Beetle on the Gun

"And wouldn't it be so cool if like the yes' all came in at once too?"

Lydia looked around herself. She wasn't stuck in the house with a gun aimed at her parents. She was walking on a sidewalk with Bertha and Prudence. What? She looked down at herself. School uniform.

"It'd be so awesome if we all knew on the same day!" Bertha said louder. "We are going to be so awesome in college." She looked toward Lydia. "It's going to be so rad. Imagine us in college, Lydia."

Oh. Lydia remembered it now. BJ had told her he didn't know much about her eternity. It wasn't even starting in the house. It was earlier that day. She tried to break from walking, to try and leave so she wouldn't have to go home, but her feet were like concrete when she tried to move them in a different direction.

They just kept going straight. Words from her mouth came too, before she could stop them. They were all just walking and having a conversation together.

The day had been so normal. The sun had shone so bright. Everything looked calm and peaceful, except her. She still looked like she was beneath some large shadow.

And as much as she didn't want to, she found herself heading right back to her home. Right back to her door. She went up the steps and felt herself wanting to cry as she heard her mother's delightful greeting.

She reached her room, pulled off her bookbag and set her homework out.

Then, she saw a face that made her feel so much better. A face that wasn't a face, just staring at her from her pencil case.

"Hey, hey, Babe!"

"Homework." It fell out of her mouth so fast. Her life was just a script she had no choice but to play. I thought I would at least get to forget all this, do I really have to remember everything over and over? "Beetlejuice. Not tonight."

"Aww." He complained for a little while before leaving her alone.

Don't go. She found herself picking up her pencil and starting her math problems. Even the smaller rebel of trying to keep the pencil still instead of moving it across the paper was so hard. The delay just wasn't long.

Every action she took that day, even the tiniest pencil mistake, was remade. The words were the same. Everything was the same.

She tried to look outside when she could, but it wouldn't be daylight soon. It would be supper. Then shortly after, bed. Then.

Then. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice! Even if it was pointless to think it, trapped in that terrible loop, she found herself doing it anyway. Even if his juice, that could do just about anything couldn't do anything? I need to rely on more than just his juice. Bea Juice had said that. My mind is still mine. Maybe my actions aren't mine, but I can still think!

Let her hand follow the homework, let her actions do what they would, her mind was still hers. Instead? She started to think of happy thoughts. Daydreaming. Daydreaming of a different place and time.

Opening their one-day business in the Neitherworld that only had one customer. The night Beetlejuice had brought home party monsters from a can. Weird moments the thought had been stressful but had actually been just fine. Betty Juice going camping with her friends. Beetlejuice turning into a dog and her mom falling for that silly pooch.

The more she thought about all the things they had once gotten into, the more she felt better. This wasn't the end, there was a way out of it. Even though she didn't want to admit it, as much as she wanted to scream it was wrong? Please kill them. Kill them but stay safe. Please. Don't get consumed by darkness. It would trap her there forever, but it would also do more. As terrible as her eternity could be, it wasn't hell. If he lost to darkness, he would go to hell.

If this eternity was just a looped timeline, then what was hell? Would he turn into a demon? As much as she wanted him to just take care of things, to just do something, he had to be careful too. I'm going to kill my parents tonight, and then myself. I'm allowed to be a little selfish right now. Let those people die that did this to me! Why did they even do this? Why bother, what did they get out of it? Were they just a bunch of insane people, what did they have to do this for?

What was worth her parents lives? What was worth trapping her as a dead shadow? No! Your thoughts are all you have, you can't do anything else. Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts. Beej will do what he will do, you couldn't convince him anyway. You wouldn't want to convince him anyway. Just, to be careful. I won't lose Beetlejuice in the name of revenge or escape.

Right. Happy memories. Happy memories.

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Brady walked up with his fiancée. Opening the doors to their new house, it was exciting. They had even thrown in house decorating for free so they didn't need to worry about furniture right away.

He was glad Rebecca had been happy with just her engagement ring so far. When he told his father about everything, along with the prices, he was so proud of him. He didn't tell him about the art, just that he made smart investments for the future he wanted. Even his dad agreed when he brought him by that he made a great deal on the place. The plumbing was sound, there was no insects, and there was an upstairs and a downstairs.

His father wanted him to continue with his college too, not just to stop with family life. Rebecca seemed okay with it, but she was also ready to start their new life together. They hadn't made any more crucial decisions yet, not until they got a feel for how it would work.

First step? Success. They walked into their new home.

Rebecca literally screamed.

"What the fuck?" Brady stared at the walls. Instead of the beautiful dream home they had seen before, the walls were dark, an eerie dark blue. The lights from outside that should light the room seemed to be gone, with only some eerie lights from candles being casted against the walls.

