BEETLE3JUICE

Botched Ceremony Connection

"Hello?"

"Huh?" He felt out of it. This was one of his favorite spots. This was one of his favorite dancers. She even flung her panies in his face. "Hmm."

"You are always one of my best customers," she whined. "What's it saying about me that you ain't even interested?" She looked like she was about to cry.

Well? He gave her some money. "Is there a ghost midlife crisis?" What was wrong with him? He loved that place, but nothing was doing it anymore. When he did try and shout and have a good time, he felt icky. He didn't get why. He didn't care about ick, he never did! What was wrong with him?

He got up and headed outside. He waved a little as he saw another frequent customer.

"Yo, Man?" he asked. "You don't seem to have your old . . . groove. Like, you used to be an energy bar, bouncing all over the place. What's up with you?"

Yeah. "Wish I knew." Yeah, his groove was off. He was still able to perform his jobs though. Hell, he seemed to get even more jobs now. Other people were starting to even take risks like him, trying to get rid of the living.

He looked over in the corner of the whore house and saw Lydia crying again. He was still connected to her. He walked over to her. "So? I know you can't hear me." Hmm. "There must be something I can do though. I mean, you are really reaking havoc on me. My energy is getting whacked. I'm losing parts of what made me, me. So?"

He knew he couldn't touch her. She wasn't really there. He literally killed people for a living, why did this one living being have to crawl so deep into him? He looked around. "Okay. You're feeling down. Some . . . party?" Felt like a party. "A guy." Yeah. He could almost hear something in the background. "A guy is teasing you, he found out you can see ghosts. You liked that guy." Yeah, that would maybe put her in a corner. "Oh." He sat down. "Tell him to fuck off. He's nothing. You aren't weird, it's a cool power to have. I didn't have it when I was alive. No one gets it. He's nothing." Absolutely nothing.

He watched her rub her eyes and stand up. She took a deep breath.

Right. He watched her fade away. Can't reach with words, but it looked like he could reach with the spirit of the words. Well, it was something.

"Hey, these are kind of cool." He picked some roses he turned black. He went over toward her form that was just in a desk, writing and wiping her tears. He had no idea what she was writing about, but maybe these will help. "Hey. Yo. You're annoying," he said to her. "How about these?" He placed them next to her. "They are flowers. You probably like those. Okay, you can't see them. Or smell them." Ugh. "Look, life is shitty. Someone probably hurt your feelings again or whatever. Right? So. Maybe try a prank. I like pranks." He snorted a little. "I really do like pranks. Just imagine the whatever idiot at the end of a hook. Fling it in the water and watch them squirm."

He watched her start to smile. She even bit her lip and then she disappeared.

"Great." He picked up the roses again. "Really hope this whole thing is working."

"No, no, no." Beetlejuice held his head on his lap, trying to comfort himself. "It's not fair! Bioexorcist was my thing." He looked back at the title in the newspaper. Bioexorcists left and right were getting his work now.

It was his. He got cursed for it. Did he get any recognition for it? No! Nothing, not one mention of his name. He was even the one who came up with the name. "It was mine."

He felt warm. Strange. Like there was a giant blanket over him in the middle of a snowstorm. What was that? He looked around. He was real upset, but for some reason, he sort of felt better too. "What is that?" He placed his head back on and looked around.