Enter the Circus
A/N: Okay so here's the next chapter. I borrowed and altered a small portion of some lyrics from a Christina Aguilera song intro for this update but otherwise it's all me, like usual. Oh and this chapter is all Leyton and…it's pretty short but I have a feeling your still really going to like it! Hopefully! - Jasmine
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Two days later – Charleston – Circus
A tall, lanky, goofy looking clown with a ton of balloons in his hand walked up to Peyton and Kari and directed his attention to the toddler. "Would you like a balloon?"
Kari lifted her little head up off of her mother's chest and nodded.
The clown smiled and handed her a pink one. "Here you are."
Kari looked up at her balloon and grinned.
Peyton looked down at her daughter. "What do you say Kari?"
"Thank-you!" the little girl happily shouted out.
"You're quite welcome!" the clown then gave his big red nose a little squeeze and went on his way. Just then Lucas and Jack came from around a corner.
"Mom!" Jack yelled out as he ran up to his mother. "Dad and I just saw this guy swallow a sword!"
"You did?!"
Jack nodded. "Yeah! It was so cool! I really want to learn how…"
He let his voice trail off and started focusing his attention to an odd, somewhat creepy looking man shouting from atop a podium, urging a small crowd of people to enter inside a large, mysterious tent.
Jack ran over to him, with Lucas, Peyton and Kari following close behind, and stood listening to the man speak.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and Girls! Step right up, step right up! Come closer, you won't believe your eyes when you see what's behind this curtain!"
He waved his arms in front of the red tent curtain. "Witness something you've never SEEN before! HEARD before! DREAMT before! It's one of the most AMAZING things on Earth!"
The man pointed to an elderly woman in the crowd. "Do you want to be WILDLY entertained?!"
He then points to a little brown haired, freckle faced boy. "People to KNOW you're name?!"
"Do you CRAVE fame?!" He asked, pointing to a pretty young auburn haired woman.
The announcer walked up close to the edge of the podium and directed his shifty gray eyes toward Peyton. "Well they say things aren't always what they SEEM to be!"
His words and the man's peculiar eyes caused Peyton to shutter a bit, though she tried her best not to show it.
"Even your GREATEST fantasies!" He exclaimed, jumping about. "You won't believe your EYES! Won't even RECOGNIZE! The wonderment that lies, behind the SHIMMER…and the lights!"
The announcer hopped of the podium and began ushering a couple of people into the tent. "Step right up to see if you can tell what's behind all the smoke and glass!"
"Mom, can we go in!?" a hopeful Jack asked excitedly.
An uneasy Peyton slowly ripped her gaze from the man and onto her son. "S—sure we can…"
She then handed Kari over to Lucas. "I was umm…going to take her to get some cotton candy, can you?"
Lucas nodded. "Yeah. You two have fun." He then placed his happy little girl on top of his shoulders and walked off.
"Let's go!" Jack yelled out as he grabbed his mother's hand and began dragging her to the tent opening.
The announcer lifted up the flap and ushered Peyton, Jack, and a few others into the tent.
"Wow this is cool!" Jack exclaimed as he looked around the dark, smoky maze of mirrors. He turned his attention to Peyton. "Try and find me!" The little boy then sprinted off.
Peyton shook her head and sighed. "His running off like that without an adult is a habit that seriously needs to be broken ASAP."
She brushed by a couple of people and began making her way around the complex mirror maze in search of her son.
"Jack!" Peyton shouted out. "Jack, where are—"
Her words were cut off as she ran smack dab into a mirror she thought was an entrance into another part of the maze.
"This place is so freaky." Peyton whispered to herself while rubbing her head. "I'm seeing doubles of everyone and can't tell what's a mirror, what isn't and…"
She let her voice trail off as she caught glimpse of the little Sawyer look-alike through another mirror a few feet away.
"She's not real." Peyton said quietly, closing her eyes. "She is not real."
Peyton opened up her eyes and still saw the little girl, who was giggling and spinning wildly about it. She walked up closer to the mirror and it was while the girl spun around that Peyton caught sight of something on the child's shoulder and gasped.
"She has a…birthmark on her shoulder. B—but Sawyer…didn't."
Peyton began looking around, but could not figure out where this little girl really was, so she redirected her attention back onto the child's reflection in the mirror. While watching the girl, who was now standing still and playing with the pink bracelet on her wrist, she noticed something else that startled her.
"Oh my God…h—her eyes are brown." Peyton whispered out. "Sawyer's were blue…"
She stood dumbfounded for a long while before she began making her way through the maze again and as she turned a corner she tripped over something that was lying on the ground and fell down.
She slowly stood up and dusted off her white tank top and jean shorts.
Peyton looked down to see what she had tripped over and gasped in fright when she saw the pink bracelet on the floor.
"It's her bracelet…" She said quietly, picking it up and tracing her fingers over the pink, plastic, star stringed bracelet.
Peyton's eyes widened in bewilderment. "I…I've really been seeing this girl! I…I thought she was Sawyer and she obviously isn't but…she is real!"
