Betelgeuse-A Beetlejuice Novel

Chapter 26: Happy Life, Brother!

"But I wanna!" BG groaned as he strained to go up. The neitherworld was so different than the usual world, he wanted to fly around and explore it more, but his dad kept a hold of him on the top of his shoulders.

"For the last time, not going to happen," his dad warned him again. As BG tried to climb onto his head, he was pulled back onto the shoulders. "No way, my head is not a trampoline to bounce away on."

"BG."

BG heard his mother's warning. He scratched his head. Freaking annoying. Every time they visited the neitherworld, he never got to roam around. They'd visit some old stupid friends of his mom's, and his dad would pull some cruel jokes on the same people. Actually, heh, his dad's stunts were pretty cool.

But he never got to explore anywhere else, his mom and dad never let him go. Just cause he was one, seriously? So annoying. He'd be two soon, shouldn't it count for something? As he watched where they were headed next though, he really tried to bolt. "No, I don't wanna! He's gonna smother me!"

"I know it's tough, but it's like medication when you're sick," Beetlejuice explained. "We gotta do it."

No. Ugh. "Uncle Donny's annoying," he grumbled, laying his head on his dad's hair. Whenever they came down, they always had to see him. It was such a pain! His dad was just as annoyed with his loving spirit as he was, but he always managed to bottle it up. And every time he asked, he always got the same excuse of 'why'. Still, he'd do it again anyhow. He was a kid, and it was his job to at least reach half annoyance with grownups. "But whyyyyyyyyy?"

"Because without your Uncle, I wouldn't be here with you and your mom," his dad answered predictably. "You also wouldn't have half the juice you got."

BG blew air out of his mouth, showing his discontent with the same answer again. "Why?" he asked predictably.

"He could have died," his mom warned him.

"He'd been dead before. Like dad was dead for years before he was back alive," BG pointed out once again.

"Do we always have to have this conversation?" his dad said, annoyed. Good, job well done. "Your Uncle used you as a balancer, but if anything went wrong, he would have died. That would have been a good hundred years of haunting before coming back to his afterlife. It's also illegal, so he was punished. So, we're nice enough to try and visit." His dad gritted his teeth. "Just take the medication, son."

"It doesn't help that you call the visit medication," his mother warned his father. "Can't we ever have a less strained visit with Donny without you two acting like it's super hard?"

Eh. His mom was annoyed too. Not too bad, but that was boring. BG put his hands on his dad's hair and pointed at the sky. "How come the neitherworld sky is green? How come the living world sky is blue? Why are the roads all twisted in the neitherworld? Why are they dumb and straight in the real world? Why does grandpa look like Frankenstein? Why does my other grandpa look like him in the mornings?"

"Why is it I'm buying you a beetle bar after this visit?" his father asked. "Remind me again, I'm forgetting."

Ooh, a beetle bar! "Never mind, every question will be answered in due time, love you mom and dad, can we get it before we go, I promise to be good, I prrrrooooooomise!"

"After the medication. I mean, visit," his dad corrected himself.

"Yooohooo! There's my lovely brother and his family!" Donny waved to them from behind a white line. A chain kept him attached to a ball nearly ten times his own size. If it had been Beetlejuice, even more security would be needed, but with Donny, the strain was less. "Nephew! Sister!"