Author's name - Vicki-Ann Bush

vickiannbush@gmail.com
 702.490.1602
1028 Oakhill Ave. SE, Salem, OR. 97302
https://www.vickiannbush.com

TITLE
The Geranium Deaths

LOGLINE

When a string of chilling murders converges with an 80 year old
mystery, all eyes turn to an unlikely source: a 17 year old boy
with an extraordinary destiny.

MAJOR CHARACTERS:

Alex McKenna: Alex is a 17-year-old, transgender male, 5’7, toned
build, chiseled jaw, brown hair, hazel eyes. He usually wears a
zip-up hoodie. He is an exceptionally gifted Strega witch, who
sees and speaks to the dead. He gets goosebumps on his arms when a
spirit is near. Like many teens he can sometimes be impetuous. His
best friend, Margaret, and his family are the most important
things in his life. Alex’s motto is “live and let live.”
Margaret Kiley. Margaret, 17, is slender with long, dark hair.
Except For those combat-style boots, she wears typical teen attire
like soft sweaters and jeans. Margaret is feisty, independent, and
protective of Alex. Her parents are inattentive and she spends
most of her time with Alex’s family.
Gina LaBoccetta: Gina, mid-forties, is Alex’s divorced mother.
Her physique and attire are totally average -- nothing stands out.
But her total commitment to her family is another matter -- and
that passion is deeply rooted. Like her son, Gina is a Strega
witch.
Mary LaBoccetta: Late-eighties, Alex’s great-grandmother. Short,
plump frame, silver hair in a low bun. Simple clothes. Strongly
gifted Strega witch. Slightly flamboyant, cooks homemade Italian
food, bread and pastries.
Wilby McKenna: 11-years-old, Alex’s younger brother. Slightly
stocky build, dark hair, green eyes. No psychic gifts. Plays video
games, outspoken, close relationship with Alex.
Jacob: 6-year-old ghost boy. Short, light hair, wears 1970’s style
clothing. Precocious, curious, trickster. Fearful of crossing
over.
Catherine Bishop: An enraged spirit with piercing dark eyes and an
icy halo around her head. She searches for the spirit of her
daughter, Ester.
Ester Bishop: 10-years-old, daughter to Catherine and Jim Bishop.
Died in a house fire in 1933.
Carol Bishop: Jim Bishop’s second wife. Died in a house fire in
1932.
Greta Kirkpatrick: 80ish, small frame, white hair. Blames Jim
Bishop for her father’s death. Controls the spirit of Catherine.

SYNOPSIS:
Alex McKenna, 17, rides a bike to school. Outwardly, he
appears to live a pretty average life with a not-so-silent
Italian family. Inwardly, though, he's a transgender witch --
an identity that's known only to his family and later to his
closest friend Margaret Kiley, for whom he has romantic
feelings for but won’t reveal. He fears if he confesses and
she doesn’t feel the same, their bond will forever be broken.
Margaret, 17, rushes toward him when he parks the bike and
tells him about their neighbor, Mr. Earley, who died the
night before. The man was found encased in ice behind the
rectory of their church.
Piquing Alex’s interest and connection to the paranormal
world, Alex and Margaret research articles in the local
paper. They find two other victims within weeks apart from
one another with similar circumstances—they were all frozen
to death.
Following the trail of deaths, Alex and Margaret stumble onto
an extraordinary story of the former owner of Alex’s house,
Jim Bishop. Going back nearly eighty years to a fire that
killed Jim’s wife, Carol, and his young daughter Ester, the
article states that Jim and his 5 year old son, Alister,
survived.
Using the archives in the local library, they eventually
learn Jim had a first wife, Catherine, who also died in a
horrific accident, and that Ester was Catherine’s daughter,
not Carol’s.
However, research quickly turns to terror when Alex is
plagued by a dark entity that attacks him and Margaret in his
house. When the creature gets an icy grip on Alex’s leg, he
quickly realizes this is the spirit responsible for the
freezing deaths.
After the life threatening encounter, Alex asks his mom if
Margaret can stay over a few nights and she agrees. He feels
he can protect Margaret better if she’s by his side. Facing
the challenge of having the girl he loves share a bedroom
with him only increases the yearning and stifled emotions
Alex has for Margaret. He struggles to keep his thoughts to
himself and concentrate on the case.
Needing the insight of another talented witch, Alex decides
to ask his great-grandmother, Gram, for help in revealing who
the entity is and why it’s committing the murders. Using her
mother’s journals, Gram uncovers a similar story of deaths
that took place in her mother’s village when she was a child.
It revealed that there was a human master of the entity who
was using it to carry out the murders.