Even the doorways. They were weird. Crooked, like they split in an earthquake and someone who didn't know about repair just rejoined it together with new wood or something.

"Oh, that free stupid decorator they offered. Fucking joke!" Rebecca complained. She looked around the house and came back. "The whole house is messed up now. We can't buy it like this."

"We already bought it, the inspections were done and everything," Brady reminded her. They couldn't go back on the purchase. "I guess since we were buying something that was claimed to be haunted the decorator used some artistic freedom with the theme?"

"We can't invite my parents over tonight in this place like this," Rebecca insisted. "I thought the decorator would have done great to show off. No way. We have to get this fixed."

No way. "I don't have money for that, Rebecca. We need our money for the marriage and to help with rent. This'll cost thousands to fix."

"At the very least, lights. We need lots of lamps so this whole darkness goes away," she added. "We need lamps, Brady." She moved into the kitchen. "It's so weird. It's like, how? It was free, so I thought some simple furniture. This is bullshit, this probably cost thousands to reverse our pretty house." She grabbed at her head. "Such a nightmare."

Brady looked at the legged table. Glass, but the weirdest bronze legs that curled like octopus feet. There was even art all over the walls that was just as freaky.

There was even one he thought he might have recognized. He moved closer to it. "This is the Deetz' painting."

"Another rich painting?" Rebecca came over. "Can we sell that and get this mess fixed, Brady?"

"No, not a rich painting by her." He removed it from the wall and looked at it. It wasn't a Deetz painting, it was a different artist they had in their living room. Strange. "Don't ever open the door to someone that looks disheveled." Betty Juice. The funeral. Things were starting to come back to him. "Be careful."

"Why would I open the door to anyone that I don't know?" Rebecca asked him. "I'm going to start bringing some stuff in. Hopefully there's a room somewhere that wasn't hit by the stupid decorator."

Brady stared at the painting.

"I so should have married the other one."

What? "What did you just say, Rebecca?" Brady looked back toward her.

"Nothing," she said as she was leaving.

Another guy? What other guy did she want to marry? She isn't over her ex yet? But, it's been a year since then. Yeah, they were a crazy item the school liked, but she's mine now. This is sealed. It was a done deal. I'm the only one with my name on this house. If she doesn't like it, would she up and leave me before the marriage?

No. No, it would be okay. Some lamps and things to brighten it up for now. Rebecca loved him. Him. He did so much for her. She would never do that.

His paranoia though, about her being honorable. It had trouble staying down. All day long, he was unconsciously whispering about it to himself. When he was around her, he swore he heard things too, just out of earshot. She was muttering them when she thought he was too far away. Things like-

'He never would have made me live in this freak house'.

I wonder if he still thinks of me?

Is it completely over between us?

I can't believe I'm going to marry such a loser.

"I lowered my expections too far. Sweetie, how about here?"

"What?" Brady stared at her.

"Here?" she asked. "Mom can sit here, and dad could sit over there. It's the less creepiest spot with the most lamps." She looked away and straightened the chair. "That you could barely even afford, Loser." She looked back toward him with a smile. "What do you think?"

"Things'll get better, I promise," Brady said to her.

"I know," she answered. She looked back away. "But is it enough? I just don't know anymore." She looked back at him again with a smile.

He went to grab her hand. "Just give me a chance. We are going to have a fantastic time with your parents tonight."

"I know." She patted his hand while he looked down at hers. "It'll be a night we'll never forget."

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Brady tried his best to greet and stay mature with her parents. Tonight, they would be judging everything, and their house looking like something out of a horror film wouldn't help.

"It was this weird decorator's fault," Rebecca said as she hugged her father. "I hate this house so much now." She let go. "We'll make it all work."

How could she say that? "The house will get better. It was a mistake and we'll make it better," Brady insisted. He felt himself getting so warm as they headed to the kitchen to relax.

"Interesting table," her mother said. "It's different. It's expensive though, no doubt about that. I would expect this kind of thing in a successful art person's house. Not a starter home."

"I agree. It's okay, Hon," Rebecca's father said. "We didn't expect everything to be perfect, we didn't even expect a dinner. We just wanted to help you get moved in."

"I know, but I expected more. The decorator just took it and made it theirs," Rebecca said as she seated her parents. "Murder someone for a better life, and Brady still couldn't get the perfect house thing right."

What?! "Rebecca, don't say that," Brady warned her. Why did up and say that? To her parents? "It was a joke," he tried to tell them.

"I don't think the decorator was making it into a joke," Rebecca told him as he sat down. "It was just, they had different taste."

"No, the other thing was a joke," Brady insisted.

"What other thing?" Rebecca's father asked.

