This is the movie version of Cirque Du Freak.

My name is Elektra Shan. Yes, I am related to the deceased Darren Shan. He was my cousin and my best friend. You see his dad was my dad's younger brother and before we moved Darren and I had a strong relationship. He was like my baby brother than my cousin. My dad moved us was after my mom left when I was six. She said that it would be better if she wasn't around and that I shouldn't go looking for her. And the sad thing is I couldn't help but hate that I looked so much like her. I inherited her blond hair, violet eyes, and paleish skin. I hated that I looked to much like her that out of desperation to look different I highlighted my hair with a few black streaks. After a few years me and my dad moved back into his old hometown and I saw Darren again for the first time in 8 years. I became friends with his best friend Steve and over time I had a crush on him. When Darren died it felt like there was a hole in my heart. It was hard living in that town, but I stayed cause my family need me and so did Steve. Two months after Darren's funeral my dad died after he was beaten really bad by some punks who robbed him blind. I couldn't stand it anymore and I ran away from everything. And no matter how long or fast I ran I couldn't escape all the pain and couldn't hold back the tears anymore. After a few weeks of running I ended up in New Orleans and while trying to find a safe place to sleep a flyer fell near my feet.

"Cirque Du Freak: A one night only freak show. Been around for over fifty years and not for the faint of heart. Guess it wouldn't hurt just to check it out. Twenty bucks! Theres no way I'll be able to see it now."

Putting the flyer in my in my duffle bag I continued to walk around till I heard some music playing and it felt like I couldn't control my feet at all. When I finally stopped I found myself in front of a café and again before I knew it I was walking into the building and took a seat near the stage.

"Alright ya'll. Today is a very special day cause today we are letting newbies perform. If you hate 'em tell 'em. You love 'em pay 'em. Who wants to go first? Yes, you. Girl with the multiple braclets. Come on up."

Oh my god. What did I just do? Getting up from my seat I walked up to the stage and set up my dad's old guitar.

"Hi my name's Elektra and sorry if I'm not that good."

Picking a few strings I started to play a song that I wrote a few days after my mom left and during the move.

"I can't see the stars anymore living here
Let's go to the hills where the outlines are clear

Bring on the wonder
Bring on the song
I pushed you down deep in my soul for too long

I fell through the cracks at the end of our street
Let's go to the beach, get the sand through our feet

Bring on the wonder
Bring on the song
I pushed you down deep in my soul for too long

Bring on the wonder
We got it all wrong
We pushed you down deep in our souls for too long

I don't have the time for a drink from the cup
Let's rest for a while 'til our souls catch us up

Bring on the wonder
Bring on the song
I pushed you down deep in my soul for too long

Bring on the wonder
We got it all wrong
We pushed you down deep in our souls, so hang on

Bring on the wonder
Bring on the song
I pushed you down deep in my soul for too long."

When I finished people were clapping and whistling.

"Thanks for the love guys. I appreciate it."

"Ya'll give it for the wonderful Elektra. Here ya go girl two hundred and seventy-six bucks and just so you know you can come play here anytime and I'll pay you for your gig."

"Really thank you. Thank you so much."

Putting the money away I walked out of the café and continued to walk around the city of New Orleans till the night came. Following the directions on the flyer I came to a abandoned thearter.

"Well no turning back now. Back in three seconds one, two, three. It's been three seconds."

A small door opened and dropped a piece of paper that said money. Holding out the twenty bucks a hand came out took my money and handed me a ticket. Going into the building a man three times my size came out of the shadows. I was so stunned that when he spoke his voice brought me out of my shock.

"Are you 21?" At first I didn't say anything till he spoke again.

"Say yes."

"Yes.

"Good. You don't have a tendency towards panic, sudden cardiac arrest or crippling anxiety, do you? Say no."

"No, I do not."

"Good." He held out his hand and I gave him my ticket and a flick of his hand the ticket dissappered. "Go ahead in. The show is about to start."

Walking into the room I felt a tug on my jeans and saw a weird looking thing standing in front of me.

"Are you taking me to my seat?"

