Work Text:
With a ‘click’ a bright light flickered in the darkness as a harsh ‘whirl’ sound followed, the photo began to slip out from the bottom of her camera. Quickly Lydia ran off after capturing a picture of what she believed her parents dressed in sheets. She slammed her door closed snickering, turning her lamp on flopping down on the bed. She held the photo in the light watching the image develop.
Her parents are going to be so embarrassed when they see she caught them red handed. They have been driving her nuts lately. They’ve been knocking on her door, her walls, groaning, yelling. Then she caught them dressed in sheets. Why the hell were they pretending to be ghosts? Kinda embarrassing. Must be some sick roleplay they’re in…
She squinted, leaning forward as she studied the image.
Where were the feet…? Why did they have no legs? Her eyes went wide as her hand started to shake when realization hit her like a shit ton of bricks. The image she captured wasn’t her parents… Those were ghosts.
While Lydia had made that discovery—the Maitlands were pissed. They wanted the Deetz family out so bad. They’re causing a ruckus and destroying all the hard work they put into building that house. Then here comes the Deetz waltzing into their home thinking they now owned the place all because they died. It was too much especially for Barbara to watch this family renovate their already perfect home.. Each change tore at her spectral heart. The family ripped her wall paper from the walls and changed the color. This lady named Delia, ordered a MASSIVE dumpster truck, hired men to walk into HER house to throw out all their furniture they spent a fortune on to tie the whole place together. They changed the windows to Delia’s art piece and removed the large beautiful windows specifically designed for the house.
They’ve tried everything to get them out. They tried to disrupt their sleep by being loud and obnoxious. Hell they went as far as HANGING themselves in the closet with a noose tied around their necks. Lastly they tried dressing up in sheets and moaning and groaning while floating down the halls.
They couldn’t take it anymore. Nothing was working!!
Going to the attic Barbara tore off her sheet and tossed it to the couch. She started pacing while Adam slowly removed his sheet, his eyes followed his distressed wife. He gently placed the sheet down and reached out for her arm, pausing her.
“Hey… Maybe we should try again– to talk with Beetl–” Adam blinked when Barbara covered his mouth glaring at him.
“Last time we tried to make a deal with him, he said he wanted to kill her parents!!” She hissed and Adam rolled his eyes, sighing. He gently removed her hand from his mouth and wrapped an arm around her waist.
“I think he was joking around. He was just saying he would. Do you really think he would kill them? If anything, maybe it’s a part of his whole scare tactic. He’s really good at what he does.”
“Well…. We are kinda desperate. I can’t stand back and watch the Deetz family destroy everything we built from the ground up..” Barbara sighed looking from Adam and to the beautiful model he built while they were still alive. “Let’s talk to him..”
Barbara waited for Adam to nod before chanting his name three times, “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice……. Beetlejuice.”
They both spun around hearing an eerie cackling coming from behind them, the ground started to shake as the floorboards split open. Slowly the poltergeist rose from the floor and he stood there in his striped suit and tie with a wide grin.
“Adam… Barbs. Miss me?” He asked jumping down in front of them causing the couple to back up. “Whatcha need? I’ll kill these suckers if they think they’ll be stayin’ in your house.” He offered with a wink, and Barbara glared at Adam who nervously laughed shaking his head.
“Oh, funny as ever. But—Yes, we need help getting the Deetz family out..Still. We can’t have them living here with us.” Adam said, clearing his throat.
“Sure, sure.. I can get them out for ya. But what is it in for me?” Beetlejuice sauntered forward wiggling his way in between the couple wrapping his arms around their shoulders. “We gotta crack a deal here. Ya hear me? I don’t do charity work!” He started laughing like a maniac and Barbara once again glared at her husband hoping he could come up with something.
“Uh—What do you want?” Adam decided to ask, then his wife kicked his leg making him grunt in pain.
