The Frankenstein Complex

The Challenge Demands Satisfaction

"Hey, you two can do the whole possession thing, right?" I ask the Maitland's, they shrug and look at Beetlejuice.
"Any ghost can do it in less than one lesson" he says, they perk up and look intrigued with the new information he offered up.
"Well, you want my dad gone, I do too. Why don't you possess him at the dinner party and if that doesn't work, Beetlejuice can scare the hell out of them" I say, a mischievous glint appearing in Beetlejuice's eyes as the Maitland's scheme.
"Lydia?!" I hear Delia call faintly, cautious footsteps following.
The cards disappear and my sketchbook appears in my lap with a pencil.
"What are you doing up here?" Delia asks as she sits between Adam and I.
The three staying silent as she looks down at the blank page of my scetch book.
"I was going to draw but, when I sat down I lost inspiration" I say, she places a hand over mine and smiles.
"I used to be an artist but, my ex-husband convinced me to quit because I wasn't very good" she says, I frown as the feeling of familiarity takes ahold of me.
"Maybe he was just pushing his feeling of inadequacy onto you" I say, picking up my pencil and sketching her as she looks out at the view from the roof.
"Who's the life coach here?" She says with a small laugh as she nudges me softly, I smile at her briefly before going back to the sketch as we continue talking.
A half hour passes and I decide the picture is finished, I sign the bottom and address it to her before carefully tearing along the perforated edge and handing it to her.
"Oh my god! Thank you" she says, impulsively giving me a hug, I hesitate before returning the gesture.
A moment passes before she lets go and stands up, I stand and bring my foot forward, kicking Beetlejuice in the knee as I notice his eyes, trailing up my legs as if to look up my dress, he stays silent even as his face shows the hurt.
"Lets go make dinner" Delia says, walking toward the window.
I ruffle Beetlejuice's hair as I pass him, leaving the Maitland's in a whirlwind of confusion as Delia and I carefully make our way back into the house.
We go downstairs and into the kitchen, she turns on some classic rock as we make the pizza dough, I throw a pinch of flour at her as she passes by, most of it landing on her apron but some getting in her hair.
She pauses in shock before tossing a sizeable amount back at me, the powder covering the front of my dress and apron. My father walks in as I fling more at her as a form of retaliation.
"What is going on in here?!" He shouts, we freeze and turn to him with guilty expressions on our faces.
Delia grabs the broom and I begin wiping down the surfaces as he scolds us.
"I'm going to go change" I say, quickly going up to my bedroom.
Beetlejuice is sitting at my desk with his feet propped up.
"You are so dirty" he says, that mischievous gleam back in his eyes, I roll my eyes at him as I grab a pair of black athletic shorts and a red tee shirt.
I go into the bathroom making sure I got the flour out of my hair before changing, I go back into my room and set my boots by my bed and tossing my dress and tights in the hamper.
He follows me downstairs, as I enter the kitchen Delia looks up at me, also in new clothes and my dad with his arms crossed and a glare on his face.
"I don't even know how to express my disappointment with you" he says while looking at me.
"I thought you'd be happy we were finally getting along. I guess that was just wishful thinking because nothing is ever good enough for you." I say, anger taking over me as I turn and go back to my room, shutting the door firmly behind me.
I climb through the window and sit on the roof, legs dangling off the ledge, looking out at the small town as the sun slowly goes down.
After what I can assume is an hour, I hear footsteps approach me, too quiet to be Beetlejuice, Adam, or my dad and since they're slow and cautious, it has to be Delia.
She sits next to me, a plate in either hand, she holds one out to me and I take it after a moment.
"Thanks" I say quietly, I grab a slice of cheese pizza off my plate and take a bite as we sit in silence.
I turn to her and set my plate down on the roof next to me.
"What did he say after I left?" I ask, a frown appearing on her face as we quickly finish dinner.
"That you were being dramatic and needed to grow up." She says with a sigh as sets her plate to the side, her hand going up to clutch the crystal on her necklace.
"I'm not wrong, he's never happy with anything. Not anymore" I say.
"He's going through his own process, maybe he's just not going about it in the best way." I look at her with an unamused expression.
"Well, if he could not take it out on me that would be great." I say.
"Lets go back inside, I can make some tea and we can play a game of Scrabble" she says, grabbing her plate and standing up, I grab my plate and take her offered hand as I stand.
I let go of her and we go down to the kitchen, she puts on the kettle while I set up the Scrabble board in the dining room.
She comes in with a tray containing the teapot, sugar, cream, tea biscuits and my favorite teacup with the matching saucer as well as her usual teacup.
She sits across from me, pouring some tea into my cup and placing it on the saucer in front of me.
I thank her as I put a spoon of sugar in it and stir the hot drink.
"That can't be a word!" She exclaims as I place the last letter tile on the board.
I add up the word score and announce that it's worth 44 due to being on two double word scores.
"What the hell?! Asthenia is a word?! Meaning the loss of strength, how do you even know that word?!" She says, I shrug nonchalantly at her as I grab more tiles.
"You tend to learn uncommon words when your parents play Scrabble competitively." I say as she places down 'GHOST', I laugh as I write down the total word score.
The game continues for hours, each word placed with confidence as we play.
"289 to 193, you got closer to me than the first few games" I say, taking the last biscuit and offering it to her.
She takes the biscuit and breaks it in half, offering me half, I accept it and we eat our halves in comfortable silence.
"Good game, I'm gonna have to break out the dictionary next time though." She says, taking the tray into the kitchen as I begin putting the game away, she comes back and takes over cleaning up.
"I'm going to head to bed, I'll see you tomorrow morning" I say, a glance to the clock tells me that it's almost one in the morning, I grab that awful dress from the closet before going upstairs.
I shut my door behind me and hang the dress from my desk chair, I look up and notice Beetlejuice sleeping soundly on my bed, I turn the light off and quietly slip into bed next to him, laying on my side facing away from him.
He turns onto his side and wraps his arms around me, pulling me flush against him, I grab his right hand and interlock our fingers.
I shut my eyes, the sound of rain pattering against the roof lulling me slowly into dreamless sleep.