The Deetzes were very surprised by Lydia's unexpected visit to the Peaceful Pines. That night, going to sleep, Lydia glances at the clock – only twenty hours till her bedroom will turn to the one she always dreamed about with the stairs to a small door… She remembered everything to the tiniest detail. But she needed to wait. Less than a day.
Ten hours later Lydia started to get anxious. Even giddy, like a little girl who was getting a long awaited gift. Lydia didn't understood why she was acting so childish. Like those five years hadn't passed at all.
She thought through the words she was going to say when they meet. She won't accuse him of anything, just say how glad she was to… what exactly? Meet an old friend? Tell him how much she had achieved in her new life? The life without him? She couldn't just come and say, 'Hey, I am back, let's go on another juicy adventure!' Lydia didn't have anyone to wait for her in New York, but she had her job, even if a freelance one.
And what if Beetlejuice has long forgotten the whole arrangement and the door won't appear at all? But that's impossible, isn't it? He was rather forgetful, but he was no Peter Pan. Beetlejuice couldn't just forget her altogether. About all the years they've spent together exploring Neitherworld, about all the scams BJ tried to pull with her help to earn fast cash.
All doubtful and reminiscent thoughts left Lydia's head when the air in her bedroom began to shift. She once again felt the magic of another world embracing her and her surroundings. Lydia closed her eyes to savor the sensation from her childhood. She felt her clothes change and wondered how she would look like. But the answer was only a blink away, wasn't?
She neared the gothic mirror and gasped. The red poncho transformed into a bodice with transparent black web patterned cardigan underneath. The length and the slenderness of her legs were emphasized by tight leather pants and high boots with silver buckles all over. Lydia didn't consider the outfit slutty per se, but was it something she wanted in her subconsciesness? She didn't look bad, so who cared?
Lydia flew up the stairs, opened the door and… there was nothing behind it. Not exactly nothing, because the Road House was where it always was and the white road led right to it, but there was nobody in sight.
"I didn't expect a welcome hug anyway," Lydia muttered and headed towards the house, which looked lifeless. Lifeless meaning silent and empty, because it was lifeless. She heard voices coming from the garage and hurried there her aim only meters away.
Upon entering the garage, she held back a giggle, seeing two striped legs hanging out from under Doomie's opened hood. The legs seemed to be doing some weird dance without any music and it was totally hilarious. Doomie honked and sent a tirade of other sounds, jumping up and down. The car not only recognized Lydia but was very happy to see her. In its enthusiastic greetings Doomie forgot about Beetlejuice being under the hood, so the ghost received quite a spanking and was even swallowed up to his boots.
"Hey! What's the big idea?!" Beetlejuice's yells echoed from Doomie's engine.
"BJ, what's taking you so long? Can't fix a car now?" came a boyish voice from behind the door that led into the house.
Soon after the door revealed the voice's owner – it was indeed a boy, not older than twelve by Lydia's estimation. He had wild light brown hair and was dressed in oversized clothes that were clean some decade ago. And even if he was unhealthy pale, he was certainly alive.
"Hey, Beej, how come there is a hot babe in our garage?" the boy asked, looking Lydia over.
"What nonsense are you babbling about there?" Beetlejuice asked, crawling out from under the hood, slamming it open far from carefully. "It will be the end of the Neitherworld when a hot babe willingly comes here. Oh."
'Oh' was Beetlejuice's reaction to seeing his guest and understanding that the boy was right and no end of the world was necessary. Neitherworld's anyway. Beetlejuice stared at her, Lydia stared back and nothing else was said or done. All words that Lydia prepared beforehand vanished from her mind. She just couldn't believe in the reality of the surriality that was around her. And that boy…
"Hi, BJ," she finally said, unable to withstand his burning glance anymore.
"Surprised to see you here, Lyds," Beetlejuice drawled, sounding indifferent. Despite the obvious changes he recognized her right away.