It shook its as and held up its hand for me to take. Giving him my hand he pulled me behind him and let go when we made it to the front row.

"I guess this is my seat."

There was almost a full house so thankfully I would still be able to see the show. Setting my duffle bag and guitar case beside me and the man from before walked up on the stage.

"Welcome. Welcome to the Cirque du Freak, the olderst continuously operating freak show in the Western hemisphere.

We have toured for 500 years, bringing the bizarre to gerneration after generation. May I present the Wolfman!"

Two women who at first looked stuck seperated and a wolf/human came out.

"No sudden noises."

The Wolfman circled around the stage till he came to me. He looked at me the longest and came so close that I could smell the awful stench that surrounded him. He moved on then stopped. It looked like something spooked him and he made a roar so loud I covered my ears. But it wasn't enought to block out the screams of the pour woman after her arm was torn off by him.

"Some one call and an ambulance!"

"It's okay. That's not necessary."

That brought me out of my shock and before I knew what I was doing I got out of my seat and bout to go see if the woman was okay. I didn't get to far cause the Wolfman turned his head to me and for some reason I could tell, just by looking in his eyes, that I should sit back down. So I did.

"Good boy. And stay."

Music started playing and the same woman who's arm was torn off got up and walked onto the stage. She turned around and held her arm up and as if my magic her arm started to reform. Bones, muscles, everything. The audience started clapping for the performance and so did I.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the enchanting recycling queen, Corma Limbs."

She took her severed arm and used it to blow a kiss to the audience and walked off the stage before the Wolfman.

"And now our resident hunger artist, Alexander Ribs!"

A man slide out on his knees, underneath the Wolfman, and took off his jacket and shirt. I had to do a double take cause I couldn't believe that I could acctually see most of his organs.

He was even moving a small light around so everyone could see.

"Freaky-freak, freak for freak freak. Freaky-freak, freak for freak freak. Oh, look, a candy corn."

"And next, Gertha Teeth!"

A woman came down onto the stage holding on to a pully just by her teeth. A shorter man with a very large forhead gave Gertha a okay sign and she just smiled at him. I had a feeling there was something going on between the two of them.

"And Rhamus Twobellies!"

"I have arrived!"

A African-American man with acctual to bellies came on the stage and Gertha bit a shovel in two and handed it to him who in return swallowed them. She also bit a oversized fork and the shorter man handed Rhamus a timer clock. He threw it in the air and swallowed it as it came back down. Gertha then lit a fire torch and at first I thought Rhamus wasn't going to swallow it, but he did and we could see some of the stuff that was in both of his bellies. When he got it out he started hurling up something and after he put it together it turned out to be a bike which he rode off the stage.

"Nice job!"

"And next, Evra the Snake Boy!"

A boy cover in snake scales came onto the stage and he looked about my age.

"Evra, aren't you forgetting something?"

"Huh?"

With a few hand movements the he dissappered behind the curtains again, but didn't come back out. After a few minutes he didn't come back out the host of the evening started to speak again.

"I'm sorry for the wait it seems Evra is-"

The Snake Boy came back on stage and walked directly to the host and wispered something that the audience couldn't hear. By the look on the hosts face he was mad at the boy, Evra, and I could tell that he was also worried about something.

"It seems that Evra has misplaced his pet snake and I assure you that the snake is very dangerous so please do not panic and becareful when-"

A man from the crowd jumped up and pointed a finger in my direction and the words he said next made me sit very still.

"There it is! It's near that girls head."

I could feel the snakes skin on my neck as it slithered from the back of the seat to my shoulder so I could see its wide open mouth. It turned its head to the left and seemed to be hissing a warning to either the man that pointed it out or to anyone that was near me. Controlling my breathing and staying very still it circled around my neck once and seemed to make itself comfortable around my shoulders.

"Please everyone do not panic. We have everything under control as long as no one makes any sudden noises and the girl doesn't do anything to make the snake angry she will be okay. Evra would you mind getting your snake off the girl please."

"Sure thing."

The Snake Boy came up to my seat and knelt down to my left side.

