Out of Sight, Out of Mind//A Beetlejuice Fanfiction

||Chapter Twenty Nine|| Symbolism

"That's interesting!" Adam commented, he and the rest of the family staring down at the two books that were sitting open on Lydia's bed side by side. "That's pretty much the exact same information given on mediums in both books. Both paragraphs are phrased exactly the same way."

"What about prophecies relating to the supernatural and death?" asked Barbara in a curious tone of voice, she and the rest of the family turning their attention away from the two books and towards each other. "Especially the one that might be referring to Lydia. Do you think both books mention it?"

Betelgeuse snapped his fingers and flipped the pages of both books simultaneously until he got to both sections on 'prophecies'.

Adam moved to stand over near the demon, looking down towards the two books. "Yes! It does mention that prophecy in both books exactly word-for-word. As well as a few more prophecies that I cannot understand. I mean, what are all these.... weird looking symbols supposed to even be?"

Adam moved off to the side as Betelgeuse carefully scanned the old, vintage pages of the strange symbols in both books that he was confused by. After a while, he turned his attention over towards the rest of the Maitland-Deetz family, all of whom had moved off to one of the far corners of the room and were watching him with equally curious looks plastered on each of their faces.

"Those are symbols from an ancient spiritual language that was spoken in the Netherworld over two thousand years ago," explained the demon as the color of his hair turned a light shade of platinum gold, making the rest of the family even more curious than they previously were. "It's obsolete as of right now, and only those demons who were around at the time that language was still spoken, like myself for example, and ghosts who died at that time can understand."

"Well, if it's symbols from a dead, ancient language, then why are they shown in Lydia's book on mediumship?" asked Barbara out of confusion, Adam, Lydia, Charles, and Delia humming in agreement. "According to one of the pages at the beginning of it, it was written only very recently. So why it has symbols written in a language we can't understand, I don't know."

"That's a very good question, Babs. I don't know."

"Can you read out what the paragraph of symbols says?" asked Adam, his eyes sparkling just a little. "What if it's some sort of ancient prophecy relating to ancient demons. Or if there was someone who lived a super long time ago that once linked together the worlds of the living and the dead. That would be interesting, right?"

Betelgeuse nodded only just a little in agreement, turning his attention back over towards both of the books and focusing mostly on Lydia's book on mediumship. "Long ago, there was peace between the worlds of the living and the dead. But every day, the link between both worlds will weaken and weaken until it breaks, making doors to the Netherworld unable to open, stranding the spirits and ghosts of those who die forever more in the world of the living, and forcing them to walk amongst the living undetected and unseen. To keep that from happening completely, a special young medium with a connection to ghosts will have to bring the peace between both worlds back before it's too late."

"Well, that gives more detail into the prophecy that we all think has something to do with Lydia," said Adam as Betelgeuse closed both of the books and went to join the rest of the family. "But we still don't know as to what might've caused the peace between both this world and the Netherworld to shatter completely. Nor do we know why the link between both of the worlds is getting weaker every day. Betelgeuse?"

"Nobody knows why," the demon responded with a simple shrug. "It's not really talked about as much anymore in the Netherworld. I think it was one of my mother's strict rules put into place back when she was in charge of the whole place." He huffed out of annoyance just as soon as finished saying the last of the sentences.

Thump!

That sound directed the attention of all four adults, as well as Betelgeuse, over towards both of the beds. Lydia was sitting down on the floor, her arms crossed and resting on the edge of her bed. She seemed to be asleep for some reason, but her eyes were open and focused directly on the far wall behind the rest of her family. Charles, Delia, Adam, and Barbara exchanged worried glances with one another, rushing over towards the teenager as quickly as they possibly could.

"Lydia? You okay?" Barbara kneeled down in front of the teenager and waved a hand in front of her face. Lydia snapped out of it, shaking her head rapidly for a few minutes before turning her attention onto Barbara and the rest of the family.

"What... happened?" Lydia mumbled out, falling forward a little. Barbara managed to catch her just in time and steadied her with her powers.

"We heard a thump," Barbara explained, her voice soft but full of worry. "You seemed to be in some sort of trance."

"Do you remember anything?" her dad asked, he, Delia, and Adam sitting down on the floor on either side of Barbara. Adam sat to her left and Charles and Delia sat to her right.

"Well, I did have another vision. But this time, you guys were all being possessed in unison and Betelgeuse was nowhere in sight. Is there a list of what repetitive visions or dreams can symbolize? Because I have a feeling that even though all my visions have something to do with possession, I don't think I'm going to die soon."

Adam picked up Lydia's book and flipped through. "Nope. There's nothing on that."

"Great!" grumbled Lydia out of sarcasm, laying herself down on the large white, fluffy, square shaped rug that was set down on the floor in front of her bed with a thunk and glaring up at the ceiling with an annoyed look on her face. "Just great!"