“...What do I want..? What do I want.. He asks–” Beetlejuice mumbled repeatedly before drawing both Adam and Barbara closer leaning forward. “A night where ya join me for an Italian dinner!” He snickered, pushing them away and turning on his heel holding his arms out. “How about it? I get these breathers outta ya hair, and ya eat Italian food with me? It’ll be my speciality! Whatcha say? Deal? Come on, make a deal with me! I make a killa pasta dish.”
“You want us to come over… So you can cook us food, and eat with you? That’s what you want from all this?” Barbara asked, crossing her arms.
“Ya know it makes me so happy. You two kids picked me, ya didn’t have to but ya did. I just wanna be real pals with ya! Get to know ya. It makes me wanna kiss you guys.... come, on–” Beetlejuice grabs Barbara his lips inches from hers. She panics her hands placed on his chest holding him back. Adam grabs Beetlejuice, yanking him off of her. “Listen, just tell me how ya want them killed and it’s done.”
“You don’t have to kill anybody, damn it!” Adam snapped glaring at Beetlejuice.
“Ah! Possession, good..good..” Beetlejuice growled out, rolling his shoulders and kicking out his feet as if he was already preparing himself for the greatest possession in his afterlife.
“N-No.. Listen. Beetl—” Barbara started saying before Beetlejuice interrupted wagging his finger at her.
“Ah—Ahh, We don’t use the B word around here Babs.” Beetlejuice warned before resting his hands on his hips letting her continue.
“..Right. Anyways, we just want to get some people out of our house. Please don’t kill them.”
“Ah… I understand..” He muttered repeatedly to himself as he swung an arm around Barbara’s shoulder leaning in close to her with a wicked grin curling over his lips. “Listen if ya hire me, ya gotta trust the process. I’ll give em a real good scare. Once in a lifetime experience. Take their breath away, if ya catch my drift.”
“..I mean can you even be scary?” Adam finally asked and Beetlejuice’s eyes widened and he leaned back hysterically laughing shaking his head.
“Oh! Oh.. Ok–Right–Right.. Thanks for askin’, pshhh—Can I be scary..? He asks…” He started muttering to himself, stumbling over his own words as he turned his body slightly, wanking the air, before turning back around, with a knowing smirk, “Whatcha think of this?”
As Beetlejuice decided to show Adam and Barbara just how terrifying he could be, the atmosphere around them grew tense and chilling. His form began to twist and contort, morphing into a grotesque and ghastly figure beyond their wildest nightmares. He extended his arms out widely, and his whole face shifted into a horrific demonic monster. His entire flesh peeled off, revealing a skull with black eyes that moved to the side of the skull. Long, sharp, jagged teeth poked out from the creature's mouth, and a thick layer of spit hung from the gaping dark hole. Layers of tiny sharp teeth were displayed all around his head as spider-like arms pushed out from every direction of his face. The air seemed to grow colder, and an unsettling silence fell over the room. When he finally turned toward them, his monstrous appearance sent a wave of pure terror crashing over Adam and Barbara. They couldn't help but scream, their voices echoing in the attic, as Beetlejuice's horrifying transformation left them paralyzed with fear. Just as quickly as the fear came over them, he morphed back to his original form. “So.. Ya like it?” He asked, acting like he didn’t just scare the shit out of them.
“Uhh.. Okay, you’re hired.” Adam said while his wife was still in shock–shaking.
“Trust me, they’ll be outta here before ya know it.” Beetlejuice winked and with a ‘poof’ he was out of the attic and starting his work. It was time to wake the Deetz fam.
Beetlejuice appeared in the Deetz living room, he caught Charles sitting on the couch while Delia stood in front of him giving a speech on some art piece. He grimaced to the art sculpture mumbling things under his breath. Then an idea struck him and a dark grin curled over his lips.
“My god, Charles… Are you even paying attention to me?” Delia asked her hands, hitting her thighs with a dramatic sigh.
