Behind the Curtain - Beetlejuice

Dead Mom

Raven still couldn't quite believe that she'd auditioned. She also couldn't quite believe how that song had helped her, maybe she could talk to her mom the way Lydia talked to hers. But maybe she wouldn't get a response like Lydia. She sat on her bed, just staring out her window at the city below her. It was alive in a different way than Azarath had been. Where Azarath was simple, peaceful and real, Blüdhaven was confusing, corrupt and full of machines. From one extreme to another. But then again, Azarath didn't exist anymore; and who's fault was that? She hugged her knees tighter to her chest as she watched people go about their lives. She could hear a gentle snoring from the other room, Dick and Babs were probably asleep. She should be asleep too, but she didn't feel like it.

"Mom," She asked out into the silence of her room, "I don't know if you can hear me, I don't even know if you'd get a second life. Anyway, I just want to tell you that I'm okay. I've met some nice people, they're both police officers. Dick and Babs. And they've offered me a room to stay in, and they've even let me audition for a musical. It's like those plays we had back in Azarath, but with singing and dancing. I watched one earlier, The Greatest Showman, and it was so alive. You would have loved it, mom. I know you would have. But I don't want to hurt them, not like I hurt you. Like I hurt Azarath. But that won't happen now mom, I've trapped dad. In the Chakra, like you taught me. I just... mom, if you can hear me, please... let me know," She waited in silence a moment, waited for anything but nothing happened, "Okay. Well, I'll talk to you tomorrow then. Love you," Raven curled down into her bed and fell asleep.

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Raven had been living with Dick and Babs for a couple of days now, and everyone was starting to get more comfortable around each other. Raven still tried to talk to her mom every evening, and there was still no response, but it made her feel better.

"I have the email," Dick sung as he waltzed into the dining room to join Babs and Raven, "You guys ready?"

"Ready as we'll ever be," Babs said as she put an arm around his shoulder.

He clicked open the link and it loaded quickly with the cast list. Raven's breath caught as she saw her name.

"Oh my god, Raven, that's awesome," Babs said, "And you did well too sweetie." She added as Dick pouted at her, "Can't believe I'm living with two superstars in the house. When's the first rehearsal?"

"Tomorrow evening we have a meeting," Dick read out, "They'll give us a finalised timetable then."

"Good luck my little superstars," Babs grinned as she picked up her keys, "I'll see you when I see you," And she left for work.

"I need to get ready for work as well," Dick said, "You sure you're okay here by yourself again? I have a large network of friends."

"I'll be fine," Raven smiled up at him, "Really. But thank you anyway."

"Alright then," Dick said, "I'll see you this evening. Be ready."

As soon as the door clicked closed Raven re-loaded the cast list.

BEETLEJUICE- Richard Grayson
LYDIA DEETZ- Raven Grayson (She had taken his name for this as she did not have one herself)
BARBARA MAITLAND- Kori Anders
ADAM MAITLAND- Wallace West
DELIA DEETZ/MISS ARGENTINA- Artemis Crock
CHARLES DEETZ- Kaldur'ahm
MAXINE DEAN/JUNO- Seline Hoirs
MAXIE DEAN- Alex Loryine
OTHO- Andrew Kwein
SKY- Megan Morse

She hadn't imagined it, she really had been cast as Lydia.

"Mom? Can you see this?" She asked, "I got the role. I bet you'd be really proud, wouldn't you? I know you would. I'll save you a seat for the opening performance if you want to come along."

She looked out over the flat, looking for a sign that her mom had heard her. But, as usual, there was none. It didn't disappoint her as much as it used to, it just meant her mom couldn't make a sign. It didn't have to mean she didn't hear her. It didn't have to mean anything.

She closed down the laptop and turned back to her room, another day stuck inside doing nothing. Unless... she could always go out and come back before either of her 'guardians' got home. She picked up her backpack, picked up a few snacks from the kitchen, and headed out the front door. The breeze was nice, with the sun. It was one of those days where everything felt like it was going to go right, but Raven hadn't felt like that in a while, today was still one of those days. But she was learning to deal with it, that seemed that was all she could do.

She began walking in a random direction, she didn't know the layout of the city so this was the time to learn it. It never seemed quiet to her, there was always someone else on the street, head down and fast pace, maybe the crime rates were high. She'd never had to worry about that before, back on Azarath there had been no crime, everyone was so peaceful and respectful of each other.

"Can you imagine it, mom?" Raven asked, "Crime back in Azarath? We would all have been so shocked we wouldn't even know how to punish them," She looked around again at the city, at the mix that lived within it, "I wonder how you left this behind sometimes mom. The musicals, the people, the food. The food most of all. But then I see the effect that the earth had on people, the hunched shoulders, the coldness of them. It's different to Azarath in so many ways but when you look at the ideals, they're just trying to make their own Azarath. Oh, and mom, there's this thing called Netflix. Something to do with movies and shows, it's great. I bet you'd come back here now if you could, just to watch it."

"Freak," She shut up at the comment as a man walked past her, spitting at her feet.

For a moment she was filled with her father's rage, hearing his voice in her head telling her to kill him. But she quickly subdued it and turned back on her walk. That was the main problem with having him trapped in her Chakra, she could hear him whenever she lost concentration. And though that wasn't often, whenever she did she didn't like it at all. The thoughts he had, she wasn't surprised he was known as the devil himself. Whatever had possessed her mom to have a kid with him? But the thing was, whilst she was strong, her powers had come from him, eventually, he'd find a way around her defences, a way into her head, and she needed to be long gone when he did. She walked the rest of her trip in silence, only stopping off once at the park to watch the ducks and eat her makeshift lunch. Back at the flat she opened up Dick's laptop again and printed off the cast list to put in her room. Since moving in, the room had become more personalised.

The wardrobe was now full of a selection of clothes that Dick and Babs had gone out shopping for her for, (apparently a leotard and a cloak weren't suitable everyday attire) a small vanity held a mirror and a few select pieces of make-up for her, she had her own room in a way. The cast list got pinned onto the notice board on the back of her door, the only thing pinned up with it an image of her mom that she'd managed to get from her house before fleeing.