Chapter 6

Midnight struck over in the Neitherworld as Beetlejuice was lying awake in his coffin bed, staring aimlessly at the ceiling. Thinking of what had happened earlier in the day, that's what the ghost was doing and thinking deeply without provocation didn't happen very often for him. He darted his yellow eyes back to the clock and saw that it had only been a minute with his thinking, which felt like hours to him. A sigh escaped him as his eyelids went halfway closed, grunting to himself as he finally spoke. "What in the Neitherworld is wrong with me? What's with all this deep thinkin' shit of my own accord?" He grasped the sides of his head slightly and tugged on his pale blonde hair. "Am I actually 'feeling' something?" He couldn't recall ever having much feeling to start with when he came into what was his afterlife. "Hmm, nah, that can't be it. Me, actually 'feeling'? What a joke, pfft." He released his head and hair as he just laid still in his bed. "I need to pull myself together." With this said, he literally had to pull himself together due to his body breaking into parts. "Literal translations, you know I hate 'em." He said to no one in particular in getting himself whole again. The poltergeist sighed to mainly himself as he then turned on his side and pulled the covers over his being, shutting his eyes completely and attempting to sleep once more.

Hours went on by in what seemed like seconds as the light of morning came in through the tattered curtains of the window in his bedroom. BJ was less than enthusiastic to awaken because he wasn't exactly a morning person or dead guy to be accurate. He let out a few groans as his eyes flapped open, much like shades on a window would. The ghost with the most groggily say up in his coffin as he stretched his arms upward, causing the shirt of his pajamas to rise up and expose the known pot belly of his. A yawn left him in an exhale of what could be deemed a green smog of nasty breath. Said smog was soon inhaled again through the poltergeist's nostrils in a snort as that same toothy grin appeared upon his face. "Morning breath, you know I love it." He said while he proceeded to get out or float out of his bed, heading down the stairs to the living or dead room, in this case, to then make way to the kitchen. Beetlejuice moved to open the fridge only to find very little in it, except for a molded sandwich and some sort of what could be guessed as a beetle casserole. The ghost let out a gruff groan as he contemplated the options. "It's either eat what's here, go out on a 'hunt', pay for something else, or steal or con a meal instead." He said with a chuckle and a snort. "Hmm, guess I'll just combine the sandwich with the casserole and steal or con later for means of acquiring something else later."

He held a smirk as he did the usual 'look to the camera' bit and said. "You know me, kids. I never really pay for anything, pfft." With that said, he continued on in preparing his own breakfast as he added some casserole to the sandwich and took that usual bite, causing the loud and slightly disturbing crunch noise. BJ wasn't exactly the most proper and pleasant ghost, so there's not much one could expect out of him that was of that nature. The poltergeist made his way back toward the dead room and then back toward his bed room, intending to check in on his best friend and the mutt to see if either were awake yet. He really was wondering what today would bring their way, considering the events of yesterday. The only thing he was hoping for is that there wouldn't be anymore sandworms popping up. In fact, he shivered at the thought of those creature. As many would know, he hated them and was terrified of them, unless Lydia was with him because that's the only time the ghost managed to be brave against his fear. These thoughts continued to run through the ghost's mind since last night, it kind of bothered him a bit. He pounded on his head as he reached his room once again and said, mostly to himself. "Knock off the thinkin' in there." His tone was somewhat annoyed per usual to whenever he had these moments. 'I need to clear my head of all this before I go nuts.' He thought as he turned to the mirror.

Opposite to the poltergeist's morning, the start of Katie and Lydia's was considered to be normal. The birds chirped their morning songs as the sun rose up brightly in the sky, which was the usual Sunday morning here and there. The singing birds lead to the wolfdog, herself, stirring at the foot of Lydia's bed as she let out a yawn and stretched her forelegs out a bit, looking over to her 'owner' as she flicked an ear slightly. It was kind of quiet in the household, at least that's what the canine managed to note in flicking her ear. This made her want to go and take a look around before disturbing Lydia from her sleep. The canid slowly moved off the bed and made her way toward the bedroom door, doing the usual motion to get it open. The door itself creaked a little at being pushed open as the wolfdog poked her head out for a look. All she could see was the light of the sun's rays snaking in as a source to brighten the house. "Hmm?" Is all that escaped her as she exited the bedroom entirely and walked toward the top of the stair case. She stood there for a moment in thought and was interrupted by the sound of oncoming footsteps or more so, pawsteps. The canine turned her head downward a tad and noticed the owner of the steps. It was Percy the cat who let out a slight meow at seeing the wolfdog looking him over.

Katie simply gave a nonthreatening smile to him as she greeted Percy with a gently lick atop the feline's head. "Good morning to you too, Percy." She said softly in almost a whisper as the cat, himself, returned her greeting with his own by rubbing his entire body against the canine's front legs. A chuckle escaped the wolfdog as she listened to the cat even give a purr of appreciation. "Could you excuse me a moment? I'm going to find out why it's so quiet around here." She stated gently as she held a brief gaze upon the feline. Percy seemed to nod to her as he stepped aside and continued on his way down the hall to go into the master bedroom. The wolfdog smiled she watched him go and soon continued on her own way down the staircase to investigate the lack of noise. She first poked her head into the living room and found no one their. "I'll check the kitchen." She whispered to herself as she did as said. Once she looked in the kitchen, it was the same as the living room, there was no one in sight. She then turned her attention to the refridgerator, noticing some sort of daily planner and moving to take a look for maybe a clue on what was going on. As the canid had thought, there was a message left on it, which read, 'Out for the day to run a few errands with Delia, will be back in the evening. Love Dad.'

