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Every now and then, Lydia has moments where she forgets who her adopted brother truly is. Er, rather, she forgets what he is. She’s sure that the rest of the family does too, even Beetlejuice to some extent, which explains why they all react one of two ways when they’re suddenly- and usually quite aggressively -reminded. On days where Beetlejuice finds it appropriate to show off how much of a demon he really is, the reactions are usually that of immense fear, or intense rage. No one in the household was very fond of nearly getting parts of their bodies ripped off and turned into chew toys, which explained the nasty reactions to the even nastier cause of said reactions.
The moments- or Inner Outbursts as Delia calls them -usually happen out of nowhere. Beetlejuice could be perfectly fine and happy one minute, and then furious and ravenous the next minute. There were places in the house designated to hiding the family when these Inner Outbursts occurred, which left Beetlejuice to destroy the house mindlessly, and/or consume every bit of food and trash in the house. Usually, the Inner Outbursts only last a few minutes, but there have been instances of them lasting a few hours, and once it had lasted an entire day.
Those Inner Outbursts were typically the worst. Beetlejuice would end up covered in scratches, blood, and dirt, out of breath and looking as guilty as a puppy who was being yelled at for making a mess. He had a tendency to hide away after his Inner Outbursts, too embarrassed and afraid to face his family immediately after destroying everything in the house.
No one would say much of anything while he was gone.
“Beej! I’m heading off to school!” Lydia called loudly, waiting until she heard a loud ‘Ugh!’ before leaving the house to make her way to school. Charles and Delia were next to leave, heading off to work, leaving the house to be governed by the Maitlands, who were also forced to babysit the most chaotic member of the family.
At least, he was normally the most chaotic member of the family. Much to the concern of Adam and Barbara, all was calm, almost too calm for their liking. They kept their ears open as they worked in the attic - Barbara was cleaning up while Adam was working on a model of New York as a present for Lydia. Granted, Beetlejuice could most likely be out guiding a few Newly-Deads into the Netherworld, which explained the silence. It also quelled the worry that had settled into the ghosts over time.
”It’s somewhat nice to be working in silence.” Adam commented, looking over to his wife with a smile. Barbara smiled back, but Adam was quick to catch the worry in her eyes. “Barb-“
”What if he’s about to have another moment?” Barbara asked quickly, still cleaning despite her worry. “You know how bad the last one was!”
”Yes, I do, but the chances of him having an Inner Outburst twice in one week seems a bit far fetched, don’t you think? He should have gotten it out of his system by now.” Adam was fairly confident in his response, but that confidence quickly faded upon hearing one of the scariest sounds the family had unfortunately gotten used to.
A loud, menacing hiss.
”Uh… m-maybe it was a snake?” Adam whimpered.
Heavy thumps and scampers led the couple to jump.
”A snake with legs, Adam?” Barbara huffed, cringing when the thumps happened again.
”Okay, maybe a cat!” Adam yelled. “A really… really big cat.”
All of a sudden, the thumping stopped, and the Maitlands felt a sense of dread overcome them. Against her better judgement, Barbara opened her mouth and made the dumbest decision she could have ever made.
”B-Beetlejuice…?”
At that, said demon body slammed through the roof, roaring and snarling as he looked around the attic for the ghost that dared to utter his name. His hair and eyes were blood red, and foam formed at the corners of his mouth. Adam and Barbara screamed in horror, racing out of the attic and towards the Safe Room. Beetlejuice followed close behind, but was stopped just before he could get a hold of either of the ghosts he loved to tease and taunt.
”Come on you guys! Let me in!” Beetlejuice’s voice was cold and gravelly, and somehow managed to cause the Maitlands’ nonexistent hearts to stop. “I won’t hurt you! I promise!”
”Don’t listen to him, Barbara.” Adam whispered, hugging his wife close. “He’s still too far gone.”