"Just? The murdering someone part?" Brady said confused. "It was a joke."

"Honey?" Her mom looked at her. "Rebecca, what's he talking about?"

"I seriously don't know." Now Rebecca was glaring at him. "Don't get weird, Brady. It's just the house." She sighed and looked upward. "It's haunted you know." She looked back at him. "Calm down before you screw something up. Can we just get started on dinner?"

Right. Dinner. Right after everything she just said? Brady left with a heavy step to the kitchen to grab the food. While he started to cut the meat, he heard them speaking in the next room.

"Are you sure about this, Rebecca? He is off his rocker."

"I know, and he killed someone for this all too. A girl named Lydia Deetz from Peaceful Pines. He helped frame her into killing her own parents, and then she killed herself."

"Really? He got away with murder?"

"I'm starting to get scared of him, I want to get out of here. I try to smile and be ignorant to everything, but I can't take much more."

"Don't make a scene. Sneak out tonight, we'll be ready to get you. You won't sleep one night in this place."

"But I know he killed the Deetz', I'm his alibi."

"We can talk to a lawyer, you'll be okay if you tell the authorities right now."

"No!" Brady yelled as he held the knife strongly and went to the next room. "How dare you, you bitch!" He held the knife out toward her. "You think you won't get in trouble because you didn't kill the Deetz'? You knew about it, there's no going back!"

"What the everloving fuck, Brady?!" She yelled right back out to him. "No one knew shit!"

"What the hell is going on?" Her father stood up.

"I heard you, you're telling them all about it!" He wouldn't be tricked. "I did it all for you. I got the money for you. I knew you were the one, and I did everything for you!" He held the knife toward her.

"Calm down, calm down!" Her parents tried to help, but Brady ran straight at her.

The entire table moved with the carpet, making him miss. His knife plunged into the wall. He tried to pull it out as they were starting to escape out the front door. "Get back here you bitch! You're going to fry if you tell anyone!" He struggled to get it free.

Fuck it, he had another. Everything. He did everything for her. Everything.

Everything. He went to their moving boxes, looking for his guns. Why didn't he label which one they were in? He eventually found them and grabbed his favorite. He pulled out his shells and started to load it. "That bitch is going to die. She isn't telling anyone. Anyone."

Then, he heard noises and looked behind him. There were cops standing in his house, their guns trained on him. He didn't know what to do. He just laughed. "You can't come into my house."

"Sir, put the gun down!" the most decorated looking one said to him.

"It's my house," he insisted. "I was having dinner." He was just having dinner when she started to talk about everything. "She drove me to this!"

"Sir, put down the gun," the most decorated officer said again.

Brady looked at the gun in his hands. How did they go from coming to their new house, to their new life, to this? He watched as a strange black and white beetle landed on his gun. "The house is haunted. We bought it knowing that, but that's what's wrong," he insisted. The officers didn't move. "It's the house, not us." No. "No, it's this girl named Betty Juice! She's been haunting my friends, and she even killed one of them!" No. No, now he sounded like he was crazy.

"Sir. Calm down, and let's discuss this downtown. Put the gun down."

Brady stared at the gun. His new life. His future wife. First meal with his in-laws. All gone. All the reputation he had. His father?

He looked at the beetle at the back of his gun, and then saw right past the cops.

Betty Juice. It was Betty Juice. "Leave me alone!" he demanded as he aimed his gun right at her.

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"Two down," Miss Second Chance noted in her book. "Duncan and Brady are taken care of. Rebecca was almost killed."

"I moved the carpet," Beetlejuice reminded her. He looked toward Donny. His brother was very quiet now. Donny actually did most of the work this time. Every time Brady couldn't see Rebecca's face, he threw his voice so only Brady could hear it. "Ginger isn't responsible for her medical bills."

"Trauma can be done to the bystander," Miss Second Chance agreed. "Therapy for years to come, Miss Ginger the Spider will not pay a cent."

Yeah. She knew about what happened to Lydia. Amazingly, Donny's words might have done something Beetlejuice didn't plan on happening. "Is that prison bird singing for her meal?" He turned into a bird briefly.

"Yes. The Deetz' case is bound to get reopened," Miss Second Chance confirmed. "Justice."

Justice? Lyd wasn't getting justice, she was stuck as a dead shadow. Eternally, unless he could free her. "Who's next?"

"No more than one a day," Donny reminded him. "I also need to . . . to go home. Clean. I really need to clean, I feel like everything around me is very dirty. I feel very strange."

Beetlejuice did too, but he didn't care about the feeling. He'd have let it consume him if Lydia wasn't on the line.

Lydia. "Okay, what do I need to do this relationship part of the contract?" He was getting that extra two hours.

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