Author's note: More time jumps! I'm sorry we're going to be getting to the good stuff soon! Keep up those RxRs please!
Disclaimer: I own NONE of Beetlejuice and am gaining no profit from it.
Chapter 4: All the good things gone
The beep of the monitors droned on as Lydia was tested by the hospital's doctors over and over. It had been a month already since they had been admitted, her dad and Delia had been released within the first few days, but seeing as how Lydia had died, truly and honestly died, well, she was a different story.
Of course, seeing as how the crash had given her more than a lethal amount of severe trauma to the head. Lydia had to be poked and prodded a lot more than her parents. They usually stayed with her, unless they were hungry, needed a shower, or Delia had something she just had to do at that moment of time. They had gone through most of her therapy with her, trying to regain her memories. She remembered very little so far, her birthday, the house, her school…just places and events. Still something nagged at the back of her head and the bottom of her heart, like something life long she had forgotten due to the accident.
"I told you I don't remember…." She said through a sip of water the nurse made her take, to down one of her many medications. Over the month she had been there her initial mood had soured. She didn't want to stay in the hospital, especially seeing as how all the tests and poking and prodding was not going to gain her memories back. Nothing they did might.
"Amnesia is…a tricky thing. Your memories could come back in a couple days, a week…months…" The doctor sighed and scratched his head "maybe…even years." Delia and her dad had only exchanged looks. Later after the doctors and nurses had gone she had caught small snippets of their arguing outside her room. She felt truly and utterly alone.
She knew her parents were unhappy with the situation they had been dealt, but neither her, nor the hospital, or her parents could do anything about it. So she sat complacently while she had things done to her.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxox
It had been around the time of the last argument when Lydia's parents had told her they would be at the hospital less, seeing as how she was "all better" save for her memory. They told her to call if she needed anything, which was silly because the hospital would take care of her needs for as long as she was there. She chalked it up to being another excuse for Delia to get away from the facility. So the visits came less and less and she sat there while her broken bones healed, the skin graft healed and they monitored her head for any signs of ongoing trauma.
Charles came strolling in one day a week or so later and sat down with a small bag of chinese for the two of them to share.
"So pumpkin, your mother and I have been thinking and…well, we think we should move. Actually we've…kind of already started the process. We think with everything you've been through that a fresh start might be the best thing for you. Hell it may even jog your memory a bit, who knows?"
Lydia just sat and looked at him while playing with her chow mein. She hadn't actually taken a bit yet, but her emotions were all over the place. Her parents wanted to move to give her a fresh start, but what about all the things here she hadn't remembered yet? The pit of her stomach had been reduced to nothing but knots and she felt sick. So she twirled her fork, bit her lip and just nodded.
"Great! I talked to my boss and he's already setting me up in an office in New York! You'll love it there". For the first time in what felt like forever, Lydia had a surge of emotions: anger, sadness, loneliness and something growing at the bottom of her heart that felt worse than all the others combined. A tear slid down her cheek and before she knew it, she was sobbing. Her father scooted the chair over to her and hugged her. The embrace felt empty, just like her.
"Aww Lydia, don't cry. We know you're trying. Everything will be okay, I promise." He gave her a kiss on the top of the head before sliding back down into his chair. She blinked as the tears uncontrollably fell and watched him eat the rest of his food.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Beetlejuice had been in the Neitherworld now for what seemed like centuries. He went between prison, to trials back to prison. He was shackled to a wall with green glowing cuffs and chains. He looked around and wiggled his hands which were cuffed above his head. An enticing buzzing suddenly rang through the room and his eyes started trying to find the delicious morsel that had so unwillingly entered the spider's den. His eyes locked onto it, but before he could try to conjure it towards him, his cell doors opened and Juno walked in, accompanied by two guards.
"Ugh…it's you. Don't you have somewhere better to be? Maybe get all that leather a tan?" He cackled at his own joke, while Juno just starred untouched.
"For someone who's in a lot of deep shit you sure like to crack a lot of jokes, Juice". His smile curled ear to ear.
"Can't help it, it's what I do. Say what you're going to say and get outta here." A long plume of smoke furled out of the gash.
"Fine Juice. I was coming to give you some news you might've wanted to hear. It was about that human girl you got close to." Beetlejuice's eyes immediately snapped to Juno's and they narrowed dangerously.
"What news? You better tell me what happened or else-" One long leather like finger was shoved in front of his face.
