Somebody's on the Roof (Beetlejuice fanfic)

Deal

Beetlejuice sat crisscross in front of Lydia, watching her as she wiped the remaining tears from her face. She was done crying now; she was too intrigued by everything that was happening that she didn't have the space in her brain to be upset. She leaned forward a bit, preparing to listen intently.
"Like I said, I'm a demon," Beetlejuice began. Lydia's gaze moved towards his mouth, eyeing his sharp canines. "Technically a bio-exorcist. I help ghosts who have a bit of unfinished business. You're a ghost, and these breathers start moving into your house? I help chase 'em out. I'm like a human exterminator." He gave a raspy chuckle.
"Are there a lot of ghosts that need that done?" Lydia thought of every ghost story she'd ever heard, al the stories of people haunted and tortured by spirits in their houses and eventually forced to leave. How many had the demon sitting right by her been involved in?
"Oh, man, you have no idea. Especially since you people love old houses even more nowadays."
Lydia nodded. That's exactly how her father and Delia had been.
"The thing is, I got into this job because I'm stuck. I'm a dead guy, but I'm somehow trapped in the world of the living. All I can do is find ghosts here and help them out. I can't go back to where I belong." He shrugged. "I've been hanging out here recently. This place has been abandoned for God knows how long. I mean, look at it! It's ugly as shit. So how do you think I feel when a bunch of breathers decide to shove their noses in it? Not too great." He narrowed his eyes.
"It's not my fault, if you're looking at me. I didn't want to be here." Lydia withdrew into herself, shivering. She didn't like the idea of her house being haunted.
"Oh, I know you didn't. That's partly why I like you." He smirked. "I didn't know what to do, but then I remembered what my job was. I started planning something huge, something that would get you the hell out of this house quicker than you could imagine. But then..then you saw me."
Lydia looked him up and down, trying to recall any point where she had seen him. She couldn't remember at all.
"The shadow, I mean," he added, noticing her confusion. "A shadow is a warning of demonic presence. If someone can see the shadow, that means they're going to see the demon. I figured that if there was a chance I could speak to you, I should take it."
"Well..here I am."
"Yeah. Except you almost weren't." Beetlejuice raised his eyebrows. "I finally get the nerve to talk to you, I come into your room, and then I find out you're ready to make yourself my next client."
Lydia's face reddened. "Did you read the note?"
"Only the first sentence. I couldn't find you anywhere in the house, so I came up here. If you'd chosen some bridge or something away from here, we'd both be fucked. There's no way I would have found you in time."
Lydia thought back to the beginning of the note she'd written: By the time you read this, I, Lydia Deetz, will be gone. She felt more tears brimming in her eyes. Beetlejuice shifted, moving so he was sitting right next to her instead of across from her.
"So why'd you wanna do it?"
She glanced up at him, shrugging. She didn't want to talk about it, at risk of having a breakdown.
"You're trying to find someone, aren't you?"
She blinked in surprise. "How'd you know?"
"Usually people aren't this passionate about death unless they're trying to find someone. Or escape someone."
"My mom," Lydia said quietly. "I want my mom." She buried her face in her hands.
Beetlejuice hardly reacted. He didn't say anything after that, didn't touch her, he just sat there. Lydia noticed that she couldn't hear him breathing, and that unnerved her once she'd noticed.
"I made it worse," he finally said once Lydia was able to catch her breath. She shook her head.
"No, it's just..I don't know."
"Let me tell you something. I'm pretty experienced when it comes to death, obviously. It's been a while, but from what I've heard, the Netherworld is pretty humongous. Imagine how big a place has to be to hold every single dead person ever. In fact, it gets even bigger as more people come in. Now imagine trying to find one specific person in that. It'd take forever. It'd be freakin' hard!"
Lydia didn't know whether to feel worse or better. She had basically just received confirmation on what happens when you die. No Heaven, no Hell, just..just the Netherworld, apparently. Whatever that was.
"I know what's going on with your dad and that lady. What's her name, Deborah?"
Lydia, not expecting that, giggled. It was the first time she laughed in what felt like forever. "Delia," she said.
"Yeah, Delilah, what ever. Anyway, I know that they both aren't treating you great. God knows what you're dealing with at school. What I'm getting at is..I'm a demon. I can be summoned." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. He handed it to her and she examined it. The front simply had Bio-Exorcist written on it, and the back had his name written on it three times.
"I know they tell you not to make deals with demons or whatever, but I have a proposition," he said. "I haven't spoken to a living person in hundreds of years. I haven't been summoned in even longer. Sure, I scare them off, but it's kind of hard to get them to say your name when they're fleeing in terror." He smiled. "So..if anyone gives you trouble, you call me. That's all you gotta do. That's your end of the bargain covered."
"And what would you do?"
He smiled. "What I do best. Fuck 'em up." He stared at her for a couple seconds, then he finally stood. "All you gotta do is call. I could use a friend, Lyds."
Lydia paused. No one had ever called her "Lyds" before. "..Me too," she said, and she realized it was true.
"Cool. It's settled, then." He stuck out his hand. "Friends?"
Lydia hesitated but, remembering what he had done for her, snapped herself out of it. "Friends." She grabbed his hand and it was solid, like she was touching a real person. She felt a small jolt of electricity running through her. Had she just made a deal with a demon?
The joy on his face made her forget the bad connotations. He turned and started to walk away.
"Are you leaving?" Lydia asked.
"Yeah, because you're hopefully getting the hell off the roof." He reached out to rustle her hair. "You'll have plenty of time to be dead, kid. Save that for later. When you're old and gross and decrepit, maybe."
Lydia laughed. She looked down to wipe her eyes, and when she looked back up, Beetlejuice was gone.
She didn't get to thank him.
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Lydia climbed back into her bedroom and immediately tore the note into pieces. She was glad no one else had seen it; she didn't want to explain it to anyone. It looked like no one had even been up to check on her.
She grabbed her diary and taped the business card on to the next blank page, the name facing up. Curious, she thought the name three times in her head. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice.
Nothing.
She crawled into bed and slept harder than ever.
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