Lydia: Exorcised • A Beetlejuice: the Musical Fanfiction

Chapter Three • In the Netherworld

The Netherworld was exactly as it was when Charles was there last. The Black and White squares of the world of the dead lit up as the two couples, the Maitlands and the Deetzes, walked through.

They eventually reached an area of the Netherworld that looked remarkably like an office building and walked inside.

Adam knocked on one of the windows of the front desk and the window opened up to reveal a recently deceased person on the other side. "Name?" the recently deceased person said.

"Uh, Adam Maitland?

"Adam Maitland," the dead person said as she looked down towards a clipboard she picked up. "Adam Maitland. Ah yes, you and your wife are late. Like over six months late. Did you not read through your copy of the Handbook for the Recently Deceased when you got it?"

"No. We only just recently took a look through it," said Adam as he looked over towards the other three adults that he was with.

"You two, come with me," said the recently deceased person as she stood up and walked out from behind the window, standing over by Adam and Barbara and beginning to lead the nervous ghost couple to the back.

"Wait!" shouted Charles as he and Delia ran to catch up with the other three. "Wait up! Can't we come too?"

"You're not dead, so no."

"But," Adam said as he and Barbara came to a stop. "They're friends of ours. They can come with us if they want to. We don't even mind."

Barbara nodded in agreement and Charles and Delia smiled at the third recently deceased person.

The other dead person sighed and said, "I suppose."

It took an approximate half an hour to get to the office of Miss Argentina and Charles looked up at it in surprise. Was this what happened to the Beauty Pageant winner that he and his daughter had met the last time they were there? The recently deceased receptionist that was with the four of them knocked on the door a few times and the door eventually opened to reveal a tired looking Miss Argentina.

"What do you want?" she asked as she looked from Adam to Barbara to Delia to Charles to the other dead person that was with all four of them. "Can't you see that I'm busy with taking care of the Netherworld, Hanna?"

"And I get that, Miss A," replied Hanna with a few laughs. "But there are two dead people." She gestured to Adam and then to Barbara. "Who never even made it to the Netherworld when they died. They brought their "Living friends" with them because they said they could come too."

"They can all come in," said Miss Argentina as she opened the door further and allowed Adam, Barbara, Charles, and Delia to come in. "We can get the Maitlands checked in and then we can discuss what other matter that led them to come here. I can tell from the looks on their faces that they came here for a serious reason."

With that she closed the door and left Hanna to go back to the receptionist window.

Miss Argentina sat back down at her desk and motioned for the Maitland-Deetz adults to sit down in the four chairs in front of her. When they did, Miss Argentina picked up two sets of a few papers and placed them down in front of Adam and Barbara.

"Sign all these papers," she said, "and you'll be all checked in. It will only take a minute."

With all the papers now filled out, Miss Argentina gathered them all and put them away in filing cabinets before turning around to face Adam, Barbara, Charles, and Delia again. "Now that all that paperwork is done," said Miss Argentina as she rested her hands on top of her desk. "What is this urgent matter of yours that led you to come here to the Netherworld?"

"Our daughter's been exorcised," said Charles. "We invited a few of Delia's friends."

"Former friends," grumbled Delia.

"Former friends," corrected Charles with a laugh. "Over for dinner at our house one night and in the middle of the dinner, they decided to exorcise Betelgeuse and he ended up taking Lydia with him. It's been a couple hours since then but we're starting to miss her."

"While it's rare for a breather to get exorcised," said Miss Argentina as she stood up. "It certainly can happen and I have heard that it's happened a few times before. Breathers who get exorcised are given a few months to stay alive and after that they are gone forever, stuck in the depths of the Netherworld for the rest of eternity."

"So you're saying there's a chance for us to save Lydia before it's too late," said Adam, hopeful.

"Yes," said Miss Argentina as she pulled out a mirror like object and handed it to Adam. "This special mirror allows you to communicate with those who have been exorcised, living or dead. Use it to communicate with Lydia until you save her and get her back to your home safe and sound. The only way to communicate with her is if you ask the mirror to show you the exorcised person or ghost you wish to speak to. After that, you may give it to her to communicate with Betelgeuse as I'm afraid he's stuck in the "Lost Souls room" and what's worse is none of you can summon him anymore, even if you tried. I'm sorry, you guys."

"WHAT?!"

"What do we do?" said a panicked Adam as soon as he, Barbara, Charles, and Delia left the office building. "What do we do? Lyds is going to be super devastated when we tell her that she'll never be able to summon Betelgeuse again."

"Easy," said Barbara as the four of them sat down and she pulled the mirror out of her pocket and held it out in a position that allowed all four of them to look at it. "Mirror," she said. "Show us Lydia Deetz."

The image of Lydia appeared in the mirror and she looked directly at her four parents. "Adam! Barbara! Dad! Delia!" she shouted out in glee. "It's so good to see you guys again!" Her expression faltered a little, however, when she noticed the solemn looks on her parents' faces.

"What's wrong?" asked Lydia.

"While it's great to see you too, sweetheart," said her dad. "I'm afraid we have some bad news."