𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗜𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 ✘ 𝘉𝘌𝘌𝘛𝘓𝘌𝘑𝘜𝘐𝘊𝘌

Ꮯhᥲρtꫀɾ 𝟛: Tick, Tock, Babes

"He's... gone?" Asked Adam, who was seated on the window sill, his voice laced with confusion. "Are you sure? This soon? That doesn't seem very Beetlejuicy of him." He'd expected the demon to stick around for a while, like an irritating cockroach who just wouldn't go away no matter what.

Lydia sighed, laying down on the couch with her hands over her face in aggravation. "He's convinced that I'll summon him, so he was comfortable backing off for a little bit. But I'm not summoning him! No way in hell."

"Good," commented Charles. "I'm sure we can all agree that we don't want to have to deal with another Beetlejuice situation any time soon."

"But Dad," she turned on her side to face her father, "there's a reason that he thinks I'll call on him. And it's... a legitimate reason."

"What is it?"

She hesitated, sitting up and pulling her legs up to her chest. Then, she shed some light onto what she meant. "He's a demon. He's able to know, in advance, the time, location, and cause of people's deaths... and he says that I'm going to die in five days. He wouldn't tell me how -- if he did, I could stop it myself -- but all he'd say is that I have five days left in my life before something happens and I, in his words, 'start pushing daisies'. He's the only one who knows what's going to happen, so he's the only one who can help me."

The room promptly fell into a grim silence. Hearing the details of her encounter with the demon was a lot to take in. Naturally, Charles optimistically denied any truth behind Beetlejuice's claim. "Lydia... he's probably lying. That's what demons do, don't they? They lie and manipulate..."

"But I don't think he was lying," the girl countered, staring up at the sky-blue ceiling. "He was even telling me about how, in this very house, he was here to watch Adam and Barbara's deaths because he knew where, when, and how it was going to happen." She glanced at the ghostly couple to hear their side of the story. "Adam, Barbara, is that true?"

"... I do remember crawling up from the basement, and Beetlejuice was there, hiding behind our couch," Barbara answered thoughtfully, not sounding happy about the fact that her account of the event was backing up the demon's narrative. "He said that living people, which... used to be us, ignore the strange and unusual, so I guess he could've been in our house to witness our deaths and we just couldn't see him..."

"Exactly," sighed Lydia. "He's telling the truth about that, at least. If he can really sense that kind of stuff in advance and he says my time is coming... I'm in some serious shit."

Adam interjected out of habit, "Lydia, language," prompting an eye-roll from the teen.

"Well..." Charles reflected on all of the information he'd just been given. "We just won't let that happen. We'll take extra precautions on that day. We won't let you get hurt." His attempts to reassure her, though, were futile.

The girl replied doubtfully, "I don't think that'll work, Dad... because, no matter how many precautions we take, I could die from an infinite amount of things. We have to know exactly what's going to happen, and he's the only one who can tell us." She went silent for a moment, but then she continued. "I don't want to die, Dad. Life has finally been feeling good lately. I was about to go off to college... heh... the college of my dreams. I was getting excited about my future. Maybe... travelling the world, taking professional pictures like I always dreamed of doing. I was just getting the hang of living without Mama, like she would've wanted me to do. I have so many things to live for: mostly all of you. I don't want to lose it all, but I sure-as-hell don't want to go to Beetlejuice for help..."