Beetlejuice: the Musical Short Story Book

You Don't Scare Me

Barbara was used to Betelgeuse hanging around the attic. Though not as much as Adam himself was. Betelgeuse wasn't in the attic when it was only him and Barbara, but he did tend to be there when both Adam and Barbara were there.

Whether he was trying to hit on them or bother them, Barbara wasn't sure. Sometimes, it felt as though it was a mix of the two. But there were times he was just trying to hit on them and times where he was bothering them to no end. But there were other times... especially like today, where the demon wasn't doing either one of those two things. Which only seemed to confuse Barbara greatly, her standing off to one corner and watching Betelgeuse as he just lounged in midair.

'He could've seemed almost calm,' Barbara found herself thinking, before shaking her head and sighing. Pushing that thought aside.

Reluctantly, curious as to why Betelgeuse was seemingly different that day, Barbara crossed the attic and came to a stop not too far from Betelgeuse.

"Bug, you in there?"

He cracked open one eye, turning his attention to her. "Yeah. I'm not in the mood to bother you today. So I'm doing this instead."

Barbara raised an eyebrow, folding her arms and smirking. "Why the change?"

Betelgeuse didn't seem to hear that, though, instead changing the subject. "Well, I was going to try and scare you and Adam, but sexy's not here."

"I'd like to see you try at least!" Barbara confidently pressed, a determined look in her eyes.

Betelgeuse teleported out of the air, reappearing just inches away from Barbara's face and causing the latter to back away from him with her hands in front of her. She didn't want him to get that close now, did she? "Is that a challenge?"

"Do you want it to be?" Barbara asked, now leaning against a wall and looking pointedly at Betelgeuse with the same look from earlier still plastered across her face.

Betelgeuse nodded, his hair becoming a lighter green in color. "How exactly did you want me to scare you? Scary faces, morphing?"

"Whatever you can do to try, which I know you won't," Barbara simply said.

"Right!" Betelgeuse responded, a determined look crossing his face as he figured out exactly what to do. He hoped this would work. "Let's just stick with scary faces!"

"Before you do though, I have just one question?" Barbara looked at Betelgeuse, seemingly unsure of herself.

"Yeah?" Betelgeuse's hair went back to being green.

Barbara glanced around the entirety of the attic before looking back over at Betelgeuse with a confused look on her face. "Can all ghosts do that?"

"Psh, yeah." Betelgeuse rolled his eyes. "And demons can too."

"Betelgeuse, could you show me a far more... scarier face?"

"Scarier like... this?" Betelgeuse morphed his face into something completely terrifying.

Barbara reeled backwards in fright, her eyes going wide again. "No. Not like that. Could you try something else?"

"Hey." Betelgeuse went back to normal. "I thought you said you wanted something scary."

"NOT LIKE THAT!!"

Betelgeuse moved over to a nearby chair in the attic, plopping himself down on it and looking over towards Barbara. Barbara crossed the room, Betelgeuse's eyes following her until she sat herself down on a chair opposite the one he was sat on.

Betelgeuse's hair was beginning to turn blood red, which was not exactly a good sign (for a demon, that was). "Look. What scary face do you want me to show you?"

A smirk flashed across Barbara's face as she rested a hand under her chin. "Could you try something monstrous?"

"You mean... like this?"

Betelgeuse morphed his head in a way that made it look like a snake's head.

A sly grin crossed Barbara's face, her chuckling confidently. "Come on! You know that that doesn't scare me in the slightest!"

"Want me to try harder, Babs?!" Betelgeuse challenged, his face again normal.

"Try me!" Barbara spoke with a low voice, her eyes narrowed and her fists clenched with determination, her confidence remaining and even more apparent than it previously had been. "What other faces can you do?"

"All sorts." Betelgeuse leaned backwards in the chair he was sat in, but kept his gaze locked on Barbara. "Want me to do something... a little more deformed?"

Barbara pumped a clenched fist in the air. "DO IT!"

"I shall!" A smirk crossed Betelgeuse's face as he thought up just what face he should use to scare Barbara for real.

Since his other faces were all failed attempts when it came to scaring Barbara, Betelgeuse figured he should try something that was super scary and super deformed. He had it set in mind that it was going to work. It was bound to work, it had to. His attention focused back onto Barbara, a rather serious look crossing his face as his hair became blood red all over again.

Barbara grinned at Betelgeuse. "Now that! That is scary!"

Betelgeuse just stared at Barbara like she grew two more heads, his hair reverting back to green. "What?! This is my normal face!"

"EXACTLY! You got me! Keep it like that from now on!"

"Babs..." Betelgeuse crooned, standing up and making his way over towards her. "My face is always like this."

Barbara rolled her eyes, then turned her attention back over towards Betelgeuse. "So?"

"So what?! You made some pretty scary faces too during this whole thing. Perhaps you should keep your face like that from now on?!"

Barbara just chuckled softly, her eyes narrowing again as her voice got dangerously low. "Is that a threat, mister?"

He opened his mouth to respond, but grew a little unsure. Unsure how he even should. But nothing seemed to be coming to mind. He felt prideful that he was somehow able to scare Barbara, even if it was due to his normal face. Wait, it was more so that serious look on his face and the fact that his hair color was blood red that enabled him to scare Barbara.

In fact, he was about to do it again when the attic door opening grabbed his attention and he and Barbara turned their heads at the same time to find Adam reentering the attic.

Barbara was about to go and talk to her husband. But Betelgeuse beat her to it, teleporting over to Adam.

"Hey, sexy?! You wanna see something scary?!"