Dead Shadow: Beetlejuice Fanfiction Story

Chapter 6: Bug

"Goodbye, home." Beatrice waved goodbye, fondly remembering all the years they spent there. All the fun she used to have. A new town, and a new state. A new start. Her parents were going with her too, she'd be too far away from them in her mind. A new start with everything. Although, a small part of her wished she didn't need a new start. She wished they could have all gone to school together with Lydia. That this mess had never happened, and life just continued to make sense.

Out of the corner of her eye, Beatrice noticed Betty Juice on the other side of the house. She was going to say something to her, but Betty simply waved and walked off very fast. So fast she didn't even see her. At least, that must be what had happened. It's not like Betty could just disappear.

She ran to her parents car. A new life began today.

The Torturing Begins . . .

University of Bridgeport.

Duncan checked on his list of new classes. He'd just moved into his dorm room. He was still waiting on those paintings to sell and for him to get a percentage, but in the meantime, the worry just circled over his head. Even in the new year. At first, it was so easy. The plan had sounded super easy, and he wasn't the one murdering anyone. It'd surely be okay, Lydia Deetz sounded like a disturbed person anyhow. At least, the way she dressed and the things she liked. But.

When he was right there, in the moment that it happened, it didn't feel like he had no guilt. It didn't feel like the girl had been off-balanced. Guilt was heavy, but what was done was done. He just needed to collect and take care of it. He needed it.

If anything ever happened to him, if he ever got sick in the head then he would be able to take care of it. He could get away, or he could get doctors before things got out of control. His grandmother, rest her soul, she always came to his family's house to see him. She never let him visit her. When he was old enough, he was tired of never seeing her house. He knew the address, his family just told him he could never go there. On the few occasions he did, it was to pick her up for something. Never getting a chance to even peak in.

So he went to look for himself. During lunch time, he went to her house. He didn't do anything except look into a window of the kitchen sink. It was covered in coachroaches and muck and things he couldn't identify! He saw his grandmother's horrified face as she walked by and he took off.

His family told him she had a psychological problem letting things go. That she was a hoarder. He never visited her place again, until there was no choice but for her to let go of everything. The house had to be cleaned as she went into a retirement home. By the time his family finished helping out that house, he couldn't eat certain foods for a long time. He became extremely clean and never left anything out in the open.

His dorm room consisted of a small wooden desk, a spinning seat, a small endtable and a refrigerator. Everything else was provided by the school. As long as he never got anything, bought senseless items, then he would be fine.

At least, that's what he thought as a small bug crawled out from beneath the desk. Just a tiny bug, small enough even the most scared people would squash it with their thumb. Practically a gnat size. He just smashed it with his foot and went back to looking at his classes.

Then another bug came out. Not real big again, but slightly bigger. About twice the size of a gnat. He squished it.

Then another bug came out? This one was about the size of a fly. It has a strange green color to it. Duncan didn't even know the color of it. Still, he squashed it.

Then another one came, slightly bigger. Okay, this was getting weird. He bent down and looked under his desk but saw no more bugs. He squashed it again.

Yet somehow, even though he'd just looked under there, another bug was coming out. It was about the size of a dime. How could that have been hiding? It was really a neon kind of green, almost slimy. Disgusting. He took off his shoe this time and holding his shoes in his hand, he squashed it. That one he would have felt under his feet.

Then another one came out, about the size of a quarter. Disgusting! He bent down, squished it with his shoe and stared under the desk. It was clear again. He waited several minutes to see where they were coming from before he was certain there were no more.

He went to put his shoe back on, when he actually saw another one coming out. Twice the size of a quarter! He squished it. Then another one came out. He grabbed one of his few moving boxes that contained his class books and dropped it onto the bug. He picked the box back up and waited.

Then, he saw a head. He jumped back, almost falling. The bug was so big, it couldn't fit through the open space! His desk reached almost to the floor except for the drawer part which was a little bit more off the floor. He didn't even want to imagine how big it had been. It moved it's head back and he waited. He breathed hard, unable to believe there was a bug that big in America!

It must have been his imagination. It must have been. Then, he saw it. It was coming round the opposite end of the desk. At least an inch in height and he couldn't even say the weight. It was purple with light green spot all around it. He could even see the antennae moving on it!

He screamed and headed out the door. The dorm was infested! He waited to see if anyone else was coming out yet, but no one was in the halls. Then, he looked toward his dorm room door. In his hurry, he left it open.

He saw a head, trying to come out of the the door! The antennae were massive, it was massive, it couldn't even fit through the door! Duncan couldn't take it, he ran to the Resident Assistant's room and knocked viciously, demanding he needed help. When they came out, he pointed to his door.

The bug was gone. He told the RA all about it. They went with him back to his room and looked all around.

"There's nothing here, Duncan," they said to him. "There's not even bodies of bugs you said you squashed."

"But they were!" He picked up the moving box he used to squash them and showed him the bottom.

"It's clean," they said. "Everything's clean. I think you just need some sleep."

"I did not dream this up!"

"You haven't been doing anything bad or against the rules in here?" They asked him. "Knocking at my door at 11 at night about bugs being too massive to squeeze out of your dorm room doesn't sound like something a normal person not on anything would do. Do you understand?"

Shit. They thought he was on drugs? He never touched drugs, that stuff was wrong. His parents taught him years ago not to mess with drugs. "I guess. I just dreamed it."

"I think so too," The RA confirmed. "If you have any other massive bugs the size of the doorway come back, just let me know. Otherwise, I haven't heard a single report about this kind of thing. It's just your imagination. Or, if you are doing something bad in here, knock it off. Understand?"

What else could Duncan do? It had to have been a dream. There wasn't a single ounce of evidence that a bug was even inside the room, there was no liquid and no bodies. Nothing. "Sorry."

"No problem. See ya, Duncan. Get some rest."

Duncan closed the door and looked around the room briefly. Rest felt like the last thing he wanted to do in that room.

Unseen by him though, glowing neon green eyes shined from beneath the small area in the desk.

There was no way he could keep him out forever.