Out of Sight, Out of Mind//A Beetlejuice Fanfiction

||Chapter Two|| Conversations

Lydia should have guessed it wouldn't work.

She woke up the next morning, at around half past eight (which was unusual for her, she usually woke up around quarter to eight to get ready for the day then go up to the roof to have her daily talk with the Maitlands). Her eyes widened as she scrambled out of bed and she rushed getting ready, not really caring that her hair was messy as she rushed downstairs for breakfast.

The Maitlands were already in the kitchen, Barbara standing over by the stove and preparing some scrambled eggs for Lydia whilst Adam sat at the counter with his reading glasses on and his eyes scanning an article in the newspaper Charles gave to him. He looked up as Lydia took a seat next to him and awaited for Barbara to give her her breakfast. She guessed her dad and Delia were at work, as they had left their daily note to the Maitlands on the fridge.

"Morning, Lyd. You're up late. What happened?" he asked.

"I think I overslept," replied the teen, face planting onto the counter and then waking up when Adam nudged her.

"We were worried when you didn't come out to the roof this morning," said Barbara as she levitated a steaming plate of scrambled eggs over towards Lydia and set them down in front of the teenager. "We feared something happened."

Lydia took a bite of her eggs and looked up towards Barbara before moving her glance over towards Adam. "I'm so, so, so sorry, you guys. I'll make it up to you tomorrow. I promise. It was a mistake that I hope never happens again."

"We know that, Lydia," said Barbara, smoothing out the teen's hair. "What exactly happened last night that made you sleep in for once? Did you stay up late or something?" That last sentence was spoken in a teasing tone of voice, which made Lydia giggle and Adam roll his eyes in a playful way.

"I saw a shooting star right before I got ready for bed," explained Lydia with a yawn and the Maitlands nodded in understanding. "I managed to make a wish before it disappeared from my sight."

"And what was the wish?" asked Barbara, curious.

"If I told you, you guys would probably get too mad and overprotective over me and even I think that's a little overdoing it. And even if I did tell you guys, it probably wouldn't come true. Not that I expect it to anyway."

"I promise we won't get too overprotective over you," replied Barbara, resting a hand on Lydia's shoulder and giving her a smile. "You can tell us what your wish was. It's okay, it's okay."

'There goes it possibly coming true,' Lydia thought quietly to herself as she took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. "I wished Betelgeuse would come back."

The Maitlands looked at each other with worry then moved Lydia over to the couch so they could have a little talk with her. The teen was sniffling like crazy and pleading with the Maitlands not to be mad at her over and over and over again. The Maitlands sat on opposite sides of the teenager and Barbara rested a hand around her shoulder whilst Adam rubbed comforting circles into her back. All of this seemed to calm Lydia down as she stopped sniffling and buried her head against Barbara's chest.

Barbara used her other hand to stroke Lydia's hair. "We're not mad at you, Lydia. It's totally understandable why you want Betelgeuse to come back and why you wished that he would come back. But you know that we were never going to allow him back into our house even if he did happen to return seeking forgiveness from us. He's deemed himself a threat to you, to us, to your dad and Delia, and would be a potential threat to any living being he comes into contact with. He's done some bad things to the five of us that do not earn him our trust or our forgiveness even so. Which is why he has to stay away from us. You know that, right?"

Lydia nodded in understanding but the Maitlands could sense that she was still sad. The two ghosts wrapped their arms around Lydia in a much needed hug and she melted into their cold embrace before the three of them pulled apart.

"But what will we do if he really wants us to forgive and trust him?" asked Lydia, looking from one Maitland to the other hoping for an answer. Both ghosts thought for a moment.

"Then we have to give him a second chance, have to give him our trust. It's going to be hard because he's revealed himself as a threat to us but we're trying to be sweet and nice ghosts not mean. Now that I think about it, us turning him away would make us mean ghosts and not nice. Maybe giving him a second chance is the right thing to do after all. He knows we're upset at him but we don't want him to think that's what we think of him the next time he shows up, if he shows up. If he does, we'll try our very best to treat him like a part of the family."

"Exactly," said Lydia, nodding in agreement.

"And I know you miss him," continued Barbara. "And the more we will think about it, the more I guess we'll miss him too. Now, let's keep this conversation a secret. We don't want your dad to find out we went against the no mentioning Betelgeuse's name rule. Deal?" Barbara extended her pinkie finger out towards Lydia.

Lydia linked her pinkie finger with Barbara's. "Deal!"