The message made the wolfdog tilt her head slightly as she let out a simple 'huh' sound as if to express her acknowledgement of it. "Well, since her parents are away, I guess I can go into another form of mine and maybe get a real breakfast made that's both edible and looks it too." Katie said with another flick of the ear. "Better get started then." She added before closing her eyes for a moment and beginning to change her form. The same aura appeared around her body, much like when she had to go through the mirror, began encasing her entire form. Within the time of a few minutes the canine body had slowly became more humanoid in shape and similar to the anthro form, but more human of course. When the aura retreated, the wolfdog had now become her semi-human form, which meant she still had the canine ears, claws on her hands, fangs, and tail, as well as, the collar still around her neck and clothed in the same casual outfit of a shirt and jeans. "Now, I can really get started." She said with a chuckle as she carried on in making breakfast for herself and her newly made friend. It only took around fifteen minutes to make the meal, but it at least looked better than what Delia would usually have made. The canine or young woman had made scrambled eggs and pancakes with syrup. She smiled at herself with a small pride as she swayed her tail a bit behind her.

Katie took a moment to go awaken Lydia in her room, entering carefully and quietly as she moved to the side of the bed and began to lightly nudge at her friend. "Hey, breakfast is ready. Time to wake up." She said gently and almost in a motherly fashion. The young girl, herself stirred a littlte at hearing the familiar voice, but realized that the feel of what was nudging her was not exactly canid. Her eyes snapped open as she turned to look at who was nudging her, hoping it to be the wolfdog. A surprised gasp escaped her as she fumbled a bit and nearly fell off her bed. This happened to be when Beetlejuice chose to appear in the mirror on the vanity as he seemed to let out a protective growl in lieu of what he saw. The young woman held up her hands to the poltergeist in the mirror as she laughed a little at Lydia's reaction. "You both can relax, it's me. You know, the wolfdog?" She stated this as she moved to open the curtains to the balcony, light coming in to make her ears and tail more noticeable than in the dark. Both Lydia and BJ seemed to laugh nervously at how they each reacted toward their new friend. "Sorry, Katie, but I still have a tendency to do that. Get surprised, that is." The young girl said with a giggle and small apologetic smile. "Babes, you should be more use to this sort of stuff. I mean, you do hang around with the ghost with the most, remember?" Beetlejuice said with a snort as he grinned at her and young woman both.

"Well, now that that's out of the way, I should repeat that breakfast is ready for you and has been made by yours truly." Katie said with the same smile on her face. Lydia seemed to tilt her head slightly as if to ask on the thought of her parents. Her friend caught the hint and simply answered with. "They left a message that said they were going to be out running errands all day and won't back until the evening." She gave a shrug and added. "I'm not aware of much as to why your parents would stay out that long, but you know, it'll just leave the three of us to more fun. Wouldn't you agree, Beetlejuice?" She looked in the poltergeist's direction with her question. The ghost, himself, simply grinned wider as he nodded and replied. "I sure as hell would, mutt." He turn to Lydia from his place in the mirror. "Come on, babes, we could have some more fun in the Neitherworld." The young girl seemed to smile happily at the idea as she stated. "Then we will do just that, but first, Katie and I need to have our breakfast." The younger woman's stomach seemed to let out a groan as if to agree. "I think I can agree to that motion." She said, laughing in a bit of embarrassment as her ears lowered slightly to the sides of her human head. "Alright Lyds, ya both can go chow down, but can I at least come out too?" The poltergeist replied as he gave the pleading puppy look to his best friend.

Lydia just laughed at him as she nodded to his answer. "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!" She chimed as she was soon greeted by the ghost in a hug, a hug that felt different from any other time he'd hugged her. However, the girl, herself, just shook it off and thought better to think on it later as she lightly pushed BJ off. The ghost simply chuckled as he smiled the same crooked smile and rubbed the back of his head as if to shake off thoughts of his own. "Well, I'll catch you downstairs, Lydia." Katie said as she turned her attention to the poltergeist, grabbing the collar of his suit to drag him along too. "You, ghost with the most are coming along too. We need to let Lydia change into another outfit for the day." Beetlejuice was not too amused with the young woman dragging him with her as he grumbled to himself, knowing full well that if he tried to say anything that he'd surely get a conk on the head from either of the two females. Once both were out of the bedroom, BJ held an annoyed expression toward the young woman, looking almost like an upset toddler who hadn't gotten his way. Katie simply snickered at his irritated face and said just to be a taunting bitch, literally. "You know, you're making yourself look awfully guilty of feeling something for her." She then laughed as she began moving down the staircase again.