"Why? We did settle on a date in advance," Lydia responded in the same flat tone, knowing that emotions will only spoil everything at the moment.
"Thought you would not have time for bad old BJ."
"Hey, guys, do you know each other?" the boy cut in. "Why didn't you tell me you know another breather, Beej? We could've had so much fun together! The three of us!" the youngster exclaimed with enthusiasm.
"Shut it, Kev, I am getting a headache," Beetlejuice snapped and disappeared.
"So you are Kevin?" Lydia asked with a strangled smile, trying to hide her disappointment on Beetlejuice walking out on her.
"Yeah, and you are?" Kevin asked back with a frown. She was hot, but somehow he knew she only meant trouble.
"I am Lydia. Pleased to meet you," Lydia introduced herself, stretching out her hand. "So what are you doing here?"
Kevin shook her hand but with caution. "I am BJ's best friend. And what are you doing here? You are the Lydia, right?"
"Beetlejuice talks about me?" she asked with a reignited hope that the old friendship was salvageable.
"No. Not a word. Ginger does. She always repeats, 'If only Lydia was here'. And then shakes her head. I don't know what she means by that. So why did you come? Or better why did you leave?"
Lydia admitted that for a teenager Kevin was awfully perceptive. "I grew up."
"That sucks. Well, I need to decorate the car, you can do whatever you want."
"What's the occasion?"
"We are going to a wedding."
Lydia wanted to ask for details, but Kevin had already disappeared inside the house. Lydia had no other choice but to follow.
The Road House inside remained as unchanged as on the outside maybe only even more trashed which was no surprise to Lydia. What was a surprise, was an overwhelming evidence of Kevin's presence. Socks, pieces of clothes of small size, comics editions about ghosts, vampires and everything unnatural and extraterrestrial were scattered around the living room. At the very least. The other thing was that there were no pictures of her, and Lydia surely remembered there were quite several of them on the walls.
For some reason Lydia started to feel depressed. She needed to talk to someone. It was the reason why she came – talk things through with Beetlejuice. But he just ran away like a coward, like he did the last time actually. What reasons could he have to just run away like that? He was afraid only of Sandworms to the extent to blindly run away.
Lydia knocked on the board, hoping against hope that Ginger was home. She was not disappointed this time.
"I can't believe my eyes! It is really you, Lydia?" Ginger exclaimed and fell down onto Lydia's head to hug the young woman will all her eight legs. "You must tell me everything! Why did you leave? What did you do all these years? Where have you been? I want the whole story!"
"I promise, I'll do just that, Ginger, if you release my hair."
The spider jumped onto the floor and minced to the front door. "Let's go for a walk to get some air. This house stinks."
Lydia raised an eyebrow at Ginger's spiteful even hateful attitude. The house stunk for centuries so what was different now?
"Okay, tell me what happened," Ginger actually ordered the moment they took a table in one of the cafes. Lydia didn't even want to start thinking what the cakes were made of.
"There isn't much to tell. Finished school and university, moved to New York, had four boyfriends, to one of them was engaged but we broke up. That's all."
Ginger gave her a doubtful look. "So why did you stop coming here?"
"I didn't stop anything! BJ got angry because I was not spending time here and cut me off. I didn't do anything. I didn't even manage to say a word, he just blew up or something. And now he is hiding and I can't even apologize or protest or whatever. I don't even know if I will be able to come here again after I leave tonight. Why isn't he talking to me?!" Lydia slammed the table with her fist putting in the hit all her pelt up frustration.
"Well, he did the same five years ago, so I am not that astonished."
"Did what?"
"Didn't talk to anyone." Ginger glanced at the table then sideways to check if anybody was listening onto the conversation. She didn't see anyone suspicious, but still stepped onto the table and whispered right into Lydia's ear. "I beg of you, you must help him or something terribly horrible is going to happen."
"But what do you mean?" Lydia whispered back. "And how can I do anything if he doesn't talk to me?"
