Shattered Mirrors
Chapter 13: Come What May
Aya was cold and she was angry. She didn't know where she was, but she felt horrible. Bits and pieces of her life flashed through her mind. Leslie sitting on the roof with her, his arms around her. Her father slapping her for coming home late, Beej grabbing her ankle in the dark, her kicking up at him.
It all seemed like lifetimes ago. Then Aya remembered, it was a lifetime ago.
Aya was dead. The accident came back to her, the pain, the detachment, and the blood. The ambulance ride and Thomas holding her hand and crying.
Finally, Aya opened her eyes. She was sitting, over an open grave, floating. She let out a shriek and fell into the grave, the fresh soft ground. She screamed out, because it was horrible. The feeling that she was dead and could be buried at any moment.
A giggle came to her. "Silly, mommy." A little girl's voice came from above and then the head of a toddler peeked down at Aya.
The girl was gorgeous in Aya's eyes. She had Aya's honey brown hair but it was curly and fell in ringlets. Her eyes were the bright green that Aya recognized as Beetlejuice's eyes. She looked tiny, barely old enough to walk. A little button nose, pouty pink lips and very pale skin.
"Am I…your mommy?" Aya asked as she started to crawl out of the grave.
"Of course!" The girl burst into laughter. Then she ran off.
Aya got out of the grave and the feeling of panic subsided. Now she was just confused. That little girl was her little girl? But…how could that be? Aya walked through the graveyard but eventually wandered back to the open grave again.
People were gathered around it and there was a coffin next to the grave. It was closed and there were white roses on top of it. Aya recognized some of the people gathered. Thomas, Leslie, her mom, her dad, a few of the models who were friends with her parents, Alice, and then Alice's husband.
This was Aya's funeral! Aya couldn't hear what people were saying. The only people who were sad were Alice, Leslie, and Thomas. Aya couldn't help herself. She felt sad about dying, about leaving. She wanted to at least say goodbye.
She walked behind Alice, wrapped her arms around her sister's waist, embraced her tightly, and buried her face in her sister's long hair.
Alice gasped, as if she could feel the touch and her husband squeezed her hand. Tears rolled down Alice's face. "Aya…" she sobbed softly as Aya let go, burying her face in her husband's chest.
Aya moved in front of Leslie, looking over him. Her eyes traveled over him in his suit. His wife and kids weren't there. Aya stepped forward, slid her arms under his suit jacket and wrapped around him. She laid her head on his chest and inhaled his warm, masculine scent.
Leslie's eyes widened, but the warm familiarity of the embrace had him react, he moved his hand through her hair and when he looked down he could see the silhouette of the girl he had ruined.
Aya saw his reaction and how he looked down at her. "I'm sorry…" She whispered and let go, going to find Thomas.
Had Thomas really loved her? She would never know. Still, she could've had a life with him. She would've been rich, maybe she would've finally been an actress like what she wanted to be. They could've had kids. They might've been happy. So many regrets.
Aya took his hands in hers, and felt Thomas grip her hands. She leaned up and kissed him chastely on the lips. She leaned back down. She was crying softly. She had given up her life for a dead guy.
That made her think of Beetlejuice. He didn't even lover her. He had kissed that other girl. Whoever she was to him. So Aya was dead. Dead and alone. Except for maybe that little girl, her little girl. She decided she'd leave the people she had lived with, lived for and move on to her empty, unhappy afterlife.
She was wandering through the graveyard when she caught sight of the little girl. The girl had a ghostly quality to her, but then again she was a ghost. Aya realized she didn't even know what to call the girl.
"Adele, mama, call me Adele." Suddenly the girl was in front of Aya, smiling with a bright demeanor.
It startled Aya that Adele was so close, so suddenly. "Where's your dad?" Aya asked. Something in her chest ached dully for Beetlejuice.
"He's still sad that you died." Adele said flatly. "He wouldn't even name me…so I named myself. Do you like it, mama?"
"It's very pretty," Aya said. She wasn't sure how to react to the odd, beautiful little girl. She didn't feel like the girl's mother. She just felt tired.
"Would you like to see daddy? He's really sad." Adele said softly.
Aya didn't care if he was sad or not. He didn't care about her anyways. At least that's what she thought. But…she didn't want to tell Adele no. "Sure, lead the way, honey." Aya said in the sweetest tone she could manage.
Adele gave a bright smile and grabbed Aya's hand before leading Aya away from the graveyard. It wasn't like what Aya was used to. She was walking, but she didn't feel tired. She could move faster then she could when she was alive, and so could Adele.
Soon they had reached a road, on the side was glass and remains of the crash, although the car had been removed. Then there was Beej. He was floating and looking upset about something.
"Beej," Aya said softly. She was feeling angry and hurt, betrayed and sorry at the same time. She had let go of Adele and stormed over to him.
One.
She slapped him, causing him to fall back out of surprise.
Two.
She kicked him in the side. She felt angry, but she only kicked him once.
Three.
She collapsed on top of him, bawling and mumbling how horrible he was. In a matter of seconds she had expressed everything she had felt up to dying. It still wasn't enough though. She wanted an explanation. She wanted him to make her feel better.
