Beetlejuice and Lydia

I decided that dragging the three girls down into the living room and pretending that we had been watching movies all night and the entire Beetlejuice thing was just a dream was my best chance of not being grounded for Dad loosing his job. Deelia and Dad were already asleep by that time, so far the coast was clear.

I turned the television on to that stupid Halloween marathon and got the popcorn and candy corn from upstairs (after picking debris out of both bowls). I also got the sleeping bags as well and sat them in the living room. I stayed up for about another hour before going to sleep for the night, wondering what Beetlejuice had given me for Halloween. I hoped it wasn't breathing, because the box was still unwrapped upstairs on my desk. I dreamed that it was some type of lizard-spider thing that ate my face as soon as I opened the box, and Beetlejuice apologizing in the afterlife to me.

"At least we can get married now." He said in my dream, and telling me that I couldn't be picky, now that I was missing the left side of my face...


"Hello girls." I said next morning, carrying out a big plate of pancakes on a tray as well as four empty plates. The three of them were both beginning to wake up, and I was trying to act cheery and upbeat in attempt to get them to forget about what had happened to them last night.

"When did we moving into the living room?" Amanda asked, looking around and curling her lip up in disgust at Deelia's crazy sculpture on the table.

"Last night. It was getting stuffy in my room due to heating issues. You know, this old farmhouse sucks with the heating around this time of the year." I said, placing two pancakes on each plate.

"What happened last night?" Theresa asked, squirting syrup onto her pancakes as soon as I passed the plate to her.

"You guys passed out while watching a movie. I nearly pulled an all-nighter after you three went to bed." I said happily. Cathy was looking at me suspiciously.

"No. I think you're lying Lydia. I remember wanting to play with an Oujia board. And then we had an actual ghost come." Cathy accused. Theresa's face lit up, her jaw falling as she remembered.

"That beetle guy!" Theresa said.

"Beetlegeuse? That was the movie we were watching when you three passed out. The girls were playing with an Oujia board and then he showed up." I lied, ripping up my pancakes and not fully meeting eye contact with any of them, especially Cathy who was staring me down.

"Okay. Do you mind if I grab a cigarette then from my purse upstairs?" She asked, and went to get up.

"My parents don't support teen smoking. Besides, you guys are going to leave around twelve, and it's already after eleven." I said, pointing to the clock behind the television before rising to my feet and making an escape out of the room before any of them could follow me. When I pulled open my door I expected to still see the gaping holes in the roof, but instead my room was already back in order.

"Impressive." I mumbled to myself as I walked across the room to grab their bags. I huffed a few breaths under their weight, my back hunched over. I glanced over at my desk where Beetlejuice's present was sitting, undisturbed, and picked it up. I got downstairs and dropped everything in the living room where the girls were sitting, watching some excercise show on television, drooling over the instructor's abs. I walked over to the window so they couldn't see what I had and opened the present.

A black lace choker was laying inside orange wrapping paper with a cracked opal laying in the center of it. It looked real, and dated back to the nineteenth century. Just looking at it made me catch my breath. There was a catch. There was always a catch with Beetlejuice.

"Lydia? What do you have?" Cathy asked behind me. All three of them were watching me with curiosity, a lit cigarette in Cathy's hand, clearly disobeying what I said earlier about teenage smoking.

"Nothing." I said, placing the necklace back into its box and holding the box behind my back as I turned around.

"Oh come on. What is it?" She continued to push. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Don't you have some broken nail you should be attending to?" I asked.

"No. Do you have some type of pet spider farm you should be attending to?" She asked, and the two others giggled. I walked out of the room. I had done what my father wanted, and now that the slumber party was over I no longer had to act like the perfect little hostess. I walked upstairs to my room and shut the door, deciding to change out of my pajamas. I changed into black jeans with a dark red and black plaid shirt that had a squared off neckline, perfect for showing off the necklace. I debated putting the necklace on at first, wondering if he had somehow poisoned it.

I heard commotion underneath me and I looked outside. Cathy's parents were here to get her. I leaned my head against the side of the window, loneliness ebbing into my thoughts. How could Cathy Handerly be accepted and have friends when I couldn't? I was more creative and less bitchy that she was at least.

A small black spider came scuttling towards me, causing me to jump a little and then relax before growing annoyed. Beetlejuice was sitting on top of the spider.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him as he walked across the windowsill towards me.

"That's the thanks I get for the necklace and spending the morning lassoing spiders to come and see you?" He said. I sighed and then reached up towards my necklace. I had to give him some credit, the necklace was beautiful.

"Thanks for the necklace. I love it." I told him.

"Aw shucks. You're welcome." He said. "Does that mean I get to ask you a favor?"

"Depends. What is it?" I asked him. He began to walk back and forth on the windowsill.

"You see, I have this meeting coming up within a few days. More along the lines of a hearing rather than a meeting and I sort of need you to be my witness. I would have asked the Maitens, but they decided to skip out of town to see Juno, and we all know they won't be back for months because damn, that woman can talk." Beetlejuice explained.

"What do you mean a witness?"

"Well, I haven't been a picturesque angel this past millennium, and I'm trying to become a citizen of the afterlife. To do that again, I need your help, and you have to say good things about me being a great guy and stuff like that. You know what I mean?" Beetlejuice said, stopping to look at me.

"But you aren't a great guy." I said.

"Geesh Lydia. After all we've been through you're just going to sit there and lie to me? Come on, what do you say? I'll get off your back and you help me out. Deal?" He asked, holding out his hand.

"The last time I made a deal with you, I nearly ended up married. How would I get to the afterlife anyways? I'm still living." I asked him.

"Well, I know a shaman that can do a little bit of hocus pocus to make you appear dead for a few hours. A Romeo and Juliet sort of deal. Then you come back to life. Simple as that." He said. I did like the idea of seeing the afterlife, but I wasn't sure I liked the deal of my life being in the hands of Beetlejuice.

"I'm not sure." I said.

"We'll make a day of it. Just us two friends, exploring the afterlife together." Beetlejuice said, spreading his hands apart for better effects. "What do you say to that, Lyds?"

"I'll think about it, that's what I have to say to it. When is this court meeting thing?" I asked.

"The first Thursday in November, so that means next week." He said.

"And then if I go and you're cleared, you're out of my hair?" I said it like it was a good thing. Somehow I had grown used to Beetlejuice as being nearly a friend, and the thought of him leaving was hard for me.

"Well, sort of. I'd come back once in a while." He said. I sighed.

"Well then I don't see any trouble-"

"Great. I'll get right on it then." He said, before walking back over to his spider and mounting it. He kicked it in it's sides. "Let's go, Amigo." The spider began to scuttle down my wall at a fast speed, across the bedroom floor and underneath my door. Hopefully Deelia doesn't see it and step on it.

But then again, why should it matter? He's dead anyways.