"Don't give up. He must be in his room. Beetlejuice always goes there when he is… in a bad mood. Believe me, five years ago something happened to him. Something ferocious. I am not absolutely certain, but I think he died."
"He what?!" Lydia shouted, instantly gathering attention from all the café clients. "Sorry. How could that be possible, he is a ghost," Lydia said, returning to whisper.
"It is actually very possible. It is like falling into a deep trance. It is not a rebirth, but something is always left behind when a ghost returns from 'the dead'."
"But how and why?"
"Death is very personal. Neither I nor anybody else knows about Beetlejuice's… experience."
"Did you, you know, died all over again?"
"Yes, a couple of centuries ago. When I lost my home," Ginger replied in an even voice, but a shadow of tragedy flashed in her friendly eyes.
'It was so long ago, but she still remembers it. Could it happen to BJ too? Must've been horrible to die again. But he didn't look any different emotionally wise. Oh, what am I thinking? BJ's train of thought rides only towards trouble making. And getting rich in a day. I hardly imagine him undergoing an emotional turmoil of any kind.' "It's getting late, I'd better find him."
Easier said than done. When Lydia returned to the garage, it was empty. Beetlejuice must've taken Doomie for a ride, so her chances to talk to him soon were becoming slim with every minute. Lydia walked through the house recalling the memories that were associated with one place or the other. She was so deep in thought that didn't see Jacques coming from the other end of the hall. Only a loud crash brought her back to the world of the dead.
"Oh my God, I am so sorry, Jacques! I haven't seen you coming, I-"
"Enough with excuses, mon cherie," Jacques stopped her, putting his scull into its appropriate place. "Lydia was the only one who apologized for such a thing so it must be you. I mean, you must be Lydia."
"Yeah, I am."
"Oh, how glad I am to see you!" Jacques exclaimed enveloping her in a bone-crashing hug. "I was afraid we had lost you! What a tragedy it was!"
"Jacques, I can't breath," Lydia rasped, coming to a conclusion that working out actually added strength to the bones.
"So sorry! Oh let me look at you! Charmant, charmant! You grew up wonderfully!"
"Thank you for the compliment, Jacques," Lydia said with a smile. "At least there is one gentleman in this house."
"Don't mind Beetlejuice, he is always like that."
"Yeah," she agreed, but it was clear that Lydia was hurt by his total indifference.
"Let's go to my gym, we have a lot to talk about," Jacques suggested, putting his arm around her shoulders and steering her into the direction of the gym.
"What was that?" Lydia wondered, hearing a door slam shut.
"Who knows? This house has a life of its own."
"So what did you want to talk about? I have already presented the short story of my life to Ginger, so you can ask her about my boring five years in the world of the living."
"I'll certainly will, Lydia. I won't ask why you stopped visiting us, because any normal person would."
Lydia snorted. Beetlejuice was obviously not normal.
"Yes, he is not."
"How did you know I was thinking about him?"
"Who else could you think about? I want to be frank with you. Beetlejuice is an ass, always was and always will be. But since you two parted ways he has been turning into a monster."
"What could you possible mean by that?" Lydia inquired, not really believing.
"You had power over him."
"Power? Like B-words?"
"No, you were his conscience, his judge. With you beside him he had boundaries. Now he has none."
"But what about Kevin? Certainly, his presence-"
"Kevin is just a hooligan, who idolizes Beetlejuice and will do anything he says."
"But still I don't believe you completely, Jacques. To call Beetlejuice a monster… He must've done… I don't even know what it could be."
"He killed a Sandworm," Jacques threw a bomb with a sigh.
"What?!!"
"With a snap of his fingers. It was in a way. And then he cut off its head and hung it up in his room."
