Beetlejuice: the Musical Short Story Book

Phantom Pain

Sometimes, Adam and Barbara forgot they couldn't leave the house.

But on days like today, the situation at hand called for it. The sounds of a crash and a thump were heard from the front of the house, loud enough for the Maitlands and Charles and Delia to look worriedly over in the direction of the front door as the apparent sounds of whimpering were heard from just beyond it. Or somewhere in the grass.

'Lydia,' they all thought at once. 'What if she was really hurt?'

Immediately and at once, they moved to stand up - rushing towards the front door. Adam and Barbara without a care as to what could possibly happen. All that mattered to the two of them (and Charles and Delia) now was Lydia. If she was hurt, the Maitlands knew that they could be there for her. However, they stopped short of the front door of the house when Charles and Delia turned on their heels to face them.

"Are you guys... sure about this?" Charles asked confusedly, a quizzical look on his face that was easily mirrored on Delia's as the latter tilted her head to the side. "You guys know what happens when you try to leave the house."

"Heh, if Lydia needs us." Barbara let out a laugh, rubbing at the back of her head. "No doubt Adam and I are going to be there for her too. I don't really care if we end up in another plane of existence. As long as it still means that Lydia's still doing okay."

Charles and Delia turned and shared a confused, yet concerned look with one another. Then they both nodded in unison as they turned and focused their attention back over towards the Maitlands. Regardless of that, they turned on their heels again and Charles pulled open the house's front door. He and Delia exited the house first, Delia turning and watching Adam and Barbara with a sense of curiosity whilst Charles kneeled down in the grass beside Lydia in order to make sure she was doing okay.

At first, Barbara had moved to make her way down the front steps of the house and towards Lydia. Only to then grow hesitant and stay put on the front porch with Adam not too far of a distance from her. Yet still, it took both ghosts not to make that much of a decision before they, too, made their way down the steps. Only to, as expected, disappear into another plane of existence. As if it hadn't happened before, which it did.

Still Charles and Delia looked at one another, Delia picking up Lydia and following Charles as she carried the teenager back inside the house. They knew it wasn't going to take that long of a time for the Maitlands to get back to the house and back to them. The last time, it had taken them a matter of a few hours before they both finally returned to the house. Once inside, Delia laid Lydia down on the couch to rest. Then promptly headed back upstairs not too long after Charles had. And she, and Lydia and Charles, couldn't stop thinking about the Maitlands.

And the Maitlands certainly could sense that.

The situation they were thrown in, certainly wasn't anything new to them. They were used to this sort of thing happening to them from time to time. Yet still, it filled them with a phantom sense of unease. Lydia was hurt for one, and it was moments like this that they wished they were still alive when they first met Lydia. That would've certainly made things a whole lot easier for them.

Barbara looked around, her blonde hair billowing around as she took in the familiarity of the desert sands that surrounded her. Something... a Sandworm... came up, a few feet away from where she was standing. Spinning on her heel, she let out a piercing shriek. One that was oddly familiar to her...

And one that her husband had definitely heard... from a mile away.

Adam came rushing over immediately, calling out to her. "Barbara?!"

"Over here!" she shouted back, Adam coming to a stop immediately afterwards and resting a hand against his wife's shoulder. She pulled him into an immediate hug and he planted a kiss on her cheek, embracing her back and pulling out of the hug soon afterwards.

A roar was heard, causing the Maitlands to turn on their heels and look up.

The same Sandworm that Barbara had encountered earlier, reared up. Letting out another roar that made the Maitlands make a beeline for the door that led back to the house they shared with the Deetzes, the Sandworm in hot pursuit of them.

Quickly, Adam jiggled the door knob. But when that didn't work, he slammed the side of his form against it to push it open. That worked.

Immediately, he fell through the door and into the front foyer of the house that they shared with the Deetzes. Safe and sound. Yet there was a familiar tugging at their nonbeating hearts that they most certainly knew by now.

Lydia.

Carefully and quietly, the Maitlands both made their way back over into the main part of the house. Lydia, still sat on the couch with a blanket now wrapped around her shoulders, turned her head and glanced over at the Maitlands. Forgetting that she was injured earlier, Lydia stood up and stumbled across the living room towards the Maitlands.

"You okay, Lydia?" Barbara asked, resting a hand on the teenager's head at the same time as Adam as the teenager wrapped her arms around them.

Pulling away, Lydia winced before recovering and looking over at the Maitlands. "Yeah, I'm fine. But what about you guys? With you having been gone for three hours, that must have been quite the scare?"

"You could... say that..." Barbara said, earning a nudge in the shoulder from Adam.

Still, Adam and Barbara couldn't help but share a laugh as they followed Lydia up the stairs to talk to her dad and Delia. The equally as surprised gasps from both of the living adults was more than enough to bring matching smiles to both ghosts' faces.

One thing was for sure: they were both nevertheless never going to try and leave the house again. No matter if they needed to.

They were perfectly fine with being stuck in the house by themselves.