Well, at least she accomplished in annoying the poltergeist even more as he had steam come out of his ears whilst he melted through the floor to reach the lower level of the house and head for the kitchen. Katie had took her place at the table and was pouring a couple glasses of orange juice for herself and Lydia. Beetlejuice sat across from her, holding his annoyed look and gaze toward the young woman. Within a minute or two, the two heard Lydia approaching as the young girl came down the stairs and entered to join them, taking a seat next to her best friend as she smiled and became amazed at the sight of a breakfast that actually looked like one. Delia's meals always looked, well, bizarre and neither Lydia or Katie enjoyed that about it nor did they enjoy when the meals ended up tasting as bad they would appear. "This looks wonderful!" She exclaimed with delight in her eyes. "Glad you think so, Lydia." The young woman replied with a small smile as she moved to hand her friend a glass of orange juice, which she accepted happily. "You know, if she didn't have to play mutt, then she could make all meals like this because Delia's cooking is scarier than sandworms." Beetlejuice remarked with a simple laugh and a snort. Lydia couldn't help, but agree in nodding at his statement, despite the fact that he insulted her new friend. "I do kind of wish for that, BJ, but I don't think I want another fiasco of the doggy woggy kind." She said honestly.

"Well, Lydia, I could always do it on days like this, but any other time would be near impossible." Katie admitted as she offered the young girl a fork and widened her prior smile. "But why don't we just enjoy this while it lasts for the moment." She added with a giggle. Lydia took the fork in a thankful manner as she replied. "Well, then I guess I will." A laugh escaped her at that as she and her new friend began to dig in while BJ just reclined in mid air with his hands behind his head. A half hour went by before the first good breakfast was completed and the dishes washed. "Shall we all be off to the land of the dead then?" The young woman asked with an excited grin, tail wagging instinctively. Lydia laughed as she responded to her more than excited friend. "I should say so." She turned to the poltergeist and asked. "You ready, Beej?" The ghost with the most smirked as he goofily wiggled his eyebrows and replied. "I'm more than ready, babes. In fact, I'll go stir crazy if we don't get moving." Once again, he emphasized his point with a visual pun of him turning into a coffee stirrer and stirring into a giant mug. Unfortunately for the the ghost, there was also hot coffee in the mug, which caused him to jump out as his usual form and screech in pain from the heat. "YEEEEEEEEEEOOOUCH!" He comically hopped around a bit, rubbing at his ass and groaning in discomfort for a brief moment until the pain subsided. Both of the women laughed at his expense, but Lydia at least stopped and showed her concern for her best friend.

"You okay, Beej?" She asked, trying to pull back on her laughing. Beetlejuice gave a thumbs up in return to her and said. "Don't worry, Lyds, I'll be fine." He gave her his toothy grin as he ruffled her hair before moving toward the stairs. "Let's get going, babes." He added with a slight cackle as he headed back to her bedroom. Lydia snickered as she followed after him with Katie tailing behind her. "We're coming, BJ." She chimed in joy as she and her new friend returned to her bedroom, closing the door behind themselves. The young girl then moved to close her curtains as she began to chant. "Though I know I should be wary." She twirled around toward the table with Katie and Beetlejuice at her sides. "Still I venture some place scary." She raised up her arms and hands as the lantern flickered with a flame on the small, round table. "Ghostly hauntings, I turn loose. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!" As the chant was done, the room began its usual transformation where the ceiling seemed to raise upwards and disappear. The walls became stone in the color of blue as a staircase formed to lead up to another door, aside from the other door below that was close to a now deformed and filthy looking bed. A screechy chirping noise could be heard above as a couple bats flew downward from some questionable wooden beams and lastly, a spider web patterned poncho appeared on the young girl, appearing as a color of blue first before quickly changing to red. Along with the poncho was an almost full body black suit that showed up on her that seemed to not cover Lydia's fingers and a pair of black, flat shoes.

"We're here and now, it's time to PAARRRRTAAAAYYY!" The poltergeist exclaimed in excitement as he cackled maniacally and had a sombrero briefly appear on his head as he floated upward. Lydia and Katie laughed with delight as they watched the ghost's antics as he was extending his arms outward and soon changing the sombrero into a merry-go-round looking thing atop his head. "Well, Beetlejuice, what do you suggest we should do? I mean, you're entertaining as a show off, but those who were to be reading this like a story would certainly want more than that." Katie said to the ghost as she seemed to break a fourth wall of some sort. BJ simply cackled all the more as he hovered back down and reverted back to his abnormal self. "There's plenty to do in the Neitherworld, mutt. There's the Shocking Mall or the Eye-Scream Shop, or even the Abusement Park and so much more. Just take your pick and it shall be done." He said in a carny showmen type tone with a smirking grin that yet again exposed his crooked, green teeth. The young woman chuckled and just shrugged, glancing to Lydia. "Well, what do you think?" Her friend just giggled and smiled joyfully. "I say we take a drive and see what we find." She said in glee. "Sounds like a plan to me, babes." Beetlejuice agreed with a laugh and another one of his snorts. Katie nodded her agreement and just said. "Then, let's get a move on." With all said and done, the trio then made their way up the stone stairs and out into the Neitherworld to get their fun started.