Neitherworld Has A Better Idea

Carter Adler heard something fall behind him. He ignored it as always. A month ago, he had to go to another funeral. Brady's. Things got worse once investigations opened up about the Deetz' family from Pleasant Pines because of Rebecca Beckett. She knew Brady was there along with 'friends', but she didn't know which ones.

While the 10k was helpful, he had been ready to just get out. He had hoped that getting away, saving the money and getting some other job for a little while would drain the guilt from him? It didn't.

Worse. The guilt had eaten at Duncan and Brady. Brady went crazy, but he was the idiot that bought a haunted house for his future with Rebecca. She stated Brady just went nuts. She was so distraught from the whole thing, that she quit school all together when it turned out she was pregnant.

They had wanted to start a family early he guessed. So, Duncan and Brady both went crazy and got themselves killed. He knew Duncan ran out into the road at night, and Brady apparently kept hearing voices and tried to stab Rebecca with a knife.

When he went to the funeral with Finley, he warned him not to believe in anything he heard. Voices. Strange sounds. He believed that Lydia's friend Betty Juice was trying to scare them into some kind of insanity.

Carter didn't really believe in ghosts, but he believed Finley. The way they took out Lydia had somehow triggered her friend to go insane and start hunting them down somehow. Betty Juice never got her hands dirty though.

It was hard to tell what was Betty Juice's antics, and what was his own guilt. Carter never had to hold a gun, make any real big plans, or even see any of the aftermath. Getting Delia and Charles Deetz to the upstairs balcony required another person. Brady and Finley couldn't do it alone and leave Duncan to handle Lydia. Duncan was on lookout and agreed to take care of the mess with his knowledge of cleaning stuff.

Carter needed money to continue going to school, his family was in debt, and his grandfather was in need of surgery. He needed money and his friends knew that. They knew he needed money and that he'd never roll over on his friends.

All he had to do was be there, help getting Delia and Charles Deetz into position, and he was gone. He waited in another room until it was time to leave again.

He heard something else fall again and tried to ignore it. After that, he couldn't concentrate on school anymore. Even if he didn't have to kill anyone, he helped them get in position and he kept the secret. It really did eat at him.

He gave most of his money to his grandmother and parents out of guilt, telling them it was his savings and he wasn't doing well in college anymore. He got his own little place and his own little job. Just, trying to move on.

As far as he knew, Rebecca didn't even know he was involved.

He saw a paper next to him with spilled ink that spelled out killer. He just moved it out of the way. He stood up and went past the bathroom. He saw murderer on a fogged up window in the bathroom where the water had been turned on. He just erased it, checked the tub, and ignored it.

Neither guilt or some girl's tricks were going to make him lose his sanity. He was young still, and he could rise above this mistake. Finley had the same problems, but they both agreed to ignore everything. Even voices they heard, as Finely was convinced Betty Juice could fake throwing voices which ended up getting Brady in the end.

She was really good at holograms and magic tricks, but Carter believed that's all it had been. Nothing he saw or heard would change that.

——————————————

Neitherworld

This was . . . "Hm." Miss Second Chance crossed her legs behind her desk chair. The Mayor Maynot had visited her, letting her know that some opinions had changed. Or more than likely, they saw potential in the tragedy.

"It's nothing against Lydia Deetz, I'm sure your client was a nice person. I've seen her personally here many times," he said to her. "It's just that . . . well?"

The chances Beetlejuice could actually get through the entire Lex Talionis was already slim, but now it seems, nonexistent. "You allowed him to connect to the living world. You allowed him to see her."

"It seemed like it would calm him down and get him settled later."

"According to the papers you gave me, you allowed him entry to build a connection with someone alive, so he could finally start settling down in the future. Girlfriend. Marriage. Kids. Next step."

"Yes, it was, but? Well, there's more than just me that thinks we could do better."

"Better."

"Yes. Forget Sandworms! We could be rid of Beetlejuice forever if he is consumed by Lex Talionis."

"My client would suffer."

"But on the grand scale? It would not mean you are a failure," he ensured her. "The Neitherworld would really be more lenient, and you might find yourself with a more comfortable pay job?"

Miss Second Chance had to step lightly. For one, she did not like the way this sounded. "He is already advancing as he can."

"He's stalled. He needs to be pushed faster," Mayor Maynot disagreed. "While we can't connect to other eternities like Beetlejuice has somehow managed to do? We can disallow entrance here."