“Of course honey, I’m just listening and catching up with the news. I didn’t have time to read the paper this morning.” He stated before he heard Delia scream making him drop the paper flinching.
Delia was suddenly wrapped in the coils of a huge black and white striped snake with a demonic head and sharp, bared teeth. Charles tried to get up from the chair, but the chair’s arms curled around his wrists and ankles, holding him down. He screamed, trying everything and anything to escape the chair’s hold. When he finally managed to free himself, it caught Beetlejuice’s attention. Charles darted up the stairs, racing for a room and almost running straight into his daughter knocking her into the wall.
“D-Dad, what’s going on?” Lydia asked groggily, having just been woken up. Beetlejuice slithered through the railing of the stairs, hissing. Charles screamed again, pushing past Lydia and racing for a room as an escape. Beetlejuice caused the door to slam shut on him. His tail whipped at incredible speed, breaking the railing and sending Charles crashing down to the first floor with a 'thud.'
Lydia backed up against the wall as Beetlejuice drew closer, his snake head getting dangerously close to the shaken teen. “S-Stop, please!” she cried, huddling against the wall, shaking and hiding her face in her arms.
This… thing was going to kill her, wasn’t it? She was about to be snake food.
Beetlejuice was instantly intrigued by the gothic teen when his eyes caught sight of her. He wasn’t sure why he felt drawn to her, or why her father had just pushed his daughter aside, leaving her to die while he saved his own sorry ass. For once in his career, he stood there with hesitation until the married couple who had hired the poltergeist, put an end to this.
“Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!” Barbara screamed, sending the growling ghoul back to the model in the attic.
“Really?! You send me back while I was working?!! Ya are a bunch of losers!!! I didn’t need you anyway!!” Beetlejuice yelled, flinging his arms around and screaming in anger.
Adam and Barbara watched Lydia crying and running down the hall, slamming her bedroom door shut in petrified haste. The two exchanged guilty glances and sighed in defeat, so it was true after all. This poltergeist they hired wasn’t going to hold back. He truly was going to do everything and anything to get them out of the house. Even if that meant killing them all.. They didn’t want the Deetz family dead. They just wanted them out. With that in mind the married couple went to the Neitherworld.. Maybe they can talk to Juno, they needed proper guidance with getting rid of the breathers that infested their house.
...
The Maitlands have been away for a few days now. Lydia noticed a change around the house. Everyone was walking on eggshells, shaken and horrified by the unexplainable events that had taken place. Delia and Charles had been fighting non-stop, arguing about where they were moving to, and about the schools around the area. This house had already been sold, so it was set in stone. Lydia was once again caught in the horrid predicament of moving AGAIN. How many times did she need to be introduced to a new school, to a new set of eyes? She was honestly sick of it– it felt like the world had her trapped in a spiral of some sick joke, forcing her to start over and over again.
There she was, lying on her back, staring up at the ceiling as she had been for the past few hours. She had tried to talk to her father, but instead of having an actual conversation, she only ended up causing another argument.
So now she was back to being invisible as per usual.
“I’m done with this.” Lydia growled and pushed herself up off her bed and walked out of her bedroom. She was about to walk down stairs until she heard a loud bang coming from the attic. Pausing she turned her head up the stairs to the door she’s never opened. Curiosity led her to the attic door, she hesitantly pushed the door open. Seeing cobwebs covering the walls, and then she saw the model in the middle. She walked over to the model in awe, and noticed a small…..person? Sitting on a chair with sunglasses leaning back.
“A-are you a ghost?" Lydia asked suddenly, wondering if he would reply to her. Beetlejuice slipped off his sunglasses. His legs hit the ground in the model with a ‘thud’ and he leaned forward, squinting at the gothic teen.
Oh… he could recognize this beautiful goddess just from her energy.
A smirk crawled across his face as he studied her closely. "Oh, I’m the ghost with the most, babe. Whatcha doin’ up here? No one’s been up here since the Maitlands."