"Oh my God…" Lydia breathed out, her eyes widening in horror. "I must talk to him right now! This is not right! This is not like him! This is not like my BJ!" Half of the exclamations were made when Lydia already left Jacques room, but she paid it no mind. She rushed towards Beetlejuice's room and slammed the door open without even knocking, which was very uncharacteristic of her.
The first thing she saw however was not the coffin-bed, the torches or the junk that was scattered all over the room. It was the head on the wall. Its ugly jaws were half open as if ready to swallow Lydia the moment she steps closer. And she did. The eyes glowed and the jaws started to move hissing and wheezing.
"I've seen enough real Sandworms not to be scared by such amateur parody. Come out, Beej." The Sandworm seized movement, but Lydia was still alone in the room. "I am not leaving until I talk to you, BJ."
"What's the point if you disappear again several hours later and never return?" came a grumpy voice from somewhere above.
"I won't if you don't want me to. But if you do, I at least want to say a proper good bye."
"Say it and leave."
"I need to see you for that." Lydia began to feel ridiculous, like Dorophy talking to the Wizard of Oz. "Am I scarier than a Sandworm? If it is the clothes, I can find a blanket to cover them." 'What am I doing begging like that? Is that what Jacques was talking about, him taking pleasure in such torment?'
Suddenly Beetlejuice's eyeballs appeared on Lydia's eye level. "Age did you some good in the looks' department," Beetlejuice's voice remarked, while the eyes literally roamed all over Lydia's body, making her blush when the eyes bounced from one breast to another. The eyeballs returned to their floating position and Beetlejuice materialized in whole his striped glory right in front of her.
"I missed you so much," Lydia uttered breathlessly, hugging him tightly by the neck.
"What are you doing, Lyds?" Beetlejuice croaked, even if he didn't lack any air in his lungs. "Is that your good bye?"
'He would've turned into a board, considering the stiffness of his shoulders, but why didn't he? And why does he feel so uncomfortable around me?' Lydia withdrew, herself surprised at her sudden action. Only minute ago she wanted to make him straight, question his actions, but the moment she saw him all her animosity flew away. She was acting like a hormones raging pregnant woman, which she certainly was not. "So you don't want me here at all?" she asked, shocked by his razor sharp dismission.
"Why should I?" he asked, leaping to the other end of the room. As if her very presence disgusted him. Which was certainly saying a lot since he was only disgusted by nice things. "You stated very clearly that you have a life to live. You are alive, you don't have place in this world."
"But Kevin is the same as me, he will grow up eventually and-"
"He won't."
"All kids grow up."
"Not all. I've chosen him very carefully. A homeless guy with no parents, no friends, no schools, no dates, no universities. I couldn't repeat the same mistake for the sake of my afterlife."
"Mistake? So I was a mistake?!"
"Look, how it turned out."
Lydia was taken aback by his flat tone. She knew deep inside that he was right, that she needed to return to her job, and he now had Kevin by his side, but the way Beetlejuice treated her… like some wandering cat that must be kicked out… That was not like him at all.
"Why did you open the door then if you didn't want to see me?"
Beetlejuice's eyes darted sideways. "I didn't. I juiced for it to appear after five years the day you kicked me out and then forgot about it."
'I kicked him out?' "So you didn't know I was coming today?"
"Nope."
The plain admission crushed all Lydia's hopes. Yes, Jacques and Ginger were glad to see her and certainly missed her, but if her longtime best friend didn't want her around so what was the point to force the circumstances? Their relationship couldn't be the same anymore anyway.
Without a single word to either Ginger or Jacques Lydia left the Road House and headed towards the little door, following the curvy white road. One phrase kept nagging her the whole way. How could children not grow up? This was not the Netherland of Peter Pan. She was almost at the door, but turned at her heels and sprinted back after a devastating revelation hit her – dead children don't grow up. Could it be that Beetlejuice planned to… kill Kevin in the Outerworld? She couldn't let that happen! And not only for Kevin's sake, but for Beetlejuice's too. Another death will certainly turn him into a monster.