What? "You are voiding the contract of visitor?"

"Just until he gets back at it. He can do better, we know it. He needs to."

"I would like to talk to my client."

"It's tough to do this when you can't reach her, isn't it?

———————————

Miss Second Chance approached Beetlejuice. He had made good time on the first two kills, but the next ones were harder. They were more prepared, ready for the tricks, and ready to play dirty. This wasn't going to turn out well. "Progress?"

He didn't say much. "I got a 30 minute date with Lyds in an hour," he grumped. "What more do you want me to say?!" He stood up. "I have to go farther with these last two, they aren't getting scared let alone scared to death."

Non-believers. "You may need someone to help again."

"It took two weeks before Donny even wanted a bath again," Beetlejuice warned her. "I'm not risking it."

Hmm. "Then discuss ideas with others."

"What ideas?" he once again complained. "I've got enough juice to take a whole neighborhood out, but how am I supposed to scare them to kill themselves? I've pulled out all my best material because she's stuck down there in that loop every day!"

Which, he already knew when to take her out to make sure she didn't suffer the most. She had to apparently go through the terror, but never had to shoot them or herself.

That was a stroke of wonderful luck for them, but Beetlejuice was only halfway through to possibly freeing her. As for the other avenue? The dates were still just a term he was using to be part of the contract and gain a small amount of extra time. Neither of them really danced or kissed or treated it any differently.

Ginger encouraged him to try better, especially after Beetlejuice accused her of lying about Lydia liking someone in the living world.

But fancy restaurants and fancy clothes did not make a couple fall in love and admit feelings. Calling it a 'date' had done nothing, which irked the spider so much she barely went to go see him now.

It didn't bother Miss Second Chance. Everything had its own space of time to get everything taken care of. Even this standstill that Beetlejuice was at would have eventually had a crack come through. A chance to get under the skin of the living and make them slip into shadows.

For best results, rushing was not advised. For him though, nothing would help. "Find someone with different ideas."

"Beat it already." He brushed off his clothing. He wasn't going to get anyone else involved.

Fine.

—————————————————

Lydia arrived predictably when he reached down for her. He put another date dress on her, and they sat down to eat. Neither of them looked as lively as usual. "So?" She poked at the food. "Ordered ahead this time?"

"They are just getting used to the order," BJ told her. "Didn't order yet at all. Hey? Let's order something different just so we don't have to pay for this?"

Lydia scratched her. "I'm not real hungry. There's only thirty minutes anyway. Right?"

"Yeah," he said. "Only thirty minutes."

"Beej'? Is it too hard?" she had to ask. "If it's getting to you morally-"

"Whoah, whoah, whoah," he stopped her. "Morals? Barely know the word," he teased. "Nah, no moral issues."

He took out two people. He took out one, and then took out another one the same night she was first sucked down into being a dead shadow. It was a nice two hours where they rolled around on a date and a raisin.

Every night since then, there hadn't been any luck. Bringing up the topic wasn't something she wanted to do. It was involving killing people. It felt taboo, but, they had killed her. And? And it's like, they were at this standstill.

It felt like when she was constantly holding onto Beetlejuice, knowing one day she just had to let herself fall. "Do you need any help?"

Beetlejuice didn't look happy about that. "We just got 30 minutes."

"Are they more prepared than the others?" she asked, not wanting to give up. "Can I help?"

He didn't look like he wanted to answer at all. But, after a slight whine. "They aren't getting scared. I've done everything I did with the other two and more. I also can't get any help, Donny changed a bit for awhile because he helped. Everything feels like a waste right now, but something will come up."

They weren't falling for any haunted tricks. "Then what do they think is causing everything?"

"Guilt and Betty Juice's tricks." He threw his hands down. "Even raining beetles doesn't help, they just have umbrellas they carry around with them everywhere."

"You could put the beetles in the umbrellas?" she recommended.

"Doesn't work. They cursed but they didn't run off."

Hmm. "Any phobias or fears?"

"Jail fear. Parent fear."

Oh. They couldn't work with those. "Why did they do it?" She hadn't asked before. She had really been trying to keep her time with him on happy thoughts, and keeping her memories into happy memories. But, it wasn't going to last forever. She really wanted to know.

"Your dead, Babe, what's it matter why?"

