Chapter Text
Lydia stood frozen in that church, Beetlejuice by her side. They were getting married. Really, Lydia shouldn't be as terrified as she is. Beetlejuice had kept his end of the deal, so she… had to keep hers. The thought still disgusted her, though. Beetlejuice locks arms with her, pressing against her shaking arm, hard, keeping her in place. Lydia grimaces and looks away to Astrid and Delia, who are looking at the pair with concern in their eyes.
Suddenly, Lydia hears a loud thud and whirls around to see that the church door has been violently pushed open, and through it was stepping a tall, dark woman, stitches all over her body. Lydia hears Beetlejuice curse in response to seeing the woman, but she can't seem to focus on him anymore, all of her attention shifting to the strange figure. A part of her realizes Oh, this must be that ex-wife. And, well, her first thought after that is how? How could a woman like that be with a man like… that? If you can even call him a man. Lydia is pulled out of her thoughts when she feels herself gliding across the floor, away from Beetlejuice. Away from Beetlejuice, she can't complain about that. So she doesn't protest when she's pulled away, left with her back against a wall.
She's more than happy to let the two work out whatever it is they need to work out, if it means she has a chance of getting out of here. And, the look of distress on Beetlejuice's face upon seeing his ex-wife walk towards him makes the corners of Lydia's mouth curl up in a tiny smile. It's kinda stupid, she thinks. And the smile doesn't last long, faltering when the woman turns to the left. Ignoring her ex-husband, she instead paces closer to Lydia. And she's terrified again. What the hell does she want from her? Is she mad that she and Beetlejuice were about to get married? That would make sense, she supposes. She needs to explain the situation, explain that she doesn't want this.
"Lydia, yes?" The woman speaks up before Lydia can, her words glazed in a thick accent. She's standing only inches away from the other woman, towering over her, which just makes Lydia feel even more intimidated.
"Uh. Yeah?" Lydia manages to mumble out in a terribly small, shaky tone. God, she's being such a wuss. She's setting a terrible example for Astrid. She-
The little voices in her head once again come to a full stop when she feels a cold, dead hand cupping one side of her face, caressing her cheek with a stitched up thumb.
That's… weird. Like, really weird. However, Lydia can't help but lean into the touch, even though it leaves her skin covered in goosebumps. For a moment she thinks about how this must look for everyone around them, but the church seems completely empty now, save for the two women. Or maybe it isn't, she wouldn't know. She can't seem to look away from the undead woman's dark eyes. Her face moving closer to hers, her hands sliding down, down-
Astrid can't sleep, again. Her and Lydia were staying in Winter River a few days more than they were supposed to because of, well, Delia's funeral. Astrid didn't know her grandparents that well but to lose both of them in such a short period of time is a little upsetting, to say the least. And the house, oh, God, the house- she still feels strange in it. It's too foreign for her, she hasn't been able to have a full night of sleep these past few days. Same cannot be said for her mom, which is to be expected. This is her childhood home, sleeping in her old bed is probably comforting.
Or not. Astrid perks up when she hears strange noises coming from upstairs. She's been half-asleep in the kitchen, leaning over the counter eating cereal straight from the box, but she feels wide awake now. She moves up the stairs hastily, making a beeline to her mother's room. As she gets closer to Lydia's open room and the noises get louder, she realizes her mom is not in danger. In fact, she seems to be moaning in her sleep. Uh. Gross. Definitely not something Astrid needed to hear, but she'll mind her own business. She reaches over to the knob on the door and shuts it gently. Or, well, she meant to shut it gently. Instead, she more slammed it, very loudly, which for sure awoke Lydia. Astrid hurried downstairs, grabbing her bicycle and quietly exiting through the front door to go for a ride at… 5 in the morning.
Lydia jolts awake, sitting upright on her bed, springs squeaking underneath her movement. She rubs her eyes, still in the process of fully waking up, and fixes a strap of her night gown that's slipped off her shoulder, exposing her collarbone and most of her breasts. It reminds her of the dream, when that woman pulled that awful wedding dress off her with freezing yet tender hands-
Jesus, right. That dream. What was that? Was Lydia really having a wet dream about Beetlejuice's ex-wife? A woman she doesn't even know, to make matters worse. She brings her knees up to her chest and presses her mouth into a thin line as her inner thighs rub against each other just a bit too smoothly. Yes. Yes, she was.
How did she manage that? Well, she'd be lying if she said she hadn't noticed the woman was beautiful when she first saw her, back in the church. But she had a much more important issue at hand so she couldn't dwell on it. Not that she would, anyway. It was just a passing thought. An observation. Right?
Doesn't matter now. It was just a dream and that woman is gone now - Lydia grimaces slightly at the recollection of that night's events, namely the ex-wife getting eaten by a sandworm. She chooses to ignore that feeling she can't quite name. Well, she can, but she'd rather not. It doesn't make any sense, she shouldn't feel bad for the woman. She was a danger. What happened to her was deserved. Maybe. Like Rory. Ugh, Rory. Remembering the same fate met him fills her with satisfaction. However, a part of her still feels weirdly guilty about her ex-fiance. Lydia pushes those thoughts away - he deserved what happened to him. And so did that woman.
…..
Maybe if she keeps saying that, she'll actually believe the latter.
Whatever, she absently thinks while getting out of bed, changing out of her night gown. She doesn't need to think any deeper about this, it's all over. Beetlejuice, his wife and Rory are all gone. For good. Lydia looks out of the window of her room to see that Astrid's bicycle is gone, meaning she probably went for a ride. She does that a lot, especially since they came back to Winter Rivers. Lydia's asked her about it before and her daughter muttered something about it helping her calm down and recollect her thoughts. Astrid has been through a lot lately and her mother is glad she's found an outlet.
Lydia steps down the stairs quietly. Her footing is naturally light but the old stairs still creak under her weight. She makes her way to the kitchen where she notices an opened bag of cereal on the counter. The big light in the middle of the ceiling flickers rapidly before turning off completely. Lydia mumbles out a quiet Dang it, but she doesn't think much of it. It's an old house, the light's bound to burn out after a while. What does draw her attention, however, is when all cupboards spring open at once, one bonking her head. She ducks down and stares at the wide open cupboards, her eyebrows furrowing. She knows by now this is a standard attempt at ghosts scaring the living. But who would be here? Lydia feels a cold breeze which sends a shiver down her spine and for a second she thinks it's the ghost before peeking in the living room and noticing the windows have been sprung open, like the cupboards. If it was nearly as sudden and violent as those, though, she's surprised the glass is still intact on all of the windows.
"Uhm." Lydia starts, somewhat nervously, as she enters the living room she grabs the curtains, flapping from the wind, and pushes the windows closed. She really doesn't need more paranormal encounters right now. She's just so tired, after what happened recently with Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice… No, probably not. Can't be him. Can it? Who else could it be? Who else would be here?
Lydia's breathing becomes shallow at the thought of him being back, so soon. She feels her legs start shaking and stumbles over to the couch, plopping herself down cautiously.
"What do you want?" Lydia calls out, her voice barely above a whisper. She can't muster up the confidence to yell, as much as she'd like to.
She feels herself getting pulled up to her feet and turned around so she's facing a window. It freaks her out slightly, but she's being shifted so gently, she chooses to comply. Lydia assumes he- the ghost- wants her to look at something outside so she focuses on the outdoor settings, squinting her eyes trying to find anything out of the ordinary. She's not sure what she's supposed to be looking at. After a moment she hears a soft thud on the wooden floors behind her and whirls around to see… her.
"Lydia." Beetlejuice's wife calls out to her, and her voice is just as soft as it was in the dream.