"Don't worry bout what Mr. Tall said she's pretty harmless."

"I'm not afriad."

This seemed to take him by suprise cause his hand stopped halfway to the back of my neck.

"Something the matter?"

"Um, well, your gonna have to get up cause I can't find her tail."

"Her tail?"

"Ya, its the only way to get her off to she doesn't hurt you. Just give me you hand. I'll help you up and I need you to trust me."

I turned my head to look at him and I could tell by looking into eyes that he wouldn't try anything.

"I trust you."

"Okay. Um, give me your hand and try to stay stiff."

"Got it."

At first his hand felt weird but soon it felt kind of nice sadly though he had to grab the snakes tail so he let go. He looked behind me and at the cornor of my eye I saw his right hand go behind my back. He turn back to facing me and continued to unwrap his snake from my body.

"I'm really sorry about this. This is the first time she's done this so."

"Hey its okay. It was kind of fun in a way."

With one last appoligetic look he walked back behind the curtain and I sat back in my seat.

"And now, the voluptuous, the exotic, the insightful Madame Truska!"

The beat of an exotic drum started playing and a woman sitting on a chair was brought in my to muscle men. She looked short of like a gypsy queen. She got up and directed her attention to the audience.

"Do we have someone brave enought to be my assistant?"

Wispering to my self over and over that she wouldn't pick me to go on the stage. It almost worked till some jerk from the crowd yelled out, "Hey pick the girl in the front! The one that had the snake around her a moment ago!"

I really wanted to kill that guy and it only got worse when Madam Truska pointed at me.

"You girl with the crescent moon necklace. Get up here."

(Necklace and guitar on profile)

Reluctantly I got up on the stage and stood in front of Madam Truska. She made me sit on the seat,she came out on, then she took my hands and placed them on her face for only a moment then she started growing hair on her face in only a matter of seconds. She looked at me strangely then took the crescent moon ,that hung around my neck, between her fingers.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Elektra Shan. And I'm-"

"Your last name is Shan."

"Yes."

"As in Darren Shan?"

Looking at her in disbelief I answered her, "How do you know my cousin?"

She got up and got a razor blade and cut her beard off in only a matter a seconds then turned to the crowd and gave a small bow. Before I made it off the stage she grabbed my arm and wispered quietly to me so no one in the audience could hear.

"After the show meet me in my dressing room."

Before I could ask anything else she was off the stage so I got off as well and prayed that the next act would not need an assistant.

"Ready for more? Larten Crepsley and Madam Octa!"

A man appeared on stage faster that any of the other people that showed up on the stage before. He was wearing a red suit that showed off his red hair even more and was also wearing a top hat. From what I could see he had a three claw marks on his left cheek. But there was something else about him that I couldn't put my finger on and when he started speaking it brougth me out of my thinking.

"Thank you, ladies and gentlemen I am so excited to be in this wonderful city which used to have character but is now trying to rebuild its self. It really is a pleasure to be here and I am so honored that blah, blah, blah, and so on and so forth, et cetera, ad nauseum. I'm afraid I have some unfortunate news, however. I had hoped to present my usual act, but my spider, Madame Octa, seems to have escaped from her cage and is currently missing."

"Hey why don't you check the same girl over there in the front row. She had a snake on her awhile ago and then she had a woman on her too. Wouldn't be suprised if there was a spider on her as well!"

Turning to look for the person who said that was a stupid idea cause there was no way to find that one person cause of the crowd. I just turned back around in my seat and wiped away a few tears that threadened to fall from my eyes and continued to watch the performance.

"As I was saying use caution when retrieving your belongings from underneath your seats. She is very poisonous. But not to worry. Tonight I will perform for you some startling illusions. First, a rabbit from a hat."

He took his hat off and held it at arms length and a blue and red spider jumped up near his wrist.

"This is Madame Octa. Interesting fact, one bite from this spider means certain death. But don't worry. As long as I stay calm. If I could just get my flute, that usually..."

