What if We Rewrite the Stars?

Act 6: The Search for "Unique" Acts:

The next several days, Phineas got an idea when he thought about a woman who was born with a birth effect, who was kind to him after his father passed and was on his own. Then he thought about how talented Amelia was. She was gifted with being so flexible. Since she could walk, she would flip and do the splits or anything like that. She had always had a knack for picking things up easily. So, he made flyers, looking for unique acts and talents or even unique people. 

His first act was the "Most Beautiful Ballerina," which is what he called Amelia since she would spin like a top around the small apartment.

"Hey! You looking for freaks?" A man said, who was playing cards with his friend. "I know where you can find one of them." The man continued while Phineas and the girls looked over at him. 

"Really?" Phineas smirked at him.

He got the address to a laundry mat, where he heard a woman with a beautiful voice. "Come on, girls," Phineas said when he motioned for his daughters to follow him while Amelia held her little sisters' hands. 

They walked in when they saw women washing clothes, while Phineas looked around for the woman who was singing while Amelia walked with her sisters. 

"Hello." Phineas greeted. 

"Sir, you shouldn't be here." One of the women said to him.

"I'm sorry. Who's doing that singing?" He asked before looking at a woman who hid behind a long sheet. "It's you, isn't it?" He said, pointing to the woman, who looked worried.

"Sir, I'll have to ask you to leave." The woman said as Amelia heard the fear in her voice.

"You are so talented, blessed..." He stopped when he moved the sheet, revealing the woman to have a beard. "...extraordinary. Unique. I would even say beautiful." He continued to say, making the other women laugh, while the poor woman looked embarrassed and weary.

"Sir. Please leave me alone." The woman sighed, looking at the ground. 

Amelia looked at Helen, who stepped forward, extending the flyer to the woman. The woman smiled at Helen, who gave her a small smile. 

"They don't understand, but they will." Phineas smiled before he started meeting the people who wanted to join the business.

One of the acts was brother and sister: W.D. Wheeler and Anne Wheeler. They did trapeze tricks, and almost instantly, Anne and Amelia became close friends. Amelia had never gone to finishing school or been anywhere to have friends or even a boyfriend. She just had her family. But now she had the others that were now family.

Amelia was practicing when she wore her ballerina tutu, while Caroline was dancing with her, while Helen sang, just a random song she was making up as she went. Amelia twirled many times when Phineas walked in. 

"You girls ready for the first performance?" Phineas asked his girls, smiling as he watched how close they all were. 

"Yeah!" Caroline and Helen exclaimed when Amelia stopped when she looked nervous. She only ever danced around the living room or on top of the roof with her little sisters. "Yeah..." She smiled, sounding less confident.

"You got this, Mimi." He smiled when he wrapped his arm around her. 

"You stumble through your days, got your head hung low. Your sky's a shade of grey. Like a zombie in a maze. You're asleep inside, but you can shake awake." He sang when he headed to look at the front, where the posters were being displayed. "'Cause you're just a dead man walkin'. Thinkin' that's your only option. But you can flick the switch and brighten up your darkest day." He smiled brightly when he watched a large group of people buying tickets to come to see his show. 

"Sun is up, and the color's blindin'. Take a world and redefine it. Leave behind your narrow mind. You'll never be the same." He continued to sing, walking back into the building and heading to the backroom to dress in his black, gold, and red Ringmaster outfit. "Come alive, come alive. Go and light your light. Let it burn so bright. Reachin' up to the sky. And it's open wide; you're electrified." He sang, walking past his acts and getting ready when he saw one of them sleeping. He took the pillow, shoving it up Leeds's shirt to make him look bigger. 

"And the world becomes a fantasy. And you're more than you could ever be. 'Cause you're dreamin' with your eyes wide open." He moved, tying belts around the tall man's stilts, making him even taller. 

He helped the man stand, but he was wobbly, when everyone held their hands up, trying to stop him from falling. 

"And you know you can't go back again." He continued to sing when he saw Lettie, the woman with the beard, and Amelia looking through the curtains, looking nervous. 

"To the world that you were livin' in. 'Cause you're dreamin' with your eyes wide open." He sang, moving to Lettie and Amelia, before they moved out of the way, when the tall man, Vasily Pavlos, started stumbling towards them. "So come alive." He sang when he opened the curtains while Lettie opened the other side, hiding as she looked like she had a panic attack.

The crowd gasped while the people stopped, looking at the crowd that just stared at them. 

Phineas looked at Amelia, who looked nervous, then at Lettie, who looked scared. "Lettie! Lettie! They're waiting." Phineas whispered to Lettie, walking over to her. 

"For what?" Lettie asked him. 

"For you." He said, trying to encourage her.

"No." She said, shaking her head. 

"They don't know it yet... but they are gonna love you. Trust me." He smiled when he nudged Lettie out to the stage, before looking at his oldest daughter. "Come on, Mimi, show the world what the Barnums are made of." He smiled, kissing her head before she hugged him. 

"I don't know if I can do this, Dad..." Amelia sighed, fearing what would be said of her. 

"You got this," Phineas said when he did what any father would do. He gave her the little nudge she needed to face her fears.

Phineas looked over to see Tom messing with his suit. "Tom! Up, up!" He said, running to put Tom on the horse. "I see it in your eyes. You believe that lie that you need to hide your face." Phineas sang, fixing Tom's suit, while a little girl moved to look at Lettie and Amelia after her mother moved her behind her. "Afraid to step outside." He continued to sing when a little boy smiled at Leed, who looked at the boy proudly. "So, you lock the door. But don't you stay that way." Phineas sang before slapping the butt of the horse, making it charge around the place, while Tom rode on its back.

"No more livin' in those shadows." Lettie sang, smiling as the crowd had mixed emotions about them. "You and me, we know how that goes." She continued to sing, smiling as she looked at Amelia.

"'Cause once you see it. Oh, you'll never, never be the same." Leeds sang.

"A little bit of lightnin' strikin'. Bottled up to keep on shinin'. You can prove there's more to you." They all started singing while Tom smiled, firing his prop guns in the air. 

"You cannot be afraid." 

~1231 words~