“where the lights still spin long after the music ends.”
Death: October 3, 1961 — electrical fire in the projection booth of Maison Mirabelle’s ad studio.
Era: Early 1960s — advertising, radio, film, black-and-white fantasy.
Quirks: appears as a faint double exposure in photos of Clara-June; his outline flickers like missing film frames; voices echo back in his tone; lights overheat; scent of burnt celluloid.
Personality: quiet, dryly witty, protective of his sister but resentful of how she was remembered. warmth in flashes, like frames between reels.
“Someone had to hold the camera steady. She just forgot I was behind it.”
Death: October 3, 1961 — found lifeless inside the display window of Maison Mirabelle; mannequins had been rearranged overnight.
Era: Early 1960s — the advertising age, pastel perfection, televised glamour.
Quirks: appears only in black and white; reflections act independently; faint static hum; photos show burn marks; distant jingle sometimes plays: “Maison Mirabelle — where beauty never fades.”
Personality: graceful, eerie, rehearsed; fascinated by color; calls the living “viewers” and ghosts “reruns.”
“I was made to be looked at. I just didn’t realize that meant forever.”
Death: October 6, 1974 — pushed down a stairwell after trying to leave her abusive partner.
Era: 1970s soul & revolution — Newark, New Jersey.
Quirks: mirrors hum love songs; lipstick never smudges; earrings sway without wind; the air grows heavy with perfume and sorrow.
Personality: radiant, nurturing, fierce in love and anger; watches over girls who remind her of herself.
“I stayed too long. Now I make sure others don’t.”
Death: November 18, 1978 — overdose at a California house party.
Era: late-1970s disco-hippie California.
Quirks: stray glitter; spinning disco balls; laughter in empty halls.
Personality: bright, messy, heartbreak wrapped in sequins; chaos and sweetness in equal measure.
“Life’s too short to cry when you could dance.”
Death: November 1, 1978 — drowned saving his cousin at a quarry lake.
Era: small-town southern summer nights.
Personality: earnest, protective, all light; the echo of someone who jumped first.
“Someone had to jump first.”