Is There Still A We?

Lydia Deetz

"WELL THAT SCARE TACTIC FAILED!" The Maitlands were running back into the attic, they had just been caught by a teenage girl who was going through some sort of goth phase. Atleast that's what it seemed like to them.

"Oh, this is nerve wracking!" Adam was hyperventilating, Baraba ran to him, the sheets still covering both their heads. Before she could even speak the door to the attic creaked open.

"H-Hello?" A small voice echoed throughout the room, a head peeked inside. They met eyes with a girl who had short black hair, she wore a lacy black dress. Adam and Barbara looked at each other and back at her, this wasn't going well.

"Ghosts?..Are you ghosts?" A smile appeared on the girl's face, she had never met any ghost before! This was all so exciting for her.

"Um, y-yeah. Sorry if we scared you." Barbara sighed, looking down at the floor.

"No, you didn't scare me. You're not scary." She mumbled, receiving a groan from the two love birds. The little goth girl walked up to them observing the two slowly and quietly.

"Ooh! Why are you wearing those sheets? Maybe you are scary!? What are you, dismembered? Do you have melted faces or something? Can I see?" She questioned the smile on her growing more and more. Barbara and Adam shared a look before they slowly took off their sad excuse of a disguise. They weren't dismembered, they didn't have melted faces. They honeslty just felt like pathetic ghosts. The girl tilted her head in confusion, she's never seen ghosts like this before.

"You don't look like ghosts."

"Wait, you can see us?" Barbara soon had a smile on her face as well, someone could actually see them! The girl slowly nodded, Adam quickly cut in.

"Well now that we know you can see us. Do you mind leaving and never coming back?" Adam asked but Barbara lightly hit him on the shoulder.

"Adam!"

"What? Isn't that the plan? To get our house back? I'm just trying to speed up the process." He explained, rubbing his shoulder.

"No, no. I am with you! I want to leave this house and go home as soon as possible. By the way, I'm Lydia Deetz! Nice to meet some people who actually understand." She gave them a warm smile, The Maitlands gladly returned it.

"Barbara and Adam Maitland!" Barbara announced pointing to herself then Adam.

"But uh, shouldn't you not be able to see us? We were told the living ignore the strange and unusual, don't you count as living?" Adam had lots of questions about this, he wanted to clear things up now before things get even worse.

"Well maybe, that's because, I myself am strange and unusual." Lydia had a straight face painted on her, she looked off into space before meeting eyes with The Maitlands once more. She was really loving this, and she knew her mom would've too. This really reminded her of the old times, getting to be a weirdo with her mom and no one could tell her she was doing things wrong. Things were so simple back then, she just wanted things to be the way they were.

"So um, your parents-"

"Parents? With an S, as in plural? No, it's simply, Parent. Just me, my dad and Delia. My mom's actually dead." Lydia explained, "Y'know she would've loved this! She was always into the strange and unusual. This one time we we're locked out of the car and she pulled on the handle screaming. 'HELP! HELP! WE'RE BEING CHASED BY A MURDERER!' She knew I would love it!" Lydia laughed, Barbara and Adam couldn't help but smile at the child in front of them. Lydia looked at The Maitlands, her smile fading away.

"Oh sorry, I'm probably boring you." She rubbed the back of her neck, embarrassed. Barbara walked up to her, shaking her head.

"No! It's fine, really!" A small moment of peaceful silence passed by before Lydia spoke again.

"So, you want your house back? And I want to get out of here. Maybe we could help each other out?" Lydia grabbed The Maitlands by their shoulders.

"I've got a plan."

. . .

"So, you two run in behind me when I call for help. Okay?" Lydia whispered to them, the two adult ghosts nodded. They were ready for this plan to work. Lydia let out a quiet laugh, she ran inside of her dads room screaming.

"DAD, DAD! HELP! W-We have to go! THEY'RE CHASING ME!" Lydia screamed running up to her father, Charles Deetz, and embracing him, he hugged her back. He looked horrified.

"Who's chasing you!?" He yelled, patting his daughter on the head. Lydia pointed to the entrance of the room, Barbara and Adam entered trying to put their best scary faces on.

"THE GHOSTS! We have to leave this house, it's haunted! Don't you see them!? They want us out!" Lydia was screaming in fake fear, trying her best to fool her dad. He looked at the doorway, he didn't see anyone.

"But Sweetheart, no one's there." He looked down at Lydia, he started to question if his daughter was going insane.

"You have to see them! They're going to hurt us! WE GOT TO GO, GRAB EVERYTHING AND LEAVE-..." Lydia yanked the sheet off of her father's bed while she was shouting. The sheets were gone, only to reveal a awkwardly posed Delia.

"Delia?..."

"Hey." Delia looked away from Lydia, refusing to make eye contact with her. Adam and Barbara stood up straight, not knowing how to react to all of this.

"Dad, why is Delia in your bed?" Lydia turned to her father, she didn't know how to feel. She was mad, she was confused, she was mostly disappointed. She was sad, and that meant she was invisible all over again.

"Lydia, I...I have asked Delia to marry me." Charles spoke calmly and quietly.

"Dad, no! You can't do that!" She yelled at her dad, she couldn't do this anymore.

"Lydia, listen! This is for the best. I need a wife, you need a mother." Charles spoke a bit louder, but Lyda fought back.

"But, I already have a mother!" Tears were forming in her eyes, she held her hand to her heart.

"Lydia-"

"Dad, if we just go back home maybe we can find her? Maybe she's still there if we can just-" She tried to speak, but Charles cut her off immediately.

"LYDIA! Emily is gone! Your mother is gone! She's not coming back and you need to accept that Delia is the best replacement." There was a brief silence before Delia shifted the to edge of the bed, placing a hand on Lydia's shoulders.

"Maybe this is for the best?" She gave Lydia a smile, Lydia went silent. She couldn't talk, the only sentence she could push out was:

"I wish I was dead!" She pushed Delia off of her and ran out of the room.

"Lydia!" Barbara and Adam called after her in unison, Delia looked down in pain. She had just become a mother, and she was already failing. Charles embraced his new fiance, placing a kiss on the top of her head.

"Don't worry, she'll come around."