Betelgeuse-A Beetlejuice Novel

Chapter 13: Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice

Disclaimer: I do not own Beetlejuice or related characters, he belongs to Tim Burton. I do not own Beetlegeuse. I don't own Betelgeuse? I don't own any of the weird spellings for his name.

Betelgeuse?

Written By: Melanie Ray

Chapter Thirteen: Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice

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"And your social security card." The WDP asked gently as he extended his hand out again.

"..." Lydia looked at her card briefly. Lydia Deetz. She touched the embroidery pattern along it. It was the last of her proof of who she really was. She looked ahead into the fire in front of her. All of her important possessions continued to burn.

Instead of handing it to the WDP she threw it into the fire herself. The flames reflected in her eyes as she watched the last of her life burn away.

She couldn't believe what was happening. "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice."

The WDP just sighed. She was doing it again. "He can't hear you anymore. I'm sorry but this is just the way it is."

"Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice," Lydia said again.

"You're still in shock," The WDP reminded her. "Listen." The WDP looked around. Names and becoming friendly in their duties were looked down upon. Unbiased completion of tasks was what they did. "If there's anything you really need after this just call for Vernie alright?"

"Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice." Lydia repeated again.

Vernie looked at her sadly. Annoying or not, that guy was a close friend to her. He was no longer there though. He couldn't be, not for her. Still Lydia Deetz would not say anything except his name over and over again.

Only five hours earlier...

"B.J," Lydia laughed as she hit him with a pillow. "You're supposed to be gentle you know."

"What? It wasn't me," B.J. smiled. "And even if it was, what could be softer than a pillow?"

"You better be good, Mr. Beetleman." Lydia warned him. "Dad's gonna come up here if-"

"Lydia?"

Lydia turned as she heard her father's voice through the door.

She felt something hit her and she looked quickly at Mr. Beetleman who was just whistling innocently. Lydia looked at him suspiciously as she answered the door.

"Lydia." Her father smiled. He looked behind her and saw Mr. Beetleman. "Oh, Mr. Beetleman? You're still here?"

"You know me." Mr. Beetleman smiled. "Support."

"Yes." Charles Deetz just looked at him peculiarly. "Support."

"Mr. Beetleman!" Delia came into the room with delight. "Are you staying for dinner?"

"Well I wasn't going to, but since I was invited, okay," Mr. Beetleman grinned.

Lydia just giggled. Sooner or later B.J. would have to do something else since he was alive now. He wouldn't be able to stay the night after all. Her parents would throw a fit if they found out.

The phone rang and Delia took off back down the stairs. Charles stared at Mr. Beetleman a little longer with suspicion and then started to head downstairs.

"B.J., you know you can't stay here forever." Lydia informed him. "Sooner or later, you really will have to find your own place and get a-"

"Ah, ah, don't say it. Don't say the J word." Beetlejuice warned her. "I'm the dude with the 'tude. Work isn't for me."

Lydia just laughed. "The dude with the 'tude? Beej, did you finally come up with a new catch line?"

"Yeah," Beetlejuice admitted. "Not as good as Ghost with the Most, but it'll do."

"Yeah, especially since you're not a ghost." Lydia smiled.

"Oh. Lydia?"

--

Back to the present...

"Lydia?" Vernie waved his hand in front of her. She was there but she wasn't there. "You've got to wake up already and accept what's happening. I don't want to go through everything twice."

"Beetlejuice." Lydia mumbled again. "He needed to leave soon. Dad was getting suspicious of him."

"That doesn't matter now, but at least you're saying other words." The WDP smiled sadly. "Some progress."

"He needed a job. Beetlejuice needed a job." Lydia mumbled again. "Because he wasn't the ghost with the most, he was the dude with the 'tude. That's attitude for short. He wasn't the ghost with the most anymore."

Vernie didn't say anything. He continued to let her mumble to herself.

"Then Delia called to me..."

Back to almost five hours earlier...

"Oh. Lydia?" Mrs. Deetz smiled at her daughter. "There's someone here to see you."