"BJ, please tell me?" She needed to know. "Why make all of this happen. Me and my family were good, so why?" He still didn't want to answer. "BJ."

"It was your mom," he finally revealed. "Some art dealer found others that actually thought her work was worth something. It'd be worth even more when the artist was dead."

She lowered her head. Her mom. "They wanted to kill mom." Why them then too? "Why make me . . .?"

"They never deserved anything but hell in the first place!" BJ interrupted her. "It was because of your style. They pinned it on you."

"Pinned what on me?"

"Your parent's death." Beetlejuice was not wanting to share any of it. He'd been keeping it back for some time. Up until she really wanted to know. "They labeled you as some psychopath that killed your parents and then committed suicide."

A scapegoat. They made her the scapegoat. "Because of my style?"

"You had the best style," Beetlejuice told her. "Forget all that makeup and lipstick and flowery stupid clothes, you had the best style of anyone in Pleasant Pines."

Yeah. "It made me the target." Her collection. Her clothes. "Did Bertha and Prudence-"

"Never believed, neither one! Not even Prudence with her whole 'study the facts' thing, they never believed it," he told her. "Friends to the end."

"Were they okay?"

"They were after awhile. Bertha and Prudence, they both went to awesome colleges. Their whole families moved for a new start," he insisted. "Prudence got the scholarship and money for it, while Bertha got a bit of help from Betty."

"Good." Don't cry. "They deserved brand new starts. Thanks, Betty."

He nodded. "Sucky date." A date fell on him and started to suck on him. He knocked it off. "Not much time left, can we do something uplifting?"

Oops. Lydia found herself being lifted from the table with BJ. They were rising higher. "Wrong words." They were being yelled at now.

Beetlejuice grabbed her and jumped down from the mess and the restaurant. They ran for a little while, to make sure no one chased them down for that. When it was safer, they walked again. "Case opened back up," he told her. "They are starting to piece some of the truth together, but they still don't have the smoking gun." A smoking gun appeared in his hand coughing.

"The art." Her whole family. Killed for art. Sentenced to being a dead shadow, just for some art. She couldn't handle much more. "I try to hold it together, but I just needed to know, and I'm sorry I wasted the time, and it's partly my fault that happened." He was trying to uplift her and his juice did just that. "I just wanted to have a happy time with you."

"Yeah, but we can't always just ignore everything. I get it," he admitted. "You were ready to know. I know there hasn't been any progress either." His face turned into a meter with the word progress. "I don't know how to move the needle back in my direction." The needle moved on his face to the side called 'other direction' before it changed back. "Maybe I need to go for the parental fears again."

Again. Lydia came forward and hugged him. He hugged her back. She hugged him harder. She just wanted it to be over. Living world was over, she came to terms with that, but she was tired of being a dead shadow. She was tired of the same thing everyday. The same actions. The same dialogue. "I live for the times I finally get to see you."

"Should be all the time," he answered her. "At least we got this all balanced out, so you miss the worst times."

"I miss the good times. I miss the changing times." She hugged him harder. "I miss coming to see you after school, calling to you, spending time with you. It's just not the same."

"Need more than thirty minutes. I know, Babe."

"I shouldn't have to visit, I should just be here with you." She felt him rubbing her back. "I want to stay here. Why can't I just stay here?" She looked up toward him. Disheveled hair. Messy clothes. No hygiene. The same as he'd ever been. "I want to stay with you forever."

He smiled at that, showing off a lone beetle piece in his mouth. Something she never cared about much before, and something she really didn't care about at all now. "Yeah, I always wanted to hear that from you a long time ago. I always wanted to keep you here." He gently took her hand. "Maybe we can turn some points in for a visit now?"

"A real visit, where I can stay for a long while?" she asked.

"Yeah, probably. I'll have to ask Miss Second Chance if we accumulated enough points for it," he said. "It could be really great, imagine having a nice sleepover again."

She felt her whole body become warm. Sleepover, it felt like it had a different connotation with him now.

"You okay?" he asked. "You got a weird look in your eyes, Babe."

Weird. Right. "When Ginger?" Ugh. She didn't want to do this. Time moved on though, it had to move on. She couldn't just keep doing this. "When Ginger said I had someone I liked in the living world, did that bother you?" She watched his expression.

"Bother me?" He just looked confused. "I thought you said there wasn't anyone?"

"I didn't want to involve you in it," she said quickly, looking for any kind of sign of jealousy. Or, anything.

