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

||Chapter Twenty One|| Fight or Flight

It all happened in a flash. One minute, Barbara had been extremely calm, the next, her eyes were glowing bright and her balled fists were glowing pinkish-orange. Adam and Lydia had barely any time to react, holding the enraged female ghost back and trying to keep her from doing anything. It had gotten to the point where Barbara was constantly trying to get out of their hold. This just made Adam and Lydia hold onto her a little more.

"Barb, you need to calm down," Adam said, he and Lydia both now struggling to keep hold of her. "He was probably just messing with you when he said he was not going to stop causing mischief."

"HE'S NOT GOING TO BE WELCOME HERE!" was Barbara's response as she pulled out of the grip her husband and adopted daughter had on her. As she leapt at Betelgeuse, Adam used his powers to hold her back. Barbara let out a loud growl, her fingers clawing at the air as her husband pulled her back and directed her over to the couch with Lydia's help. Sitting the enraged female ghost on the couch, Adam and Lydia sat on either side of her.

"Let me at him!" Barbara floated upwards off the couch and prepared to tackle Betelgeuse to the ground, but Lydia grabbed a hold of her leg and pulled her back down.

"Wow, you told me what happened last time but I never expected to see something quite as serious as this," commented Lydia, reaching up and pulling Barbara back down towards the couch at the female ghost's third attempt to attack Betelgeuse.

"Yeah, but last time, it was both Barbara and I who were violent towards Betelgeuse," Adam replied. "She must have not fully gotten accustomed to the idea of Betelgeuse staying here with us quite yet, whereas the rest of us are. He's become a part of our family now and we all need to treat him as such."

"GUYS!" shouted Betelgeuse from the entrance to the living room. Adam and Lydia glanced over to find Barbara pinning him to the ground and trying to claw at him.

Adam sighed and stood up to go help whilst Lydia pulled out her phone (most likely to call Delia and talk to her about this situation). Lydia sighed and opened up her contacts, as Adam struggled to separate his wife from Betelgeuse, and scrolled through them until she finally found Delia's contact. Clicking on it, she turned her attention over to her deceased pals and giggled a little at the sight of her adoptive ghost father being thrown backwards with a still enraged Barbara in his grip. The female ghost had gone back to trying to get out of her husband's hold, with little to no success this time. Sending a quick text to Delia, Lydia put away her phone and went to help Adam.

"Barbara, stop," her husband said, using his powers to hold her in midair when she pushed Lydia to the ground in an attempt to get to Betelgeuse again. Noticing the injury Lydia had gotten was bleeding heavily, Adam snapped his fingers and it disappeared as quickly as it was caused. "You know what Delia said the last time something like this happened. This isn't like you. You need to stop."

At that, Barbara snapped out of it and her eyes returned to normal. Adam released his hold on his wife and she floated down to the ground. Rubbing her eyes, Barbara glanced from Adam to Lydia and then to Betelgeuse. "What... happened?"

"You tried to attack Betelgeuse and you pushed me to the ground in an attempt to get to him," said Lydia, holding up her right arm to showcase what remained of her injury. Barbara became wide eyed at the sight of it and held up her hands in apology.

"Lydia, I am so so sorry," she said, teleporting over to the teenager and pulling her into a tight hug, which Lydia reciprocated with a forgiving smile. "It was like I went completely feral this time around. Completely different from when Betelgeuse first showed up again."

"We all forgive you, Barbara, hon," said Adam, he and Betelgeuse coming over to join the two females. "It was just an accident. Betelgeuse was joking when he said he was going to not cause more mischief than he had, right bud?"

"Yeah, I was joking. I was going to tell you that before you went all feral on me, B-town," said Betelgeuse, looking at the female ghost. She smiled, accepting his apology.

"Now, I'm going to go upstairs and spend some time alone," said Lydia, standing up and going to head upstairs for a while. "Give my dad and Delia a call and let them know that we'll meet up with them soon. That should give the three of you just enough time to figure out if you can leave the house without worrying about a Sandworm attack."

All three deceased nodded and Lydia rushed upstairs to give them some time.

Summoning the Handbook, Betelgeuse moved to the couch and motioned for the Maitlands to join him. As soon as the two ghosts sat down on either side of him, Betelgeuse opened the Handbook and handed it to Adam to read.

"Now, let's see here..." Adam said just as soon as he put his reading glasses on, his eyes scanning the particular page that Betelgeuse had bookmarked the night before. "Can ghosts leave the house without having to worry about a Sandworm attack?"