapter 2 – BACK IN BUSINESS
Betelgeuse gestured me into a room and shut the door behind him.
It looked like just a neighbourhood…but not a normal one in the slightest.
The grass was made of green foam, wooden houses made of cardboard, oversized toy cars lining the streets.
"I don't understand," I said. "What is this place?"
"My home" he shrugged.
I still didn't understand. How could he live here…in this unrealistic model version of a village?
Wait…if it was a model version…that meant that I had shrunk!
I looked up above me and I did not see sky.
Up above me was a ceiling of what looked like an attic.
So we were actually indoors…and Betelgeuse and I were miniature sized!
"Not to be rude…" I said honestly, sat down on the foam grass. "But…this model really isn't realistic at all!"
He rolled his eyes at me. "Hello? Don't you think I know that? I didn't build it anyway, Adam did."
"Who's Adam?" I asked.
"Oh, Adam and Barbara…they're the ghosts that live in this house. They died here, so this is where they stay."
My eyes lightened up. "They're ghosts too? Excellent! Maybe I can talk them into helping us with our plan…"
He shook his head. "They wouldn't go along with it. They're the good, moral people."
Shame…
"Does anyone else live here?" I asked.
"Yeah, a human family called the Deetzes. Theirs Charles; the father, Delia; the mother, and their daughter Lydia…oh crap, Lydia!"
Suddenly he ducked behind one of the toy cars.
"What about Lydia?" I asked.
"She's not supposed to know I'm here!" he hissed. "If she found out…who knows what would happen?"
A key in the keyhole of the attic door was starting to twist and turn. Because I was now thumb-sized, the noise was so loud that it startled Betelgeuse and me to death…despite being dead already, of course.
"Don't just stand there!" Betelgeuse hissed desperately. "Get behind a car or something!"
I sat behind the car next to Betelgeuse.
There was much silence and tension in the air as we waited, holding our breaths.
The door opened.
Inside walked a girl with midnight, black hair wearing dark clothes.
I supposed that she was Lydia.
"I'll be down in a minute, Mom!" she yelled down the stairs.
She rolled her eyes.
She paced around the room for a couple of seconds, as if she was trying to look for something.
Whatever she was looking for, it didn't seem like she could find it.
Suddenly she walked over to the model.
Looking at the cardboard houses, she laughed to herself.
"Are you still there, Betelgeuse?" she joked.
As soon as she said that, she abruptly covered her mouth with both hands.
"Why is she doing that?" I whispered.
"If anyone says my name three times, I get summoned out into the real world to ruin their lives or whatever…" he whispered back.
This all became clear to me.
"Then we gotta get her to say your name twice more!" I said.
He looked reluctant.
"Come on, what have we got to lose?" I told him. "Also, it will bring us one step closer to domination!"
"Fine…" he said doubtfully.
Without further thinking, he climbed into a toy car and put his foot on the accelerator.
He started driving like a complete maniac, crashing into wooden houses and making holes in them, knocking down the fake trees that had been put in there.
"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about!" I cried happily.
Lydia was starting to notice the destruction Betelgeuse had caused to the model village.
"Betelgeuse?" she asked, frightened.
"That's it!" I exclaimed. "Just one more time!"
Becoming frightened and wary of his presence she opened the attic door.
"Barbara, I think you better come up here!"
Barbara was apparently one of the ghosts who lived in this very house.
A couple of minutes later, a young woman with brown curly hair wearing a cotton dress entered the attic.
Barbara didn't look like a ghost at all! She looked like a regular human being!
"What's the problem, Lydia?" she asked.
Before Lydia answered her, Barbara looked at the detail and put a hand over her head in shock and dismay.
"Why did you do this?" She sighed disapprovingly at Lydia. "You know how hard Adam worked to build this!"
"It wasn't me!" Lydia cried. "Honestly, why would I do it?!"
"Then who was it?" She frowned.
Grabbing the opportunity, Betelgeuse climbed out of the toy car.
Barbara and Lydia, who looked a thousand times our size from our angle, stared at him in disbelief.
"Barbara-"Lydia whispered. "Please don't say his name, I've already said it twice-"
"BETELGEUSE?!" Barbara shrieked.
So that was it, Betelgeuse's name had been called three times.
In a flash, he rose up out of the model neighbourhood and into the attic, as normal height.
Things were falling into place.
"Hi, ladies" he grinned evilly at them.
"You're…you're back?" Lydia asked, shaking with fear.
"I guess I am," he winked.
Ugh…seriously, he was such a pervert…
"BETEL-"Lydia started to scream.
"Uh, uh, uh!" Betelgeuse interrupted, gesturing her to keep her mouth shut. "If you try to get me back in there or try and do anything to me, you'll have to deal with my partner!"
"Your partner?" Barbara asked. "What are you talking about?"
Now was my time to shine!
"Gogu, Gogu, Gogu!" Betelgeuse exclaimed without taking a single breath.
"It's Goku you idiot." I screamed so loud Lydia and Barabara and probably even Adam heard me whoever or wherever he was.
"Oh right, sorry. Goku, Goku, Goku." He finally got it right.
I felt my legs and arms begin to grow, and I felt myself shooting up out of the model.
Before I knew it, I was normal sized again, and I was stood next to Betelgeuse, in front of Lydia and Barbara.
They were staring at me in horror and curiosity.
"Nice to meet you," I spoke over them, being intimidating. "My name is Goku, or you could just call me Junior."
"Junior is a saiyan anda ghost. He's killed more people than cancer, so if I were you I'd be carefull…"
What was this, a job description?!
But if it petrified them, then I was happy.
Betelgeuse and I simultaneously walked over to them.
As we both took a step forward, they both took a step back.
"Now, if you try and stop us, then we'll do something that you'll truly regret…forever." Betelgeuse hissed.
"And if you tell anyone what we are up to, then you'll be the victims here," I added. "Do you understand?"
Barbara and Lydia both nodded, unable to speak as they were trembling with fear.
Just exactly how I liked my sufferers…
Without a second word, they both dashed out of the door, running all the way down to the bottom of the house.
I looked at Betelgeuse.
He looked at me.
A wicked smile crawled upon his lips.
I smiled back.
"I guess the negotiating is done!" he grinned. "So we're partners?"
He held out his hand to me.
I nodded. "Partners!"
I shook his hand.
A couple of minutes later, a blood-curdling scream were heard from downstairs.
"Run for your lives! Betelgeuse is back in our home with a guy who's pretty hot, but wants to destroy us all!"
Less than a second had passed, when the whole house went berserk.
It looked like I had more than enough people to be dealing with…