She stopped talking to herself for a moment and then resumed. "Aside from the eyes and that small birthmark they are nearly identical in appearance to each other. But how…how in the world is it possible for some random little girl to look SO much like MY little girl, but not be?"
Peyton stood puzzled, lost in thought for a minute until those thoughts of hers were interrupted by the pitter patter of little feet. She glanced over to her left and saw Jack running towards her.
"Jack!" Peyton exclaimed. She quickly pocketed the bracelet and bent down to her son's eyelevel. "I've been looking all over for you!"
"I was just running around the maze…" he said innocently. "I'm not in trouble, am I?"
Peyton sighed and shook her head. "No, but…I…I didn't know where you were and I got scared because the last thing I would ever want to do is lose you. So please…don't run off like that again, okay?"
"Okay."
Peyton gave him a small smile and took his hand. "Alright. Now, how about we head out of here and find your Dad and Kari?"
Jack nodded and the two made their way through the complicated mirror maze toward the exit with Peyton looking around the entire time, hoping to catch a glimpse of the girl, but didn't.
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"Kari, you gotta hold on tighter to that fudge sickle or else it's going to—"
Just then Kari dropped her chocolate fudge sickle on Peyton's lap.
"Fall on my lap."
Peyton sighed and handed a teary-eyed Kari over to Lucas. "Can you get her another one while I go to the bathroom and clean myself up?"
Lucas nodded. "That I can do."
She picked up the messy fudge sickle from off of her lap, tossed it into a near by trash can, stood up and kissed Kari on the cheek. "It's okay honey. Daddy's going to get you another one."
Lucas shifted Kari into his left arm, took Jack by the hand and the trio headed off toward one of the many ice cream stands while Peyton hurried off toward the closest bathroom.
Once she reached it she entered inside, grabbed a couple of paper towels, wet them a bit in the sink and wiped off her shorts as best as she could.
Once she finished, Peyton threw the paper towels out and exited the bathroom.
As she looked around for Lucas and the kids she once again spotted the look-alike little girl from afar running about.
Peyton made her way through the many circus goers toward the little girl and her heart nearly stopped when she heard the child scream out "Mommy!" and run into the arms of a very familiar looking blonde woman wearing her own white tank top and jean shorts.
Peyton's jaw dropped. "H—her…mother has my face! How come…her mother has my FACE?!"
Her eyes began to water. "This…this can't be!" She closed her eyes and shook her head in disbelief.
After a minute or so Peyton opened her eyes back up and just as she did so the little girl looked from over the shoulder of her mother, who now had her back turned to Peyton and was busy chatting away on her cell, and caught sight of Peyton. She widened her brown eyes and opened up her mouth in shock.
Peyton and the little girl locked eyes for a long while before a large crowd of people stormed in front of Peyton, blocking her view of the mother and daughter.
She tried her best to make her way through the crowd and once she finally did she saw that her double and the little girl were nowhere to be found.
An extremely rattled Peyton stood silently and very still for a long while. She then reached into her pocket, pulled out the bracelet and stared down at it and began whispering to herself. "Either I'm sicker than I thought…COMPLETELY off my rocker or...I've been chasing after the…d—daughter of my…my…twin?"
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Okay so there it is! I hope you all liked it! So…Lucas and Peyton decide to take the kids to this circus/carnival thing in Charleston. The creepy announcer captivated Jack, making him extremely eager to enter into the mysterious tent. Though not all that eager about him or the tent, an uneasy Peyton goes in for Jack. Once inside the two realize that it's a dark, freaky, complex mirror maze. Jack likes to run off and he does just that and as Peyton tries to find him she becomes severely taken aback by all the mirrors and doubles she sees. Then once again Peyton catches a glimpse of the look-alike in one of the mirrors. She tries to shrug it off, thinking that its probably just her tumor causing her to see things again but after Peyton notices that this little girl has an unfamiliar birthmark on her shoulder, brown eyes and then later tripping over the child's bracelet she realizes that this girl has to be real. She also realizes while this kid obviously can't be Sawyer, she still looks a lot like her, nearly identical and she can't fathom how it's possible for some random girl to look so much like her dead daughter. Not until Peyton sees the child with her mother does she make the assumption that the reason the girl looks so much like her mini me daughter Sawyer is because she's the mini version of her own mother…a woman who looks EXACTLY like Peyton! Right down to the way she was dressed! So what the heck is going on? Does Peyton have a twin? Is that why the little girl looked so shocked when she catches Peyton staring at her first at the park and then at the circus? How does the brown-haired guy the little one is always with fit in? Is Peyton even really seeing what she thinks she sees? Could her mind just be putting her and Sawyer's face on a random mother-daughter duo, making her believe this twin thing when that's really not the case at all? I mean, Peyton can't really be a twin can she? Ellie or her Dad (Larry) would have told her, right? Hmmm. So anyways…please review! I greatly appreciate all the feedback! Oh and here are some previews…all of which are relevant to the plot in some way, though it might not be that obvious at this point in time.
Things still to come…
Peyton is angry that Lucas won't believe her
Larry reveals shocking, yet discouraging news to Peyton
Nathan finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place
Julian begins casting for a new film