“The Maitlands?” Lydia questioned quietly, “I just needed a break– From my father, from this strange demonic ghost that messed with my family. Thanks to that experience, I’m being forced to move…again.” She looked to the side not even sure why she was telling a ghost all this. But for some strange reason she felt like she could. “I kinda don’t see the purpose of living anymore..” She mumbled which took the poltergeist by surprise.
He froze just for a moment before asking, “Why?” His face scrunched up in confusion. Why the hell would this young teenager have such dark thoughts? She had a family, a father, a house—Well a new house on the way. But as quickly as the concern came, it vanished. Especially when he got no response from the depressed girl staring off at nothing.
“Oh.. So ya have no clue what’s goin’ on..” Beetlejuice smirked darkly, an idea coming to him, he stood up in the model pacing before pausing. This suicidal teen was in a vulnerable state. Which was perfect. Beetlejuice could easily use her to his advantage and manipulate the entire situation. In fact he had her RIGHT where he wanted her. He pointed his finger at the now confused goth. “Ya can help me. You can help me get outta here. And I’ll help ya with your ghost troubles.”
“What’s the point? I’m already moving. There’s only one way to escape this... death,” Lydia stated rather grimly. Her words were so bleak that even Beetlejuice felt a twist of discomfort. He snorted, trying to hide the fact that, deep down, her statement had actually bothered him.
“Don’t ya get it? They’d follow ya right to the new house. They’re like damn parasites hard to get rid of.” Beetlejuice lied now crossing his arms staring up at Lydia meeting her eyes finally. “Hey, listen here, kid.. Those Maitland ghosts are the ones tryna run ya outta your house! Summon me and I’ll protect ya from them. All ya gotta do is…” He paused, snapping his fingers. A flyer materialized out of thin air, drifting lazily down. Lydia snatched it midair, her brow furrowing as she read the name scrawled across it.
“Say my name three times,” he murmured, his voice dropping into something low and almost hypnotic.
“Beetlejuice?” Lydia read aloud, her tone uncertain. “Your name is Beetlejuice?”
His eyes gleamed with excitement, the rush of power swelling inside him as she spoke his name twice.
“That’s right, kid, just one more time!” he cackled, his jagged teeth flashing as his grin stretched too wide. He could taste his freedom—just one more word, and he’d be loose again. Free to do whatever the hell he wanted.
“Beetlejuice—”
A crack of thunder rattled the air, the sound so loud it shook Lydia to her bones—
Lydia gasped, her body jerking upright in bed. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest, and her skin was slick with sweat. The darkness of her bedroom swallowed her whole, the city lights outside doing little to chase away the lingering dread.
Another nightmare.
The same one.
The same goddamn one.
She exhaled sharply, pressing a trembling hand to her forehead. It had been years—years—since she had summoned him. And yet, no matter what she did, she couldn’t get rid of him. His presence clung to her like rot in the walls.
Lydia reached for the glass of water on her nightstand, desperate to soothe her parched throat. The glass slid away before her fingers could touch it.
She froze.
Slowly, she reached again—and it slid even farther.
A cold prickle ran down her spine, her breath caught in her throat.
"Oh, for fu—” she muttered, standing to retrieve it herself.
The moment she moved, the glass shot off the nightstand with violent force, smashing against the wall. Shards exploded across the floor. She yelped, stumbling back as the temperature in the room plummeted. Her breath curled in the air, a thin mist forming before her lips. And then, from the shadows—
Laughter.
That horrible, familiar laughter. It circled her like a predator toying with its prey, echoing from everywhere and nowhere at once. The kind of laugh that slithered under her skin, that delighted in her fear.
Lydia clenched her fists, shaking and she couldn’t tell if she was more scared or pissed off right now. This happens EVERY night. She had scars to prove it, he just won’t stop. It’s just another show for him.
