The Sixth Sense

Morning Of

Today was the day of my grandfather's funeral. Delia was in hysterics as soon as the sun rose. Another long dreadful day in the Deetz house. I'm sitting on my vanity stool, putting on light makeup and getting ready for the long day to begin, when I hear a faint knock on my door.

"Hey V, can I come in?" I hear Astrid call out from behind the door.

"Yeah of course," I say a little shocked not really expecting her.

Astrid and me haven't really talked to much these past two days. I've been giving her space to adjust to the whole vacation situation. But we haven't REALLY talked these past three years. Astrid grew colder with me once I got closer with mom, she felt betrayed because of how much she resents her. But I realized that pushing people away won't make a shitty situation, not shitty, it will just make it more. She still thinks not talking to mom will make her feel better about dad being dead.

"Alright?" I ask, "I know funerals can be hard, especially when it comes to fam-"

"No uhm- I'm fine." She cuts me off straight away, "I just have sort of a weird question to ask."

I turn from my vanity mirror and fully look at Astrid waiting for her to ask, with a sort of suspense building up from her last sentence.

"Has mom ever mentioned a-," she pauses like she's wondering if she should even say what comes next, "-a Beetlejuice?"

I give her a confused glance, "Beetlejuice?" My face scrunches in confusion. "Is that like a name?"

"I was exploring the attic upstairs and found a really weird flyer about some bio-exorcist? Whatever that is, I don't know, but it said that name on the flyer. I then went downstairs to ask mom about it and she like totally freaked out on me," she explained.

I give her a confused look, "That's odd, did she give any other context to the- uh beetle-thingy person?"

"No, all she told me is to never EVER say his name," she said also looking extremely confused at the whole situation.

My face dropped, I knew exactly who she was talking about. Her dead demon almost husband. Great.

"Mom's right Astrid, don't ever say that name," I say my tone changing from confused to concerned. "Whoever that is on that flyer is bad news, trust me."

Astrid now looks more confused.

"What the hell? You're leaving me with no context here." She says now getting slightly annoyed at the fact that I had knew who he was and she didn't. Another secret mom was keeping from her, but was gladly open to telling me.

"He's a demon, Ash. A not very nice one either," I say looking over at Astrid, who rolled her eyes, clearly not believing me. I don't continue to explain because it's pointless, "Just promise me you wont say his name... and uh- burn that flyer you found, yeah?"

She huffs in frustration, "I'm so fucking tired of this secret keeping going on between you and mom. It's like all of a sudden you get close to her and you just- what? Don't want to tell me things anymore. Am I just not that important to you anymore?" She looks at me pissed, while my brows raise in shock at the sudden snap.

"Astrid I-"

"Oh wait I forgot, you're a what- psychic? Just like her now? Get a grip Avery, ghosts aren't fucking real. All of her crap is bullshit," she says resentfully, stinging me a little bit.

"Well I guess since I'm 'just like her,' that all my crap is bullshit too, right?" I snap back, hurt at her sudden choice of words.

Astrid goes slient, looking down, ashamed of how her last sentence turned out but failing to admit to an apology.

"I'm not the one who needs to get a grip Astrid. Dad is dead and I get that you're grieving, I really really do, but stop holding it against mom and I. Because at the end of the day, we are the support you have, whether you choose to take it or not," I say getting up and exiting my room, taking the last word.