Beetlejuice oneshots 🪲

Emily's Birthday

As soon as Lydia woke up, she had that feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. She knew exactly what day it was without having to check a calendar.

It was her mother's birthday.

Ever since Emily Deetz had died, Lydia and her father had been stumbling their way through the grieving process, one part of which involved two ghosts and a demon from hell. It hadn't been easy, but as long as they were together, they were okay.

That was what Lydia had thought. Until today. When she awoke, she looked out the window and saw that the sky was gray and the street was wet. It was raining. Today of all days, they were getting the worst weather they'd gotten all year.

She didn't know what she was going to say when she came downstairs, what her father was going to say, whether they would even talk about it at all. Especially with Delia there. It was the first birthday they wouldn't be spending with Emily, but rather with Lydia's new (almost) stepmother. She waited as long as she absolutely had to before getting out of bed and starting to get dressed for the day.

Barbara was at the bottom of the stairs when Lydia finally got there, having taken her time with each step. The ghost looked up with a worried expression on her face. "Lydia, where were you?" she asked. "Adam and I were getting worried. You're usually up way earlier than this!"

Lydia sighed. It was nice that her not-quite-living friends were concerned about her, but she was too nervous about the day to appreciate it. "I don't know. I'm just... not feeling well." She paused to look around. "Where are my dad and Delia?"

"I assumed they were still asleep, too," replied Barbara, putting her arm around the obviously anxious girl and pulling her close. "In fact, I was going up to check on all of you. Is everything okay?"

Lydia debated whether or not she should tell her the truth. On one hand, she wanted to be able to talk more about her mom, but on the other hand, she didn't know where to start. Finally, she said quietly, "it's my mom's birthday today. Or I guess it would be. If she were..."

"Oh. Oh." Barbara pursed her lips and glanced toward the stairs. "So your dad..."

"It's going to be hard on him," Lydia sighed. "On all of us. I wish we could talk about this without it being weird, but Dad only just started talking about Mom at all."

"Oh, Lydia, I'm sorry," Barbara replied, but there wasn't much she could say, and they both knew it. Lydia pulled away from her, not in a rude way, but in a way that indicated she needed to go somewhere else or else she was going to burst.

They went into the kitchen, where Adam was making toast. Lydia was still dumbfounded by the fact that the ghosts could handle everyday objects just like a living person could. She'd always pictured ghosts as transparent, holographic beings. Then again, that was before she knew there were ghosts in her own house.

"Good morning!" Adam exclaimed, until he noticed their somber expressions and his smile promptly dropped. "What's going on?"

While Barbara got him up to speed, Lydia went to make herself a bowl of cereal, although she didn't feel much like eating at all. She already didn't want to talk about today with Barbara and Adam. How was it going to go when her dad woke up? And Delia? She almost turned to go back upstairs to her room, when Charles, her dad, came into the kitchen, and there was no going back.

"Good morning, Adam, Barbara," Charles said distractedly. The two ghosts just stared at him and said nothing. "Good morning, Lydia."

Lydia slowly placed the carton of milk back in the fridge. "Hi, dad."

"How's it going, Charles?" Adam asked a little too loudly, and Barbara elbowed him. He flinched but covered his mouth. Charles just sighed.

Lydia decided to interrupt them. "Hey, where's Delia?" she asked her father.