Madame Octa the jumped to the left side of his body and he tried to trap her with his hat but she was to fast for him till he caught her with his left hand and tried to drop her but she kept coming back up cause of her silk string. She finally dropped her and stepped on the silk string causing her to move from one side to the next. It looked like they were just playing around the he started moving his feet with the spider moving from place to place. The lights started to dim and he started to play his flute. Madame Octa then climbed up his body to his flute so she could hang down only by her silk string while he swung her side to side. He swung her to high and she became air born. He then caught her in his mouth but thankfully she didn't fall completely in. She jumped off of his mouth and he caught her in his hand. He took a bow and the host came back on the stage.

"We hope you enjoyed the show. There will be some merchandises for sale in the lobby on your way out. Thank you for coming."

Grabbing my duffle bag and my guitar case I followed the other people out to the lobby and saw more of those little things in the cloaks standing near a few tables selling a lot of stuff. I looked around and saw a Madame Octa keychain and thought that Darren would have loved it. Deciding that when ever I returned back home I would go to his grave and leave it there for him. Giving the little man my money I also bought a few spider web candies and a Madame Truska doll for Annie as well. Right before I left I saw a cd with the Evra the Snake Boy on it and the name 'Serpentine' on top the cover never one to pass up good music I bought me a cd. As soon as I walked out the door the wind started blowing really hard causing me to shiver and wrap my jacket tightly around me. Since it was really late I didn't think anyone would be walking around so I started walking in the ally beside the thearter not knowing someone was following me. About halfway there I turned around and saw six guys following behind me.

"Where you going little girl."

"Isn't it passed your bed time?"

"A girl like you shouldn't be alone at night like this. How bout we hang out with you and keep you company?"

The guys started close in on me and a few got way to close to me. I turned around to face them and tried to keep a straight face.

"Look guys I don't want any trouble so if its money you want I'll be more than happy to give it to you. Just please leave me alone."

"Oh trust me we'll take your money and maybe something else as well."

One of the guys grabbed my arm roughly but I hit him with my guitar case. And hard. I ran down the ally and found a door leading back into the thearter and continued to run trying to find a place to hide.

"Come out, come out, where ever you are!"

"Your gonna get it now little girl. We were gonna go easy on ya, but now I guess we're gonna have to teach you a lesson."

Quietly I sneaked back into the auditorium and behind the curtain. The thugs walked around the chairs till one of them got on the stage and walked right up to the curtain. He walked up to the curtains and pulled them apart reavealed my hiding place. He grabbed me by my hair and dragged my onto the stage and made me stand up so he could show me off to his buddies.

"Boss I found the little whore!"

I tried to hit him but he pulled my hair back even harder and the other guys started coming towards me as well.

"See this could have been better if you had just taken it like a good little girl. And since I'm feeling merciful I'll give you one more change to redeem yourself. All you have to do is lay down and take it with out putting up a fight. What do ya say?"

"I say you can kiss my ass. Now let me go you fucking Son of a Bitch!"

"SHUT UP!"

One of the guys slapped me so hard that the impact forced me to hit the floor.

"Leave the girl alone!"

Madame Truska was standing only a few feet away from me and Mr. Crepsley was standing beside her. If looks could kill those assholes would be dead on the spot.

"Stay out of this old man. The girl hit me so now she has to pay the price."

"If you lay one finger her you'll wish you never met any of us."

Madame Truska came to my side and helped me stand up. She pulled me behind her so that we were away from the stage.

"I told you to meet me after the show."

"I forgot okay. I thought it was just part of the act and if I knew that I was going to be almost raped then I would have met you after the show."

"Yes, but you didn't know and I did. Now come on."

"Wait," I pulled my hand away from her and she turned around and faced me,"on the stage you asked if I was related to Darren. Did you know Darren?"

"Yes, I do know him."

"You do know him. That can't be. He's been dead for a few months now."

"No, I'm not Lektra."

Behind me I heard a voice I thought I would never hear again.

"No, no it can't be you."

"Lektra, please turn around and see for yourself."

I turned around and I couldn't believe what I saw. Darren was alive and well.

"Hey Lektra."

"Darren." Then the last thing I saw was Darren's face.