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

||Chapter Forty Nine|| Turnaround

When none of the others could think of what to do next, Barbara closed her eyes and let out a sigh as she relaxed. But, despite that, they all still had hope that they'd eventually think of something. No matter who or what it would be.

Barbara opened her eyes a short while later, glancing briefly around Lydia's bedroom at the others before shifting just a little. Adam moved a little closer to where his wife was sitting and put an arm around her shoulder - an action she repeated. Lydia was now off of her bed and sat on the part of the floor next to it, her attention focused solely on the Maitlands. As was the attention of Charles, Delia, Emily, and Betelgeuse.

For a while, not a single word was spoken by any one of the seven of them. A brief moment of silence that was eventually broken when Adam spoke up, turning the attention of everyone else onto him. "Why don't we take another look through the Handbook? See if we can figure out what to do next from there."

Betelgeuse, however, was quick to push that down. "No. I already tried that, Sexy. I couldn't find anything and I looked through the Handbook for the Recently Deceased over a dozen times just to make sure of that."

"Right. Then I really don't know what else we can do." Adam closed his eyes as he turned his attention away from Barbara. "Why don't we just wait until one of us does?"

"But that's going to take a while. Why don't we just talk it over until one of the seven of us has an idea as to what we should do next. What do you guys think?" Barbara shifted a little to the left, leaning up against her husband as she looked from him to everyone else.

The others looked at one another for a brief while, then nodded in unison as they looked back over towards Adam and Barbara - the former of the two ghosts also nodding along in agreement as he turned his head to look at his wife again and once more put an arm around her shoulder, leading to her resting her head against his shoulder.

At the sudden sound of the door to Lydia's bedroom opening up slightly, Lydia, the Maitlands, Betelgeuse, Charles, Delia, and Emily looked over towards it to find Miss Argentina, as well as the two highest powers of the Netherworld as well as the writer of the Handbook for the Recently Deceased that she'd brought standing together just outside of it. They all had looks on their faces that simulated panic but confusion at the same time.

"Les, guys, what's wrong?" Betelgeuse stood up at once, turning and going over towards where they were standing.

"Nothing," Miss Argentina immediately responded, looking from her assistance to Betelgeuse before looking at the equally as concerned looking Maitland-Deetz family. The panic and the confusion that was present on each one of the Netherworld ghosts' faces was rather quick to fade away, all being replaced by stunned and surprised looks.

"Well, did you guys happen to figure out a way to fix the barrier between this world and the Netherworld?"

"We're still working on that, but I think that we found a way to get things back to normal." As she turned to the ghosts that were accompanying her, Miss Argentina addressed the three of them. "Marcus, Rose, Arthur?"

"I'm thinking we should get the previous barrier working again," Arthur, the one who helped contribute to the Handbook for the Recently Deceased, suggested. The two higher powers that Miss Argentina'd brought, Rose and Marcus, nodded their agreement. That didn't seem like a bad idea.

"That's great!" Betelgeuse put a hand on top of Miss Argentina's shoulder. "So how should we go about that?"

Looking around the room before focusing her attention back over towards and solely onto Betelgeuse, the green skinned female began to explain her plan. The others listened both carefully and intently, nodding constantly and agreeing to it. When Miss Argentina finished explaining, she took another quick look around the room and everyone else. "What do you guys think?"

Unable to think of anything, everyone else in the room nodded at once again.

And Miss Argentina was seemingly fine with that.

Lydia turned her attention solely over towards Miss Argentina, a thought running through the former's head. "I just have one question though."

"Si?" Miss Argentina looked back over towards the confused teenager.

"How exactly are we going to do that?"

"Y'know, I'm not really sure." Miss Argentina moved forwards, sitting down on the floor next to Lydia.

But Lydia turned her head, glancing over towards the Maitlands. "Adam, Barbara, do you guys have any ideas?"

At that, the Maitlands glanced over at one another then back towards Lydia - both ghosts shrugging in unison.

Lydia turned her attention to the rest of her family. "Dad, dead mom, stepmom?"

They didn't have any ideas either. For a while, not one of the eleven of them were even sure as to how to go about Miss Argentina's plan. It was a turnaround to the current situation at hand, yes, but without a solution and a way to get things back to normal and back to the way they were - they were all stuck.

But Lydia didn't want to not see her dead mom after they put things back to normal - an idea quickly popping into her head. She coughed, turning the attention of the other ten that were in the room solely onto her. "Hey, why don't we make a new barrier but make it so that the deceased can travel between both worlds whenever they want? Would that work?"

"I'm not sure about that, Lyds." Barbara stood up, sitting down next to Lydia. "I don't think it would be good for other living people."

"But, we summoned my mom here!" Lydia was quick to point out, gesturing a hand out towards the aforementioned ghost. "So it's bound to work."

"I actually agree with Lydia, Barbara. Let's just go ahead with her idea," her husband spoke up, everyone else seeming to agree with his response.

Barbara let out a sigh, but eventually nodded in response. "Well... okay then, I guess. But how are we going to make a new barrier? Is there anything in the Handbook for the Recently Deceased on that that's helpful?"