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

||Chapter Thirty Eight|| Peer Pressured

All four adults looked at one another worriedly, panic crossing each of their faces, as they processed what Lydia had said. The suddenness of the fact that the barrier between the living world and the Netherworld both might and could weaken and fade away completely sometime sooner or later was concerning. Lydia had since lay herself down on the couch and was now fast asleep.

Barbara had also since stood up and carefully moved over to the other couch in the living room, sitting back down in her spot on said couch in between Adam and Delia. Like the rest of the adults, only one thing ran through her mind....

What were they going to do when and if this does happen?

She, like the rest of the adults, hadn't quite thought about that. With everything that Lydia had been going through ever since she, and they by extension, had learned of that particular prophecy that had to do with Lydia, and again by extension, the four of them and Betelgeuse if they were and/or had been thinking about it more. And now they were equally as worried that something bigger could happen, with the possibility of Lydia potentially dying as a result of this at the back of their minds at the moment.

God they hoped that wouldn't happen.

Barbara shifted and leaned against Adam, the latter of the two ghosts still pouring through the Handbook in hopes that there were certain glowing words that they might've missed within it. "You found anything else yet? Or have you had no luck?"

"No luck," Adam replied with a sigh, soundlessly slamming the Handbook for the Recently Deceased closed and levitating it over towards and setting it down on the coffee table. With a quiet sigh, Adam leaned backwards into the couch and closed his eyes. When he suddenly felt Barbara grab a hold of his hand and haul him up, his eyes opened again and he turned his attention over towards her. "What happened?"

"You nearly sank through the couch and by extension out of the house. I'm lucky I grabbed a hold of you and hauled you up and out of the couch." Barbara let out a quiet chuckle. "You were like sunk halfway in and through the back of the couch. The last thing that I want is for you to end up Sandworm food."

"Ah... well, thanks. Same to you."

Barbara giggled lightly and nodded in response.

A flash of green fell over the living room, and all four adults turned their attention over to the far wall just in time to see Betelgeuse stepping out of a door to the Netherworld. As it closed behind him and disappeared, all four adults of the Maitland-Deetz family could've sworn that they briefly saw it glitch and fade ever so slightly. They couldn't tell whether or not they were hallucinating that and that it was just a part of their imagination.

Maybe Betelgeuse had a clear idea as to what was going on. At least within the Netherworld that was.

The demon, his hair frazzled and a shade of light purplish blue, slowly looked around the living room, his gaze falling on Lydia before drifting over to all four of the adults. He took immediate notice that they were looking at him expectantly and a clearly confused look appeared on his face as the previous purplish blue shade of his hair was replaced by a shade of light purple.

"What?!"

All four adults looked at one another, then, one by one, each of them turned their attention back over towards Betelgeuse. Barbara chose to be the first to speak up,

"Anything weird happen over in the Netherworld?"

He looked off to the side then turned his attention back over towards all four of the adults, all of whom were still awaiting on an answer from him.

However, all he seemed to want to say was,

"Not that I've seen. I was so busy doing something important in the Netherworld waiting room that I couldn't exactly see if anything of the sort was wrong or if there was something that was wrong. Are you implying that weirder, unusual things have been happening over here in the living world?"

"Yeah... the door to the Netherworld that you just happened to step through and return to the house just glitched and faded just a little as it closed and disappeared," Barbara said, her voice full of worry. "We weren't sure if it was just a part of our imaginations or if it actually happened. So we were wondering if anything of the sort happened to happen whilst you were in the Netherworld. You sure some ghosts didn't go to you or to Miss Argentina complaining of weird things happening?"

He shook his head, all four adults frowning.

Betelgeuse sat down, his gaze still focused on all four adults. And soon, a deafening silence filled the room. After a while, Betelgeuse was the one who spoke up,

"You mentioned that doors to the Netherworld were glitching and fading, right?" All four of the adults nodded in response and Betelgeuse's hair turned back to its usual shade of green as he continued, "has anything else happened?"

"Other than Lydia experiencing several side effects that come with her now practicing to be a medium? No."

He nodded, reaching out and picking up the Handbook for the Recently Deceased. As he opened it and started to skim through it until he got to the section on mediumship, which Adam had apparently bookmarked just in case he or any of the other adults wanted to refer back to it later.

"You found any more words?" he spoke up after a while, all four adults shook their heads in unison. "Well then, there appears to be another name here. And, by the looks of it, it may or may not have shown up."