Beetlejuice was surprised. Yeah, it had hurt when she had slapped him and his side hurt from where she had kicked him. Luck that she didn't kick hard enough to break anything. That might've hurt. Not like he could die though. Still, when Aya hadn't appeared right after her death he had panicked. The little girl, his daughter, had appeared immediately. Beej had worried Aya hadn't become a ghost.
He had entered the Neitherworld searching for her, going through the new arrivals, scaring a few, but mostly looking for her. Aya had been his main concern, not the kid. It wasn't like the kid was going anywhere.
Aya's death had been his fault. If he hadn't let Lydia kiss him then Aya wouldn't have ran off. If he had found Aya faster then he could've made her pull over, prevented the accident. But because of the way he was, he had caused her and their daughter to die.
Aya was still crying into his chest, although the waterworks had subsided. He patted her back, a bit nervous she was going to attack him again.
After she had finished crying, she peeked up at him. "I hate you! How could you kiss another girl while I was pregnant? You selfish bastard! Do you know how much that fucking hurt?! I gave up most of my life for you. I didn't see Thomas, I dumped Leslie even after I had a second chance! I gave up on everything but you and then I see that!" She was screaming because it made the feelings ebb away.
Beetlejuice was slightly glad she didn't seem to have any powers, or at least not yet. That anger mixed with any power would be scary. I'm sorry…she was an old friend and I promised one kiss when we met again. That's all." He was actually apologizing, for kissing someone. And not just someone, but Lyds.
Aya had freaked out, drove off, and died because of that?! "I-I guess I overreacted." She mumbled, but she wasn't apologizing for yelling. She was apologizing for dying.
"Well…at least if you had to die, you died tragically and prettily enough." Beej said with a roll of his eyes. He was thinking of how it was just like Aya to make her death young and dramatic and accidental.
Aya smiled. "That was an impressive death. Car accident and pregnant, dying of hemorrhaging, probably. Did I make it to the news?" She was better now. The emotions and emptiness had faded.
"Well…you were an actress or something, right?" Beej asked.
"Nah, I wanted to be one. Mom was a model though so it might've been mentioned." Aya said thoughtfully.
Beej nodded. "Yeah…so you're dead. And she's dead…so what now?" He asked, not sure. They weren't going to become this perfect happy family were they?
Adele skipped over to them, plopping down on the grass next to them. "I'm Adele, daddy." She said cheerfully, as if he hadn't ignored her since she had popped up as a ghost.
"Uh, hi there kiddo." He said awkwardly.
Aya slid off of him, and then she sat down on the grass. "Well, I've always wondered what it was like to be dead." She said softly.
"Daddy, you should make mommy happy? She gave up everything for you, you know?" Adele spoke, as if she was older then she was. She already looked older then she would be when she died.
"Why do you sound so old?" Aya asked curiously.
"My spirit isn't held back by the restrictions of my human body, so I'm free to be as old or as young as I want to be. I'm more comfortable being a ghost then you are, mommy." Adele said cheerfully.
Beej was quiet, thinking about what Adele had said. Aya had given up everything she had, to be with him. He wasn't worth all of that, but she had given it up. She had given him his only chance of a child. Of a life he hadn't had when he was alive. "What would make your mommy happy, Adele?" He asked, seriously wondering what she was leading to.
"You and mommy should get married!" She said with a child innocence that made Aya blush.
Aya looked away, not sure what to say, knowing Beej would never go to something like that.
***
It was a week later, and the family had settled with haunting Aya's old house at night, and during the day they would go out and freak out random people. They only came upon a few people who could see Adele, and those were children.
Adele was off playing, entertaining herself like she seemed content to do. She was more of a loner, then either Beej or Aya could have expected. Then again, neither of them were on her level. She might've known a lot, but she was still a child emotionally, and neither one of them could fit in as her friend.
Aya was lounging, leaning out the open window, because it wasn't dangerous to fall out of it. At least not for her. Suddenly she felt something in front of her. She sat up, and saw Beej in front of her, on a knee. What the –?
"Would it really make you happy?" Beej asked softly.
"Ghosts aren't meant to be happy, Beej. I've accepted that."Aya said with a roll of her eyes. Death had made her a bit cynical.
"Aya, would you marry me? Even though we're both dead, and we'll be stuck with each other for eternity more than likely. And I know you hate me, but…will you?" He was speaking softly, and reaching through his coat pocket and pulled out…a baby rattlesnake? It was still alive and squirming as he wrapped it around Aya's wrist, where it bit down on the underside.
Aya giggled, because she couldn't die, and it was such a stupid way to propose. "Yes, I will. But I still hate you." She said, and then moved off the window sill, leaned down and kissed him. Their first kiss as ghosts. The first time she had kissed him while he was like this.
The kiss surprised him. "I hate you too." He mumbled, with a laugh. Maybe ghosts could be happy. He wanted to find out if he could have that happiness and he wanted it for her too. He wrapped his arms around her, hugged her to him and laughed softly.
A/N: I typed this in class, so there are more than enough mistakes. The bell rings in 11 minutes. All period I spent typing this. Luckily I'm an aide in a computer class and we had a sub. So she told me to get work done, even though there is no work for an aide. So I decided to finish this up. This is the end of this fic. There will be a sequel, look for it. As for reviews, review and copy/paste your favorite quotes. Thank you for taking the time to read this! I really appreciate it and leave feedback. It makes me feel good about myself.