Saved by the Dead (Beetlejuice X FemReader)

Chapter 2: A Big Decision

You had finished cleaning the vase shards up and a few extra things afterward to avoid an even more violent beating later when they all got home. The only thing you had to do now was clean out the attic. You had only been up there once and it was just a bunch of old dusty furniture and belongings from the previous owners. You took out the key from a drawer in your room and went up the stairs that led to the attic door. 

You slowly put the key in the lock and turned. Pushing the door open, you walked into the room and immediately started sweeping and dusting. There wasn't much you could do. It was going to get dirty again anyway after weeks of not being cleaned. After about ten minutes of cleaning, you started humming and eventually started singing a small song.

Minutes and minutes went by until you felt the hairs on the back of your neck and arms stand up, feeling a sense of dread overcome you. This time it was much stronger. You knew you felt something this time. Gripping on to the broom until your knuckles turned white, you ever so slowly cranked your head off to the side. You didn't see anything. You did the same to the other side, even slower, and what you saw put you in alarm mode. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw a tall figure standing by the door. You whirled around with a scream and felt fear completely take over you.

"Oh my god! WHO ARE YOU? What are you doing in this house?!" You shouted at the mysterious man. He was wearing a dirty brown trench coat over top of a dirty and kind of ripped up black and white striped suit. His hair was a mess and was...green? He was so pale, almost as if you could see right through him. He was leaning against the door until he heard you scream, then he stood up straight and looked at you.

"So you can see me! I gotta tell you, I was starting to think that maybe you couldn't see me at first but I guess I stand corrected cause here you are staring straight at me." He started walking over to where you stood, excitedly.

"Hey, hey, hey, not so fast. You stay away from me you creep! Who are you and how did you get into this house?" You held up the broom for protection. You noticed that while you had been screaming in fear, you had stepped on a piece of broken glass that was now sticking out of your foot. You fell down and held your foot which was now covered in blood. Blood had smeared all over the floor. The man looked down at you with furrowed brows, worried about your foot, and started walking towards you. "NO, stay right where you are." You grunted from the pain between sentences. "Don't come any closer."

He put his hands in the air and stayed in his place. "I'm not going to hurt you, okay? Just let me help you patch up your wound." He took a step closer to you.

"I said stay where you are!" You threw the broom at him, in which he dodged, causing it to land on the floor behind him. You winced in pain holding your wounded foot, trying to apply as much pressure to it as you could. He rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers. You couldn't move your body. You were frozen.

"Damn it, will you just let me help you? God, you humans got to be so stubborn." He spoke and knelt down next to you. You started breathing faster, unsure of what his intentions were with you. He snapped his fingers again and some peroxide and bandages appeared. Your eyes went wide in confusion and shock. But you must have lost a lot of blood because soon, the world around you went black and you had fainted.

***

When you came to, you woke slowly and in pain. You looked to your left side out the window and it was dark out. You looked at the digital clock on the table beside your bed and it read 9:47 pm. 'What happened?' You thought. You remembered being in the attic with someone. Then you stepped on some glass and fell down. The last thing you remembered was him kneeling down beside you and that's when the memories stopped. You couldn't remember anything else past that. You turned to your other side and jumped up in shock. The guy from the attic was sitting at your desk, half-asleep on the back of the chair. You raised an eyebrow and quietly tried getting out of bed, the opposite side that he was on. You put your right foot down and stood up with your left foot.

"AHH!" You crashed down to the floor hard and landed with a loud thud. This, of course, woke up the strange man from his half-sleep. He got out of the chair and came to your aid. He held on to your shoulders to help you back onto the bed. Tears were threatening to spill from your eyes but you held them back as best you could.

"Yeah, it's probably better if you don't walk for a while. Not until it heals." He said and started floating where he was just staring at you. Your eyes went wide. "Now that you're awake, you're going to let me do the talking now and leave any questions till the end. Got it?"

You nodded and adjusted yourself on the bed, intimidated and confused.

"Alright, first things first. You've already noticed that I'm floating, that is because I am a ghost. A demon actually. I do that from time to time. And I have been sent here by the other spirits that live in your attic, Adam and Barbra, to help you with your little issue. Now, there are multiple ways I can help you get rid of your family- "

You cut him off. "They're not my family. And they never will be." You spat out to get your point across.

"Alright, fine, to get rid of your "not family" then. Whatever they are, you and I can work as a team to get rid of them." He grinned an evil grin.

"W-what do you mean 'get rid of them'?" You looked up at him.

"Well, (Y/n), that's up to you. What do you want it to mean?" He raised an eyebrow, the evil grin never leaving his face. He was closer to you now. Something about the way he was looking at you, that look in his eyes, made you both scared and curious. You thought for a moment. What did you want it to mean? You must have been thinking longer than you intended 'cause he broke the silence. "Don't worry, you have plenty of time to decide what you want. But there's just one thing you've got to do for me first."

"What is it?" You furrowed your brows at him. He floated a bit higher in the air, almost hitting the ceiling.

"You have to set me free." The devilish look in his eyes made you a bit skeptical.

"What will that do? How do I do it?"

"Oh, it's easy. All you gotta do is say my name three times in a row. That's it. It will allow me to help you with your problem with your "not family" people who also live here. You see, if I'm not free, I can't affect anything in the world of the living. Which means I can't get rid of them for you. Catch my drift?"

"Well, what's your name? You never told me."

"Look in your back pocket, sweetheart." He smiled gently at you, arms crossed. You reached in your pack pocket and took out the business card you found in the shards of glass. 'Betelgeuse'.

"Your name's Betelgeuse?" You looked at the card and back at him.

"Yup, my middle name actually. My first name is Lawrence. But that has no meaning so forget about it." He said and flew to the bed and sat next to you. "So, what'll it be? You wanna team up? You do want me to help, don't ya?" He appeared behind you and leaned in close to your ear, whispering the last part slowly. You thought about what he said and still wasn't sure what to say. All of this was still kind of weird to you and you couldn't quite believe it all. You started thinking about all the beatings you had to take. 

When your father kicked out the one person you cared most for in your life, your brother. Treating you like some slave, not like a daughter who lost a mother and a brother all within two months. Making you shake in fear just by hearing the front door open, fearing for your life. But he was still your father. You couldn't.

"Tell you what, I'll give you till tomorrow afternoon to think about it. I'll come back at noon and you can tell me what you've decided. Just know, I'll be watching over you." And just like that, he was gone. Disappeared into thin air. You were left alone in your room with a decision that could possibly change everything. But you had no idea what to chose. You knew deep down, that there was good in your father. He wasn't always like this. He was a good man who loved his family. But there was obviously no more love in him.

You were so conflicted. Maybe it'd be easier to make a decision after some sleep. If you could get any that is. Knowing there was a demon watching you now, two spirits living in the attic, and a big decision to make; it would be hard to get a wink of sleep tonight. But soon enough, you shut your eyes and you were out like a light.