for Jim’s son, Alister. He finds out that he still resides in
Floral Park and is living in a nursing home. Alex and
Margaret visit Alister, and he tells them that when he was a
young boy, the ghost of Ester’s mother, Catherine, would
visit her every day and Alister saw her a few times. But
after Ester’s death her visits ceased. However, he was
haunted by an evil, dark spirit with an icy halo around her
head.
Alex finds out that Jim was in deep gambling debt and
swindled the life savings of five of his neighbors to pay
loan sharks. He and the other families planned the fire to
get the life insurance money he had on Carol to pay everyone
back. Ester wasn’t supposed to die. On the night of the fire,
Carol realizes Jim was trying to kill her and in a vengeful
rage she grabs Ester and runs to the attic. Ester dies from
smoke inhalation and Carol jumps from the attic window.
Jim also had Catherine, his first wife, murdered. He wanted
to collect her inheritance and be with Carol, who he was
dating while he was married.
Alex makes contact with a surviving member of one of the five
families. The man reveals that Catherine was decapitated in a
hit and run and because the city only had one coroner at the
time, and the man was on vacation, Catherine’s body and head
were kept frozen until his return. Alex surmises that this is
the reason for the victims manner of freezing to death. He
also finds out that the man’s older sister, Greta, is also
still alive and bitter because their dad, an original member
of one of the five families, committed suicide over the death
of young Ester.
Foolishly thinking he can learn more to help with the case,
Alex sets up a trap for the entity and makes sure no one else
is home. But when his plan goes terribly wrong and Alex
nearly loses his life, Margaret makes the first move and
surprises him with a passionate kiss. Revealing to him that
she thought he felt more than just friendship and it was okay
because she felt it too. Nearly losing him had given her the
courage to confess her true emotions. Alex pulls her close
and kisses her but his time he lets all his emotions go and
they are locked in passion.
Alex and Margaret investigate Greta’s past. They find out she
has been practicing dark magick and is the one manipulating
Catherine’s spirit to seek revenge on the five families and
their descendants. Alex, Margaret, and his family, put in
motion a plan to stop Greta. They also create a spell to help
Catherine’s spirit find peace and reunite her with Ester.
During a battle of good vs evil, a third and treacherous
ghost appears, Carol Bishop. Hateful about her murder by Jim,
she tries to kill Alex. But Alex, with the help of his
family, call on his past ancestors to assist them. A group of
white souls descends and captures Carol, holding her long
enough for the family to summon a demon from the underworld
to devour her.
The white souls surround Greta just as she is about to attack
Alex. They close in the circle of light surrounding her until
she disappears. Alex and his mortal family recite the spell
and break the curse. Catherine’s ghost is set free of her
darkness and Alex reunites her with her daughter, Ester. The
white souls of his ancestors guides mother and daughter to
the light.
The ending scene has Alex and Margaret cuddled in his bed,
falling asleep, as he whispers, a lifetime will not be enough


SYNOPSIS B:
Alex is comfortable with being transgender, his motto is live
and let live. He has the support of his family, and he’s
grateful for his best friend, Margaret, who possess a level
of acceptance that transcends most of his peers. Adding to
the complicated life of being a teen, Alex is also a talented
psychic who can see and speak to the dead.
Fiercely protective of Alex, Margaret also helps him with
research when he sometimes takes on the difficult task of
guiding deceased spirts to the next realm. She’s everything a
guy could want in a best friend. There’s only one problem,
Alex wants more than just her friendship.
From the moment they met he’s been attracted to her, and
although he knows she loves him, and supports his trans
journey, he fears it will only ever be as a friend.
Not wanting to risk losing their bond, he chooses to keep his
true feelings bottled up inside and struggles with the
reality of not being able to hold the girl of his dreams.
Eventually confessing to his mom how he really feels, she
encourages him to tell Margaret his true feelings.
Unable to do so, his focus is quickly shifted when multiple
murders comes to their quaint town. Bringing to light a
dangerous case with a dark entity.
Alex puts aside his yearning for Margaret until the day he
has a near death experience. Emotions flood in, and Margaret
takes the lead and makes the first move. She approaches Alex.
Not saying a word, she throws her arms around his neck and
kisses his lips. Alex is stunned. She confesses she thinks he
likes her, and it’s okay, because she likes him too.
Alex and Margaret are a couple from that moment on, with
nothing coming between their love and respect for one
another.
Synopsis B was my inspiration to write the multi-award
winning short film, Alex McKenna: Alex & Margaret’s
Beginning.

Awards Won

Best Narrative Short - 8&HalFilm AWARDS
Best Producer - 8&HalFilm AWARDS
Best Drama - NAPLES FILM AWARDS
Best Short Film - FRIEDA FILM FESTIVAL
Best LGBTQ - London Movie Awards
Best International Romance Short - Casino Film Festival
Best Independent Filmmaker of the Year - French Critics' Awards
Indie Vegas Film Festival - Best LGBTQ Short


BIO:
Born Vicki-Ann Guidice, her journey into the realm of the
spiritual and supernatural was initiated at birth. Her
early years were spent in Queens, New York known for having
more people passed on than alive, as well as having several
Gothic cemeteries within walking distance of its
communities. At the age of 15, she moved to Los Angeles
California taking her fertile imagination with her. After
meeting her future husband, Ronald Bush, her new homeland
became Las Vegas, Nevada.
But it was New York that called her home. Alex McKenna, the
main character in the book series first published in 2019,
is the embodiment of her Italian-American roots, memories
of adolescent outsider status, and the strength it takes to
live an authentic life.
Now starring in the short film Alex and Margaret’s
Beginning, inspired by the book series, Ms. Bush is an
award winning short screenplay writer and Producer.
Bringing her moving and unique storyline and character to a
broader audience.