“Enough!!!” She knelt, reaching for the broken shards, and hissed as one sliced into her finger. “Shit!” The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth as she instinctively sucked on the wound.
The cackling grew louder.
"Ohh, babe, that looked like it huuuurt." He cooed his voice as a whisper in her ear. His cold dead breath against her neck. Lydia whirled around—no one was there. Her pulse roared in her ears– it was almost deafening. She was done. Done playing his sick games.
"Leave me the hell alone!" she screamed into the darkness. "I’m sick of you! Haven’t you terrorized me enough?! You’ve been doing this shit for YEARS!!"
Silence.
Then—The bed creaked. A slow, deliberate weight pressing into the mattress behind her.
She watched as he slowly materialized into his form. There he sat on her bed, in his striped suit, legs spread wide as he stared at her like she was a piece of steak. "Aww, c’mon, Lyds… we both know ya don’t mean that." In the blink of an eye, he disappeared and reappeared behind her, his hand sliding up along her neck and grabbing her chin, turning her head to the side. “Don’t act like ya don’t enjoy this. Remember when ya were sooooo alone? So alone, ya wanted to die? Now I visit ya, alllll the time.”His cold lips pressed against her skin as his voice dropped, “Do I make ya feel alive? Wanna live?” He snickered.
Lydia started to shake and she bumped her back against him hard, catching him by surprise. He let her go as she ran forward, then twirled around and slowly stalked backward. “Leave me alone! Please! Just stop!” Lydia begged as tears poured down her cheeks. “I can’t take it anymor—”
Suddenly, everything in her room moved all at once. All the stuff on her nightstand, her dresser, every drawer, and closet door flew open with a powerful force, and objects hurled straight at her. She screamed, ducking down and curling herself into a ball as the lights flickered on and off.
“Go away!” Lydia screeched and then it stopped, everything hovering in the air dropping to the floor.
Her breath shaking, she slowly lifted her head to see all of her belongings scattered everywhere. It was almost as if a tornado had swept through her room, leaving only the walls intact. She gripped the wall behind her and slowly stood up, her breath the only sound she could hear. It was so dark she couldn’t even see her own hand in front of her face. Somehow, she made it to her bedroom door and opened it. Walking through the darkness, she picked up speed, running straight for the door to leave her apartment. She reached for the doorknob, and with a ‘snap,’ it was gone. He couldn’t let her leave. She was his. Lydia screamed and kicked the door over and over until her foot hurt, and she fell back, sitting on the floor.
“You can’t keep doing this!” she cried out, feeling like all the control she had in her life was slipping away. This shadow that followed her everywhere—wrecking her, tormenting her, haunting her like some sick, twisted demonic being. But that’s not what he was. He enjoyed her fear–it satisfied him in ways she would never understand. By doing this to her, it made him feel alive. Like he could affect something living, like his existence suddenly had purpose, even if it was bad. It was something.
As she sobbed on the ground by the door, she heard the floorboards creak beneath her. Something was looming over her, and she knew it was him. She started shaking more, the baby hairs on the back of her neck standing up. Slowly, she looked up. The light flickering on and off in the back of the living room illuminated the poltergeist’s form. She saw him looking down at her with a satisfied grin, cackling when their eyes met—his glowing green eyes haunting her even in her waking hours. He kneeled down, grabbing her chin. He felt her tears hit his cold hand. “I ain’t goin’ nowhere.” His fingers tightened on her face, and she winced. “Ya stuck with me…until the day ya die,” Beetlejuice growled, his eyes narrowing to slits.
“Ya can run, ya can scream, hell—ya can even pray, babes. But I’ll always be right..Here.” He pressed a finger between her eyes, grinning wider when she flinched. “Every time ya close those pretty little peepers… guess who’s waitin’? There’s no escaping what we have.”
Lydia’s breath hitched. Her stomach turned.The light flickered
—and he was gone.
But his laughter still echoed in the dark.
Why did it feel like he was inside her head?