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It had been exactly three weeks since the plot to kill Beetlejuice. Or, three weeks for the living world; to Adam and Barbara Maitland, it had only been a matter of a few days. Time moved strangely for them. Despite that, they were each grappling with their complications from it.
Adam Maitland was really struggling, for his experience with Beetlejuice had been especially unpleasant. Not only was he pinched and groped against his will by the demon, but he also had to watch his wife nearly disappear forever.
Helpless. Beetlejuice made him feel so, so helpless, and he didn't like that. Adam had always been the type to need a plan. It gave him the stability in his life —and his afterlife— he cherished, yet that whole ordeal had taken his plan away from him. His emotions he felt afterward weren't quite what he would plan either.
Guilt. Filth. Weakness. Worthless.
Helpless. Betrayal to his wife. Objectified.
Those were all feelings Adam was experiencing; he hated them, and hate was a very strong word! Yet, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get them to go away. Part of it was that he didn't think he should be sharing how he felt. After all, he felt like he had gone through the least trauma. He didn't have to kill anyone as Lydia did, nor was he nearly exorcised like Barbara. He wasn't coping with the loss of his wife, like Charles.
One evening, he and Barbara were spending time in the attic together. She was seated on their floral sofa knitting and humming along to a mixtape they had made together to represent their relationship while Adam solved a 1000-piece animal puzzle. Usually, puzzles and her company calmed him down, but not today. He had begun to reach his boiling point. The ghost was searching for a piece of the puzzle he just couldn't find among the others, his eyebrows knitting together. He looked distressed, but not just because of the puzzle.
Barbara glanced up from the deep purple hat she was making for Lydia, noticing her husband's unrest. "Honey, what's wrong?" Neither half of the couple enjoyed seeing the other in pain and always aimed to make it better as soon as possible.
Adam looked up from his puzzle. "It's, uh- it's nothing, sunflower. I just can't find this puzzle piece." He could easily move on to another part of the puzzle, but doing so would disrupt his pattern from one corner to the other.
The other Maitland frowned, placing her knitting supplies down and scooting over to the end of the sofa; she looked over his shoulder at all of the puzzle pieces laid out on the ground. "Do you want help looking for it?" When Adam nodded, she sat down next to him on the hardwood.
There he was again, helpless. If Adam couldn't even find a puzzle piece without help, how was he supposed to function?? How had he done it for 32 years of life?? Regardless, the two searched for it together, and after they didn't find the missing piece in the pile, Barbara peaked under the couch for it. A tiny grin spread lit up her face as she reached for it, holding it up triumphantly once she acquired it. "Viola!"
A tiny smile spread on Adam's face as he looked at Barbara, so proud of herself. "Thank you, Barb."
"You're welcome." Barbara pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek.
Adam's simper left his face as he looked at the small jigsaw piece in his palm, the tiny, printed-on eye of a dog staring up at him judgingly. He should've been able to do that by himself.
It became clear to Barbara that something more was on Adam's mind. She placed her hand on his knee, tilting his chin up to make eye contact with him. At that point, worry filled her eyes, Adam usually wasn't so glum. "What else is going on in that head of yours?"
He bit his lip as she asked what was wrong again, placing the puzzle piece in its home before starting to fidget with his fingers. Confronting how Beetlejuice had made him feel was scary, especially because he had always been told men weren't supposed to hurt that way. Men couldn't be harassed, right? Although, he also knew he'd always be safe by Barbara, and she would never judge him. Adam was silent for a long few moments, not able to keep that eye contact with her. He looked down in shame; if he was able to cry, he'd probably be crying right now. But ghosts couldn't do a lot of things they could when they were alive, like shed a tear.
Through his silence, Barbara was patient, simply brushing her thumb against his knee. She knew he just needed time to try to collect his thoughts, and after all, they had all of the time in the world.
