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

||Chapter Forty Seven|| Right Here, Right Now

Lydia hadn't passed out at all as the next couple hours went by, which was good. And they hadn't encountered anything else coming out into the living world from a glitching door to the Netherworld. But if, just in case, something did, the eleven of them were prepared.

Adam, Barbara, Betelgeuse, and Miss Argentina now sat together on the couch opposite the one the Deetzes were sat on, the four of them looking down at and over Betelgeuse's copy of the Handbook for the Recently Deceased, reading over the information given to them on the matter at hand. They'd tried everything mentioned in the book as a way to get anything that came out of the Netherworld back inside the Netherworld. But nothing seemed to work, they were running out of options, and the shadows were still floating aimlessly around the living room.

Adam sighed as Betelgeuse closed the Handbook, and leaned backwards just a little in his spot on the couch. "What else are we going to do? These shadows.... these ghosts can't stay here in the house forever."

"We'll find a way to get them back in the Netherworld," Barbara reassured her husband. "We just have to figure out how first."

"And we better do it soon," Adam said, sitting upright and glancing over towards Barbara.

Barbara nodded, turning her head and glancing over at Betelgeuse and Miss Argentina. "You guys have any ideas?"

"None that I can think of," Miss Argentina replied. "Sorry."

"Betelgeuse?"

"What Leslie said," Betelgeuse was quick to say.

Barbara sighed, turning her head and glancing over towards Adam again before looking up at the many ghosts that floated above them. That's when she noticed something a little bit off about most, if not all, of them. She pointed a hand up towards them, grabbing the attention of everyone else as she spoke.

"Guys, I think there's something wrong with them..."

"Wrong with what?" her husband's tone was confused as he glanced over towards his wife.

"The ghosts," Barbara clarified. "Can any of you try getting their attention?"

One by one, each of them tried to get the attention of the ghosts that were floating around the room. But Barbara was right, there was something wrong and none of the shadow like ghosts seemed to be paying attention to any of them. No matter how much or how many times they tried.

They gave up after a while, Adam turning his attention back over towards his wife. "Now that is stranger than most strange or unusual things we've had happen to us. What do you think is going on guys? Is there something in the Handbook about this?"

Betelgeuse opened up the Handbook that was still in his lap, flipping to the section on ghost afflictions and illnesses. He read through each and every page and read out each and every affliction until he got to a particular one.

"Here we go! I think that this is what's going on!" he said, turning the attention of everyone else onto him. The living, as well as the deceased that Miss Argentina had brought with her from the Netherworld, gathered around him as he continued on. "Ghost amnesia. Happens only when an issue occurs within the Netherworld or if something bad happens."

"But that doesn't explain as to how they don't seem to be reactive when we try to grab their attention," Adam pointed out, sounding confused.

The others nodded in unison. Lydia put a hand to her forehead, looking down as if another vision, or a voice, was running throughout her head. When she grunted in annoyance and started shouting, everyone else in the room turned their attention over towards her as looks of confusion flashed across their faces.

Barbara and Adam stood up at once, moving over towards where the Deetzes were sat all together and kneeled down on the floor either side of Lydia.

Barbara put a hand on Lydia's arm, trying to calm her down. "Lydia, something wrong?"

"I just can't! Get this! Stupid voice! Out of! My head!" the teenager grumbled, pulling hard at her hair. Charles, Delia, and Emily stood up to give the Maitlands room on the couch - the three of them quickly moving off to the side and watching the scene in front of them unfold with confusion.

Barbara put a hand flat out on Lydia's back, gently rubbing comforting circles into it. "What voice? What's going on, Lydia?"

Lydia couldn't bring herself to answer though. Her eyes widened, her looking straight ahead and not saying anything. The longer this went on, the more everyone else in the room was getting worried.

"Lydia? You there? Lydia Deetz?" Barbara, confused, tried waving her hand in front of the teenager's face to grab her attention and snap her out of what was going on. But that didn't seem to have any effect.

She waited another long while, then tried again. Still nothing.

"Huh?" she commented, scratching her head in concern as she glanced over at Lydia. "Now that is weird."

An even longer while passed before Lydia spoke again. But it wasn't her voice that came out of her mouth when she spoke. It was a completely different, deep, masculine voice. As she spoke, everyone else that was in the room glanced towards one another with equal looks of confusion.

Eventually, though, Lydia snapped out of what was going on, shaking her head and blinking a few times. As her vision cleared up and she came to, she glanced from Adam to Barbara before turning her attention over towards everyone else. She again rested a hand against her forehead, this time to relax and calm herself down. She looked down before turning her attention back over towards Barbara.

Barbara again put her hand on the teenager's back. "Lydia, you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine," Lydia softly responded. "There was this weird male voice in my head that was giving me a sort of warning. I didn't want to listen to it though. I didn't think that warning was important though. So I decided to ignore and not listen to it."

Adam chose to speak up next. "What was the warning about anyway?"

"Something about watching out for darker shadow people," Lydia said. "I don't even know what that's supposed to mean. What dark shadow people?"

The others mumbled in response, everyone turning towards Betelgeuse as he began to read from the Handbook again.

"There are three different types of shadow people," the demon explained as he read, the others all listening on. "Normal shadow people, light shadow people, and dark shadow people. But beware the darker ones. They're known to take over bodies and prevent others from carrying out something they're supposed to do. Especially if that particular thing has to do with the Netherworld. If you happen to come into contact with what appears to be a dark shadow person, ignore and avoid it at all costs."

At that everyone else glanced nervously around the room, as if they were afraid that one of those dark shadow people could jump out at them at any given moment. Once they were sure that there were only light shadow people within the room at the moment and it was bare of any dark shadow people, they turned away and continued their conversation unaware.

Unaware of the dark shadow person that was creeping up behind Lydia for real.