"I'm the only one who can give a message." No jealousy at all. No feeling at all.

"I can't say anything," she said, "because I don't know if he has the same kind of feelings."

"Your dead, Lyd, that doesn't really matter anymore." He really didn't get it. "Name and where I can find them. I'll send off some lost lovey dovey letter you can write."

Nothing. There was nothing. Nothing serious in his eyes. Bea Juice made it seem like . . . even the fact that he could pull her from her eternity for visits to the Neitherworld. But? There was nothing. No jealousy. Not a big deal that she liked anyone. "I want to tell him that I care for him. A lot. More than a lot, I really think that I . . ."

BJ just juiced some paper to her along with a pencil. "Here you go. Just write out the mushy gushy stuff and I'll get it to them."

Mushy. Gushy. Friends to the end. "I can't because he's just my friend. That's all he'll ever be, he's just my very good friend 'til the end." She could feel tears start to overtake her, but she tried to hold them back. Friends.

Good friends.

That's all they would ever be.

"Friends to the end?" Beetlejuice looked odd now. "I'd know about that, I know all your friends, you've got no real close friends who are boys, just me, and I'm not a boy, but I am a friend, but I am uh?" He raised an eyebrow. "Is he a living guy?"

She didn't even want to look at him.

"Are you talking about me?" His voice didn't sound disgusted though. "I'm not Prince Charming." His face looked like Prince Vince. "He's the guy at the castle I make fun of."

She couldn't help a very slight smile. "I never said you were Prince Vince or Prince Charming."

"Yeah, well, Vincy wanted you at one time." His face went back to normal.

Wait. She started to look toward him. There was a sense of jealousy now? "You didn't like me with Prince Vince, but the living world guy you didn't have any problem with?"

"Yeah, 'cause your dead," BJ said. "You're not living. Those living guys don't get anything, except maybe some lame last letter."

Lydia started to smile and looked more at him. Was there something? "Beetlejuice?"

She felt herself falling through the ground, but this time, it felt different. Not only that, they still had ten minutes left. She was falling ten minutes early.

She heard him cry out for her, also concerned about the messing up of time. She only heard him once though, before she was back in her eternity. She couldn't move or hear anything. She couldn't see anything.

From the time, she was probably already dead, unable to see or do anything. Just alone with her thoughts, once again, until she woke up to her friends. Talking about college again.

——————————————

"Lydiiaaa!" Beetlejuice kept trying to grab through the pavement. What the hell? He had ten minutes left with her! He watched Miss Second Chance appear. "Hey, you. Our date was cut short, isn't that against the contract?"

"Visitations have ended." She gave him a red pass.

What?! "What do you mean visitations have ended?!" No way. "She can't just stay down there, and we still have dates too."

"A red pass means it's over. You can't yank her to you anymore. The contract is nullified."

What? "Why?" He didn't get it.

"The overseers of the Neitherworld felt your Lex Talionis pursuit has stalled," she said. "Mayor Maynot says you have one week to kill, or everything will be canceled. If you kill within one week, everything will be restored."

"Without visits, Lydia has to go through the whole time alone!" he reminded her. "I can't just leave her like that." He tried to see a way to reach down through the spot she fell. "Lyyyyyyd!"

"I know." Miss Second Chance told him. "My condolences. It's your only choice now."

"Everything has it's time, huh?" he blamed her. "Don't worry about how long things take, let them happen naturally. Get help, make sure you don't do everything yourself. Liar!"

"My philosophy is not Mayor Maynots or anyone else's," she informed him. "I do encourage you to ask for help. If you take out both quickly, you will not have a chance of escaping the darkness and hell. Then, the overseers win what they want."

Oooh. Beetlejuice glared, but it wasn't meant for Miss Second Chance. He caught her attitude toward the end of what was going on. "Maynot wants me to go to hell so I can't stay in the Neitherworld."

"If you do go to hell, then you'll lose Lydia to her eternity, eternally," Miss Second Chance warned him. "Find a way to compromise to save Lydia, and yourself."

"Or there's no saving Lyds." Damn Neitherworld leaders! Okay, so he was a pain sometimes. Did some things wrong sometimes. Played pranks sometimes. Made life a little bit difficult at times. It wasn't right to use Lydia's situation against him.

Okay. Help. He was going to need more help. There was only one place he could think of that would help him.