• Chapter One: Double Cross The Devil

    “What the HELL! It’s about time, I’ve been waiting out there for THREE BLOODY YEARS!” Beetlejuice howled in anger as he threw open the door to the small office sending papers flying. The woman behind the large wooden desk groaned out of frustration before waving a hand, gesturing for him to sit. She watched as he took the few steps to get to his seat before replying,

    “I could have left you out there for another millennium.” She spat leaning forward on her elbow as cigarette smoke swirled up through the slit across her neck. Beetlejuice chuckled lightly smiling charmingly.

    “Now, you wouldn’t go and do that to me, would ya sweetheart?”

    Juno sat back in her chair looking all but impressed. “I would and don’t, I repeat don’t call me ‘sweetheart’ again.”

    The two fell silent as Juno went back to reorganizing the paper work stacked four feet high on the top of the desk. Beetlejuice took this opportunity to look around the room. It wasn’t much, the tattered walls and cracked floors, a large busted up filing cabinet and all the rotting furniture. He relaxed in the chair starting to pick the bugs from his teeth with his long red fingernails. Juno looked up for a split second before going back through some papers and retrieving a small one-page document. “Damn.” She said under her breath as she reread the page over another couple of times.

    “What?” She looked up frowning. Juno gave a deep sign before reading the document again, this time out load for Beetlejuice to hear.

    “In the case of, Beetlejuice

    The council and board have carefully reviewed the case in question and have come to the conclusion that even though this man’s deal with the living child, a one Lydia Deetz was not fully carried out, it is still legally in effect. The terms of the deal were here by met half way. Unless the maker of the deal, (meaning you.), and the associate completes the deal on terms of marriage the party in question may come and go in and out of the Neitherworld as he pleases but is still damned with the return for a length of time which is yet to be decided.

    Sincerely,

    Board of Directory

    “So to put it in words you’d understand Beetlejuice, you are free to jump back and forth with out hassle but if someone says you name three times you return here and wait in the waiting room till the Board says you can leave again, and the only way you can become immune to the return would be to marry Miss Deetz, which I highly advise against.” Juno warned shacking her cigarette at him with each stern word. On hearing these words Beetlejuice’s smile took on a whole new form. His normal toothy waywardness grin was no more of the joking persona but it had turned into an evil sneer radiating all his pent up rage towards the people who had damned him to this hell. But not now, he told himself contentedly. He was free to leave and make sure he never had to come back again. All these years were not put to wait out there in the waiting room. Every second of every minute was put towards hating a plan to exact revenge on little Miss Deetz and her family. And this time, he’d get his way. This time he’s come out the victorious one. He might not go as far as to kill the little b***h of a girl, but she’d suffer. Suffer for everything. Beetlejuice stood up slowly looking down at Juno giving a mock sad face.

    “Juno, oh dear Juno, I hope you don’t miss me too much.” He said playfully, holding out his arms as if he wanted a hug.

    “Get out, I have better things to do then put up with you.” She snapped at him pointing to the door. Beetlejuice bowed and smiled devilishly as he strolled out the door towards hid newfound freedom. But first things first and that was to change out of his hideous suit and into something less…tacky?

    Lydia stared at her feet, watching them as they slowly walked, one in front of the other along the curb. The old wind whipped around her, chilling her to the bone. Why did School have to get out so late? She asked herself. It was late fall and winter seamed to be coming early this year. Most of the leaves had fallen off the trees and lay about the ground in numerous amounts covering most of the road. Lydia hugged her math book closer to her body lowering her chin more. It wasn’t the cold making her hug herself the way she was. A single tear fell down her cheek as she remembered the words her classmates had called her earlier that day at lunch.

    “Gee Lydia I didn’t know the dead could walk? Don’t you ever go out into the sun?”

    “Don’t look now but the vampire’s coming to suck our blood.”

    “It isn’t Halloween Lydia, you can get rid of the costume.”

    The wind whistled through the trees and Lydia heard far off laughter, laughter made at her own expense most likely. The people at her school were so closed minded, or that’s what she thought. They were all pod people, zombies, or sheep, all acting the same, all the time. Was it such a crime to be different? Lydia kicked a rock at her feet as she turned up the driveway towards her house. She paused briefly at the front door, whipping back her tears and taking a deep breath before going inside.

    “I’m home!” Lydia called faking a semi happy tone. She waited for a response as she removed her backpack and coat. “Dad? …Delia?” Quickly she looked in the living room to her right, the kitchen around the stairs, the backyard. No one seamed to be home. There wasn’t a note saying that they had stepped out or any other indication, and they hadn’t mentioned anything that morning about not being home either. Lydia shrugged it off. They’ve done this kind of thing before so she thought nothing of it.

    “Hey, Barbara? Adam?” Lydia called again loader so they’d hear her up in the attack. She jogged up the stairs to the second floor. “Hello?” Still nothing. “Where is everybody?” She said out load to herself. Lydia walked slowly to her room, her mind drifting away from her again. Earlier that morning her teacher had yelled at her for daydreaming in class. As a result she now had extra homework on the information she hadn’t heard in class. Lydia closed the door to her room and leaned back against it closing her eyes. She sighed rolling her head to one side. It was good to be home but she wasn’t looking forward to all the homework she had due the next day. All she was in the mood for was a nice long shower then nap. Maybe by then every one would be back from where ever they were. Tossing her coat and backpack onto the floor at the end of her bed Lydia grabbed a top and a pair of pants from her drawer, not really looking to see which once she picked of even if they matched, but with a whole wardrobe of nothing but black, red, green and dark purple it was hard to find something that didn’t match.

    Closing and locking the door to the washroom Lydia turned on the shower. She looked at herself in the mirror above the sink. ‘I could wear less black…No!’ she thought before telling herself in a stern voice. “I will not conform to everyone else's expectations.” She then started to undress as she told herself over and over that she only had to care about what she thought about herself. So what if she didn’t have friends, she didn’t need them. She was perfectly happy by herself. Stepping into the shower, Lydia gave a small jump as her cold skin hit the hot steaming water coming from the shower head. A loft moan escaped her lips and she leaned her head back letting the water soaked it. The steam rose high and coated the room in a relaxing hot mist. By the time Lydia turned the shower off she had scrubbed ever inch of her till she entire body was a bright pink colour. At this point she felt so good she no longer cared about the homework laying in a pile at the foot of her bed, all her problems her gone. She wrapped a towel around her and walked back over to the mirror. Her hand rose to the glass to whip the steam from the mirror when the room started to feel incredibly cold. Lydia stepped away from the mirror looking into it’s blurred depths. The overhead light flickered then turned off completely blackening the room. Lydia remained frozen in place, staring at the mirror in front of her. She could feel the temperature drop again, and again. Green, a green light lit up in the top corner of the mirror. And it wrote. Yes wrote, Lydia’s eyes never left it until it finished and disappeared, she look back to where it had started and read it softly.

    “Little girls should never double cross the devil.” Lydia didn’t know what to do. No, she had to be seeing things. This couldn’t be happening. Her breathing came more rapid as she stared at the glowing letters written. The words vanished and new words came,

    ‘Make no mistake I will be back!’

    The room felt like it was spinning. Gasping for air, she could see her breath in the air from the cold. Her lips had turned blue and her skin felt like ice. Lydia was having a hard time keeping her balance and stumbled back against the wall dazed. In the back of her mind she heard psychotic laughter. It was him…she didn’t dare bring her self to say him name, not even in her head. More laughter filled her ears. Lydia cupped her hands over her ears stumbling from side to side. The last thing she remembered was a swift wind hitting her back before the world around her went black…