A young man about Lydia's age appeared by the door. "Hey. Long time no see," he said nervously.

Oh no. Lydia recognized him. He had been one of her 'former dates' and if Delia led him all the way up here? Oh great, she probably thinks he's the one or something! Well he was a drinker and she and Claire and the 'clique' had to drop him off at his house. He probably didn't remember anything, so he thought he was the one.

"Um. So." The boy couldn't help taking notice of the handy man beside Lydia. He seemed to be looking at him in a strange way. A very strange way, it caused him to lightly shiver.

"Okay. Lydia," Delia began. "I think it's best if you talk to your young friend here."

Lydia groaned and went out the door. "Come on, let's go talk privately."

"Oh. Okay." The young boy looked back nervously at the handy man. He just didn't feel comfortable turning his back on him.

With good reason. At that moment Beetlejuice himself was debating on whether he should snap the kid in two or not. That's him? That's the thing that . . . He held his fists together tight. That scrawny little thing is what...he...

Even in his own head he couldn't get the words out. After a few minutes, Lydia came back to her room. She saw Beetlejuice practically seething. "Beej? What's up?"

"That's the guy, isn't it?" B.J. growled. "That's the guy that put-" He gestured toward her stomach. "That there."

"Oh." Lydia gulped. "I thought you . . . well, I . . ."

Beetlejuice scoffed. "I'm not dumb, I figured it out a long time ago, Lyd. When we communicated through the Ouija board, a demon got between us and took you over." He said bitterly.

"No, Beej," Lydia confessed. "There was no demon that took me over. I've been myself the whole time."

Beej scratched his head and turned into a train. "Back this train up?" He blew his train whistle. "What are you saying?" He turned into a huge mighty gorilla. "Are you saying someone hurt you?"

"No. No!" Lydia quickly tried to calm him down. "It wasn't like that."

Beej deflated himself and turned back to his Beetleman disguise. "So. You found someone?" He said a little shakily.

"No, it's not like that either," Lydia said again.

"Well?" Beej slapped a dunce cap on his head. "What?!"

Lydia tried to get the words out. No one to fall back on. No situation to confuse him with anymore. "Beej, the reason Donny was involved was because . . . he was . . ."

"Was . . ." Beetlejuice just shook his hands. "Was what?"

"He was relation," Lydia managed to spurt out.

Beetlejuice just blinked and looked at her weirdly. The only way Donny could be related to her future kid was . . .Had Donny been given a second chance at life as well? Was Donny really-no way Couldn't be, could it? I mean Lyd couldn't stand him anymore than I could, but while I was gone maybe they grew closer? "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"I don't know." Lydia couldn't tell if he got it right yet. He seemed rattled, but she couldn't know for sure until the words were said out loud. He'd confused it, apparently twice. BJ just doesn't see himself in this picture, no matter how I say it.

Well, he's not a demon. He's a good guy, sort of. Beetlejuice thought to himself. But I just . . . "You're thing is Donny's?"

Lydia slapped her face in frustration. "No, Beej', Donny's been dead." The world could slap him with hints all it wanted, she had to flat out tell him, or he'd 'ever see. "I meant-!"

--

Back to the present...

"Beetlejuice." Lydia mumbled again. "He couldn't see it. He couldn't think it. I tried to tell him."

Vernie continued to listen. Lydia's mind was close to catching up with what happened.

"I was really close. I just didn't know. I didn't know. He was thinking Donny. He was still that far off. He just, he wasn't putting himself into the mix yet. He couldn't see himself in the puzzle yet. He was alive, but he wasn't thinking about what could happen when you're alive. He wasn't used to being alive. He barely became alive. He just couldn't see himself there yet. He couldn't see himself in the puzzle yet." Lydia drifted off. "We put puzzles together before. In the neitherworld, they'd come together and come to life. We tried to put them together here but they were never as much fun."

"Back up." Vernie tried to lead her. "Less on puzzles, Lydia, stay on track. We need to get going soon." He looked at his watch. "I still need to go back to your friend Claire's to erase this jumble in her mind."