Beetlejuice scratched at the Safe Room’s door, hissing and snarling ferociously. “LET ME IN! YOU DAMN GHOSTS! LET ME CONSUME YOUR SOULS!”
Barbara whimpered and leaned into Adam’s strong hold, covering her ears and sobbing as she was forced to listen to their dear friend go through what she could only assume was a horrible experience. After a few minutes, which felt like hours to the Maitlands, Beetlejuice gave up on getting into the Safe Room. Instead, he turned and stormed into the kitchen on all fours, just like a stalking cat. Beetlejuice unsheathed his claws and bared his dangerously sharp fangs, launching forward and destroying everything in the kitchen. No trace of food or trash was left after his assault, and the kitchen was left in a more than dilapidated state.
Silence reigned throughout the house for some time, giving Adam the idea to poke his head out into the open to see where Beetlejuice was. After a quick survey of the area, Adam caught sight of the demon hanging from the roof, hissing and making direct eye contact. Adam yelped and quickly pulled himself into the room, slamming the door and shuddering. He looked at Barbara with a frown, giving her all the more reason to cry.
”I wish he didn’t have to go through this!” Barbara sobbed. “It’s not fair to him!”
Adam nodded in agreement, sitting on the floor and encouraging Barbara to do the same. The couple sat in silence, forced to listen to the damage being done to their beloved home. Screeching and wailing made both ghosts back up from the door, and they continued to wait for nearly two hours. After that time was up, Beetlejuice found himself waking up in the middle of the living room, surrounded by a mess that made it look like a tornado had rammed straight through the house.
”No… no, no, no! NO!” Beetlejuice screamed, curling into a ball and sobbing. “Why would you do this?!”
Beetlejuice’s cries led Adam and Barbara to race out of the Safe Room, both ghosts moving to comfort the demon. The trio sat and cried until Lydia and Delia got home, both of whom were absolutely shocked to be met with the sight of the wreckage.
”I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! Please don’t hate me!” Beetlejuice wailed, looking up at Delia pleadingly. “I tried so hard to fight it!”
Delia frowned sympathetically, approaching the trio and getting onto her knees. She drew Beetlejuice into a hug, running her fingers through his white and purple colored hair. “Shh… it’s okay. I know you didn’t mean it, darling.”
The contact was sweet, loving, and gentle; all of the things that Beetlejuice was still getting used to. Even still, he found no strength in himself to purr, but he wanted to, oh how he desperately wanted to. It always helped him feel better, but he was just too tired this time. Too drained after such an intense outburst. Without meaning to, Beetlejuice put all of his weight against Delia, sniffling and whimpering as he slowly recovered from his furious moment.
“It’s alright. You’re going to be okay. No one here is mad at you.” Delia assured, glancing back when she heard Charles walk in and unintentionally drop his suitcase. “Not even that big lug.”
”I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I’m so, so sorry…” Beetlejuice couldn’t stop apologizing, too caught up in his guilt. “Please don’t hate me, please don’t hurt me.”
”We won’t, Beej.” Lydia whispered, sitting on the floor next to Delia. She reached a hand out to pet Beetlejuice’s back, but Delia gave a look that said it wouldn’t be worth the effort. Beetlejuice could still snap at any moment, and the last thing Delia- or anyone else, really -wanted was for the teen to lose a hand- or worse -because she was trying to comfort her friend. The demon was in a dangerous mindset, but Lydia was too young to understand that. To her, all she saw was a hurt friend who deserved to be comforted. Despite that, however, Lydia decided that it would be best to listen to Delia, just this once. “We won’t hurt you.”
Unsurprisingly, Beetlejuice couldn’t bring himself to believe her. He tried to, but all he could think about was how Juno would beat him senselessly after having these outbursts. She would question why her son didn’t act like this on a day-to-day basis, scold him for being so dramatically emotional afterwards.
He wanted to believe them, really.
But right now, he couldn’t.
Especially not when he was too far gone to comprehend who or what was holding him…