Freakshow: (Talking to Jazz) Ghosts, ghosts, ghosts. I am so tired of ghosts. Do you know what it feels like to live in the shadow of ghosts?
Jack: (Talking in his sleep) Ghosts... GHOSTS!
Jazz: Oh, you'd be surprised.
Freakshow: My parents loved ghosts more than me, my audience loves ghosts more than me, and deep down, I think... I love ghosts more than me.
Jazz: Tell me about it.
Jazz & Freakshow: Sometimes I wish I was a ghost.
Freakshow: You really do understand me, don't you, child?
Jack: (Thumping his foot) Ghost, ghost, ghosts, ghosts, ghosts...
Jazz: More than you know.
Summary: Fredrick and Lydia were inseparable. You would never see one without the other. They went everywhere with their parents, including their family's Circus Gothica. But during one performance, there is a horrible accident, taking the lives of seventeen-year-old Lydia and her parents, leaving Fredrick the only heir to Circus Gothica. Then, one night, a familiar ghost pays him a visit.
Promotion: "Who are you?" Fredrick asked. "You don't recognize me?" the female ghost asked. "I am Lydia."
Lydia
The Showenhower family was famous but unknown. Popular yet rejected. They were different, and it brought them both great fame and famine. They could control ghosts.
Timothy and Theodora Showenhower were happily married with two children, Fredrick and Lydia. Neither of the children were liked at school, and this caused them to become each other's best friend. They were two peas in a pod, never apart. They shared the same bedroom, and the same love for ghosts, just like their parents. Lydia, being the oldest by two years, would be the heir to their family's profession, a freak show called Circus Gothica, featuring ghosts. She would also become the possessor of the scepter which controlled the ghosts.
When they were young, Fredrick didn't like this because he thought he should be the heir. But as he grew older and became closer to Lydia, he decided that her love for the profession would keep it running smoothly and into the next generation.
Both children enjoyed going to the Circus Gothica because it was fun. Sometimes they got to go up and perform alongside the ghosts, but they were always careful. They never wanted to endanger their lives or their parents' profession.
When Fredrick was fifteen, he and his family took a cross-country tour, giving everyone a taste of Circus Gothica. When they were in Atlanta, Georgia, miles from their home in San Francisco, California, Fredrick knew something wasn't right. He refused to go on the stage that day, he felt something wrong. His sister, Lydia, however, never passed up the chance to perform, and before Fredrick could stop her, she had gone up onto the stage and was climbing up the ladder to the tightrope. His brown eyes suddenly focused on something. A box, sitting almost hidden beneath the ladder. He noticed a small clock on it, and he finally realized too late what it was.
"A bomb..." he whispered.
The explosion lit up the whole field, sending pieces of wood and metal everywhere. Fredrick took cover as best he could under the bleachers; this probably saved his life. When the debris finally settled, Fredrick slowly came out of his hiding spot, scanning over what used to be Circus Gothica. "Lydia!" he called out. "Lydia! Where are you?" He finally spotted her limp body and he couldn't hold it in any longer. For the first time in his life, Fredrick Isak Showenhower cried.
His parents had died as well. Fredrick sat in his room and cried for days. One night as he sobbed silently to himself, a ghost appeared before him. Fredrick looked up, she had the family scepter in her hand. "Who are you?" Fredrick asked.
"You don't recognize me?" the female ghost asked. "I am Lydia." He did not recognize her at first, she looked very different. Then he recognized the spirit in her now blood red eyes, the determination on her face. She handed him the scepter. "Now that I am a ghost, I cannot control my own kind. You are the heir now, Fredrick. You do not need the scepter to control me. I am your servant, your sister. I will always be beside you. Circus Gothica will live again. You must find and control ghosts like our parents and grandparents. You can never let the spirit of Circus Gothica die."
"I won't let you down, Lydia," he said. "I promise." Lydia noted the fiercity in his words.
"Do not abuse the power of the scepter," she said. "It may turn you against what you love most." Fredrick nodded.
"I'll never abuse my power," he said. "I'll be just like Mom and Dad."
FIN