"Claire?" Lydia spoke. "Claire. I went . . . I went to Claire Brewster's house . . . closet . . ."

--

Claire's house less than one hour ago...

"Oh what a soiree!" Claire said with delight as she took her jacket off. It had been a typical night for her, full of boys and teasing people less beautiful than she. Aw, life was good.

She went to put her jacket into the closet when- "Like, oh my gosh. What are you doing here?"

Lydia was sitting down moving back and forth repeatedly. "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice."

"What?" Claire looked at her bizarrely. "Have you become psychotic or something? What are you doing in my closet?"

"Had to." Lydia continued to move up and down. "No supernatural. Safe here, safe all around. Laces, pink. Nothing supernatural. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice."

--

Back to the present...

"I went to Claire's," Lydia said confidently. "I left because something happened." She looked into the fire. "I've been handing everything of mine to you so you could burn it."

Vernie nodded. She was almost back to the present.

"I've called him over and over and Beetlejuice won't come." Lydia looked up and over at Vernie. "He can't come anymore?"

Vernie nodded.

"And he can't come because he's gone," Lydia admitted. "He's gone."

Vernie nodded again. "Yes. Someone shot through your bedroom window and hit him square through the head. He was dead before he hit the ground."

"He's dead. He's been dead," Lydia said trying to make sense of things. "He was dead most of the time I knew him. Less than a few hours of knowing him alive. He was always a ghost."

"He cannot come, Lydia Deetz," Vernie tried to explain once again. "He will not automatically be allowed to go back to his home in the neitherworld. In fact, I've never seen anyone die twice. I don't know how much he'll even remember about what happened. I don't know that process, it's extremely rare." He looked at her seriously. "Most likely he won't be able to communicate with you for fifty to a hundred years. By that time, you'd most likely have passed on yourself."

"I just, I can't believe it. W-we were just talking beforehand," Lydia said in outrage. "Everything was fine so far. Why didn't Beej sense something?"

"I don't know. Whoever did it must have had the power to not let him sense him." Vernie added. "Or, maybe he knew Beetlejuice was concentrating on you so much at the time, he knew it was the time to strike."

"Beetlejuice can't be gone," Lydia held her hands on her head, squeezing tightly. "You don't know him, a tiny bullet, it can't take him down!"

"Beetlejuice was human." Vernie explained once again. "His head was normal. Sure he could have made it as strong as an anvil with magic, but he didn't know to. It was normal. He was normal. He was alive." He looked at her intently. "I know you don't want to believe it, but you were there yourself." He pulled on her shirt gently. "You still have traces on your clothes."

Lydia looked at the blood still on her clothes.

"At least you left and ran to Claire's," Vernie admitted. "In this situation, it was the best reaction. Your instinct was correct, there may have been a second bullet prepared for you. Now." He held up a card to her. "This is your new identity."

"Donny?" Lydia asked shakily.

"No one knows who shot Beetlejuice," Vernie warned her. "This situation is too dangerous now, plus Donny is only in training. The safest thing you can do is get out and keep yourself safe."

Lydia touched her tummy. "After it's born, why can't I come back?" She looked at Vernie angrily. "Why do I have to keep up this charade?"

"No matter what happened to Beetlejuice, beings we are unaware of have been pulling strings," Vernie tried to explain to her. "We don't fully know how Beetlejuice came to be alive again the first time around. Depending on the power behind this scheme, it could happen again one day. Just because you can't contact Beetlejuice, doesn't mean no one can reach him. You must be smart about the situation. If you don't, you and your new family could face grave danger one day. This could happen all over again."

"No supernatural stuff ever again," Lydia replied.

"It's for the best." Vernie pointed at her arm which was turning purple. "Even unborn that baby has a vast amount of power. It's already learning." Lydia shook her arm and it went back to normal. "Just to be safe I'll appoint a trustworthy doctor to you. Don't want you turning colors and knocking things off the wall when you deliver," he joked.

Not so much as a smile from her.

With a wave of his hand, Vernie and Lydia both disappeared.