Given a few more long moments, Adam forced himself to look up at her. "I... Barbara, I feel so... gross... after the whole... fiasco after our deaths." His fidgeting turned into him nervously picking at his cuticles. He was so, so anxious to go on, but he knew he could wholly trust Barbara. "I really do... I feel like I- uh- I betrayed you. And I betrayed myself. ‘Him’... touching me like that... it- it uh.. feels wrong... It shouldn't have happened." He didn’t like to call Beetlejuice by his name out of fear of summoning him. Maybe, just maybe, if Adam had found the guts to get away from his shock and push Beetlejuice away in the first place, the unwanted touching never would have happened, and he could have prevented everything that happened to him and Barbara.
As Barbara noticed him picking at his nails, she took Adam's hands and gave them a reassuring squeeze. Even if he couldn't bleed from it now, she still worked to get him not to peel his cuticles.
Despite not needing it, Adam took a deep breath in. "It's like... I didn't have control. And- and I should have had control! It was- it's my own damn body-." He had looked down as quick as he made eye contact with her, watching their hands. It could have been a lot worse, he was aware of that. He was lucky it was just pinching, the occasional kiss, and groping, and not assault. He tried to tell himself that too, but the feelings wouldn't go away. "...I'm sorry." He muttered after a long moment of silence, shaking his head. "I'm so sorry." It was strange not to be crying.
Barbara had sat there and listened through his whole spiel, not wanting to interrupt him. Of course, Barbara wouldn't judge him for how he felt, they had both gone through a lot; it’d be hypocritical to judge him. Even then, it simply wasn’t something she’d do to anyone. "Adam, don't be sorry. I'm so sorry..." She wished she would have known faster, but at least he told her now, and they could work on healing through their pain. Together. She was quiet for a few moments, trying to think through what to say.
"I feel like- I feel like I should be. Barbara, I like- I accidentally betrayed you." Her silence made Adam's nerves jump through the roof, even though he knew she'd be nothing but supportive. Barbara always was.
Upon his remark, she looked at him sharply. "Don't you dare say that, Adam Maitland. You didn't betray me, at all..." She gave his hands another reassuring squeeze, then tilting his chin up to make eye contact again. "You didn't betray me... it's... Adam, you didn't. I promise you." Her hand that had moved to his chin shifted to caress his cheek. "What... Beetlejuice did wasn't okay." He had touched and kissed both of them without their permission, but Adam had been targeted more. "It wasn't, period. But honey,,, you.. can't blame yourself for it." Saying no could be hard ((screw American sex-ed)).
Hearing her say he hadn't betrayed her was reassuring, even if he knew it deep, deep down. Adam's emotions were all askew right now. He squeezed his eyes shut, leaning his head into her hand. "But, I could have, Barbara. I really could have,, just,, made it stop..." It felt like there had to be something he could have done. Sure, it was useful in the end to the plan to kill Beetlejuice, but that didn't excuse the pain he was feeling. He had tried a few things already, like his hobbies that never failed to make him feel better, or a steamy makeout session with Barbara where he had the control; he couldn't brush the feelings.
She shook her head. She knew Adam had tried to push the advances away, but he tended to shut down when he was in shock. "Adam, it isn't your fault... I swear, it wasn't your fault." Barbara brushed her fingers against his cheek.
Adam was quiet for a few moments before pulling Barbara into a tight embrace, his nose buried in her shoulder as he squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't know what to say, all he wanted to do was make all these bad feelings go away.
When he pulled her into a hug, Barbara held him close as well, running a hand through his hair— that always comforted him. Right now? All she could give him was comfort, support and love. Atop that, time would help him heal. In the end, that helped everything.
Adam didn't know if this would stick with him forever, all of the guilt, the filth, the weakness, the worthlessness, the helplessness, the betrayal. The feeling that he was simply an object in the eyes of Beetlejuice. He hoped it wouldn't, he'd be living an eternity as a ghost after all. He gently rocked in Barbara's arms. "Tell... tell me it'll be okay..? Please, Barbara..?"
Barbara nodded. "It'll be okay, Adam..." She hoped it would be, she really did. “It’ll be okay...”