"Or else what? You're shackled with energy draining chains. You couldn't even hurt a fly! Anyways…" She drew a long puff on her cigarette. Her cheeks moved slightly inward as she inhaled. "Her family was in a car accident. She's in the hospital and has been for going on two and half months now"
Beetlejuice's eyes widened and he looked down in silence. His best friend and only companion that could actually stand his company was hurt? And he wasn't there for her? Juno's words cut through his racing thoughts.
"She was declared officially dead for 18 minutes. She has amnesia. Can't remember a thing." Flicking ashes on the floor near her shoes she gave him a hard look. "Her parents are moving. Their packing up house now" His eyes dimmed angrily. She had just wrapped up everything that could hurt him in one package before metaphorically throwing it in his face.
Lydia was hurt, moreover she had died and he wasn't there. And what's even worse, this bitch in front of him that he really wanted to maim was telling him that she didn't remember anything AND that once he was out, she would be gone! All of those years were made into nothing! The rage and hurt he felt was one he only felt once before.
"I swear to the hells creator himself, when I get out of here you better watch out…I'm going to fuck up everything and everything I can…" Juno matched his sour expression and demonically low tone.
"That's IF you ever get out…Your record is longer than my afterlife…" Dropping the filter on the floor in front of him, Juno turned and made her way out of the cell. He watched as the guards locked it with scrutinizing looks. "You should be happy I came all this way to tell you Juice."
Beetlejuice could feel his rage, his sorrow, every human emotion he thought he had forgotten welling up inside him with no place to go. So he did the only thing he could think of and let out an inhuman scream that echoed down the hall of Neitherworlds top security prison.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxox
It had finally become time for Lydia to be released. She had enjoyed the walk to the car more than she thought she would ever like a small five-minute walk. Being cooped up in a bed for almost three months was torture to her legs and back. She had made a solemn promise that she would walk everywhere from now on. The car ride to their now-old house was uneventful. She watched the inner workings of the city fade into small neighborhoods as they rounded the corner and slowed in front of a two-story apricot house. The pillars made the empty-looking house look menacing. Like it's teeth were beckoning her inside, daring her to stare at the secrets and memories she couldn't remember.
"Do you wanna walk through it one more time? See if anything clicks?" Her dad was now looking at her, one arm outstretched across to the back of Delia's seat.
"I guess it couldn't hurt…give me five minutes?" Charles nodded and unlocked the car for her. As soon as her feet landed on the concrete walkway her stomach started doing flips. It was like her body remembered what her mind couldn't and that was a feeling she did not like. She made her way through the front door and walked around the downstairs. Kitchen, Living Room, Dining room, everything was just that, one more room. Nothing felt off or right, so she made her way to the long staircase. As soon as her hand ran over the soft wooden railing, she felt like it was familiar. Like she had done it so many times before, which in all honesty, she probably had. Slowly making the trek upstairs she looked in the rooms where the doors were wide open. She passed each one as she came to the last door on the left. It was closed. She stood outside of it, feeling its presence or whatever was behind it loom over her. She swallowed hard, but her body was on a completely different track than her mind. Her body felt excitement, anticipation, nervousness while her mind raced with nothing but questions.
The doorknob clicked in her hand and the door swung open. The purple filigree wallpaper caught her attention and she inhaled sharply. Her feet moved on their own, making her pace the large room. She scanned over the whole room and her mind made mental notes of the indentations in the carpet. This had definitely been her room. Her hands ran along the aged paper plastered to the walls. She could almost picture it furnished. Her bed pushed up against the far left wall, a small table, a dresser and something else. She stopped in the corner near the window. There had obviously been something there, something important. She ran her hand along the weathered paper where something had worn it down over time. A sharp pain shot through her head and she let out a small whimper dropping down to the carpet. She couldn't breathe, her eyes watered and she rocked back and forth waiting for the pain to subside. When she finally caught her breath she looked up, tears streaming down her pale cheeks. Whatever used to be there, it caused her great pain. Both physical and emotional. She couldn't take it. She scrambled to her feet as fast as she could, bumping into the doorframe on her way out. She ran down the stairs taking two at a time until she was face to face with the front door. She starred straight ahead as she willed herself to catch her breath. She didn't know what she had just run from that room, but something was wrong, very very wrong.
Wiping her eyes, Lydia cleaned herself up and left her house in Peaceful Pines for the last time.
