Photo has nothing to do with the story, it must reminds me of my BJ display from Comi-Con.
When they reached their destination, Betelgeuse released her and slipped into the shadows.
"You bastard!" She yelled after him.
It was too dark for her to see where she was but it reeked of smoke and booze. A few candles lit up next to her, illuminating a tattered brown couch and a similarly rough recliner. Beside it was a small table holding the candles and some cartoonish ads. The maroon paint on the walls was peeling and broken bottles and cigarette butts littered the floor. Lydia looked around for him, but he was nowhere in sight. She noticed the wax from the candles dripped off the table onto a newspaper. Pushing her fluffy red skirts back, she picked it up.
It was called "The Afterlife" A large black and white photo of the snake monster that attacked them was on the cover. The title above it read "Sandworm Incidents Increase"
"Sandworms, am I right?" said Betelgeuse, appearing behind her. She spun around to find him lounging in a chair, feet propped up on the table. He had holes in his socks and his feet smelled horrendous. "Yeah, Saturn's a real bi-" Lydia snapped the paper in her hands, turned away, and kept reading.
"Hey, what's in there that's more interesting than me, toots?" He asked in an annoyed tone, making the paper disappear with a wave of his hand. "After all, don't you wanna know more about your husband? We are going to be together for a while."
The last thing she wanted to do right now was to spend quality time with her killer. She gave him a dirty look and stormed out of the room.
"Aw, come back. Was it something I said?" He hollered after her. "Hey!" He sounded serious, so she stopped walking. "You don't even know where you're going."
She hated to admit it, but he had a point. Lydia glanced back over her shoulder at where he had been sitting, but instead found the chair vacant. Feeling a snap in the other body, she instinctively stepped back. When turned around and saw Betelgeuse standing before her, she wasn't too surprised.
"You really need to stop doing that." She murmured under her breath.
"What?"
"Trying to scare me. Its not working."
"Oh, I was trying to scare you, was I?"
" Yes, actually. Yes you were."
"You were wrong about that. THIS is me trying to scare you." He raised a moldy eyebrow and just as she felt the warmth flow through her other half, her skirts were blown up Marilyn Monroe style in an invisible wind. Lydia pushed them back down, her face florid and hot.
" Maybe more embarrassed than scared, but I think you get the picture." He chuckled under his breath.
She couldn't spend an eternity with this worm."I don't have to deal with this." She said. "I can find my own way out of here."
"Oh, you can, can you?" Her husband stiffled a laugh leaned against the wall.
"Yes I can."
Betelgeuse spread out his arms. "Be my guest, babes."
She stuck up her chin and shouldered past him. She had married the most disgusting, perverted, sadistic man alive or dead. And until she found her way home she could only trust that the Maitlands would still be waiting for her. "Let's hope that Delia doesn't freak out and exorcise them again. If she gets it into her mind that they're the cause of my death she might flip out and try something else stupid. And it's not like Dad's gonna be able to stop her." They were by far the best friends she had ever had since her mom died. They didn't think she was weird or want her to change. Adam and Barbara were just a normal, happy couple. They were true, unlike all of Delia's stuckup famous "friends" or dad's co-workers and post-card pen-pals. Thinking about them made her feel almost homesick. Lydia walked faster.
The hallways she had traveled down were starting to all look the same, and she began to realize that his home could be an endless maze. "Its like a never-ending bunch of hallways in a cheap motel." The only difference was that there were no doors along these halls. Lydia leaned against a wall and ripped off the red heels strapped to her feet. She didn't know how to walk in the dumb things and didn't want to twist her ankle. "Can ghosts even do that? Is it possible for me to get hurt?" The tattered rug slipped out from under her feet and she fell back on her rear with a small gasp of pain.
"Well, that answered one question." Lydia noted under her breath. She stood up with a wince and carefully continued down the hallway. She couldn't help but notice an almost consistent warm feeling in her other half. "What is doing that?" She had figured out that the warmth came from using magic, but the problem was she wasn't using any right now. "It might be my magic storage?" That was a bit of a stretch, even for ghosts.
As she contemplated her strange connection, she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Beneath the wall she stood next to was a soft visible glow. The way out! He thought she wouldn't have the spirit to keep going. Hah! She sure showed him. "Maybe things will change when I get home. Dad might get the guts to stand up to Delia now, and there's no way they'll ignore me anymore." Lydia got on her knees and felt around the wall. There! She found the doorway. Slowly standing up, she trailed her fingers up the frame. It was well hidden, she had to give Betelgeuse that much. She began to feel inside the frame for a handle of some sort. Lydia searched for awhile to no avail. Just a she began to doubt herself, her fingers slipped into a hole in the wall. It was covered in squishy gunk, but it was most definitely the handle she was looking for. Smiling smugly, Lydia flung open the door.
And walked straight into a hellish world. It was illuminated by giant multicolored planets and filled with yellow dunes. She had made a terrible mistake. She turned to go back when the ground beneath her feet started to to quake violently. Lydia got back just in time as a Sandworm burst through earth. It hung suspended in the air for a moment before it noticed her. Opening its primary mouth to reveal the beady eyed second head, it shot forward like a cobra. Lydia dove onto the ground and the Sandworm missed, getting a face full of sand. It got up and shook itself off. She tried to get up to run away, but a giant black and white tail flicked up out of the ground and slapped her down. She frantically tried to get up, but her cumbersome red dress prevented any escape. Face pressed up against the earth, she realized being dead was not all it was cracked up to be. Having run out of ideas, she covered her head. Suddenly, a huge commotion sounded overhead, like two cats brawling. There was a loud teredactyl-esq screech, and Lydia saw the Sandworm dive back into the sand. Lydia's initial relief melted away when she realized that something bigger must of fought it off. She twisted around and peaked between her fingers to see her initial savior.
Looming far above her was Betelgeuse in his rattle snake form. She felt happy that it was only him, but then was just reminded of the fact that she had to go back with him.
"And don't come back!" He shouted after it. There was a loud pop and he stood in front of her in his striped finery. "Come on, Miss Independent." He said, helping her up. "Let's split before that Sandworm gets back."
