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Lizzie comes home from the ruined weekend to a house with every light burning and nobody answering their phone. Lydia is gone — a note, no address, and George Wickham. What follows is the longest week of Lizzie's life: her mother collapsed and operatic in a darkened bedroom, Kitty confessing she knew and said nothing, Mary reaching for something profound at exactly the wrong moment, and her father — dry, unbothered Mr. Bennet — putting on a coat and driving into the city to find his youngest daughter himself. Lizzie carries the worst of it alone: she is the only one who knew exactly what George Wickham is, and she chose to keep a confidence instead of warning her family. Three days of unanswered calls later her father comes home empty-handed and years older, and it is her aunt Maddie and uncle Ed who take the search over. In a 2 a.m. kitchen Lizzie finally tells Jane the whole truth — that George has done this before, to a girl younger than Lydia — and at her dark window she lets go of the last thing she was hoping for: Darcy has seen exactly what her family is now, and that is the end of that. Then the phone she has not put down all week lights up with her uncle's name. They found Lydia. She is safe. And someone else got there first.
Page 1
A full-page night shot of the Bennet family house. Every window is lit warm gold, the front door hangs open and spills light down the front steps, and two cars sit parked crookedly in the drive. In the foreground, seen from behind and small against the house, Lizzie Bennet has stopped halfway up the garden path in her olive-green utility jacket and jeans, a weekend duffel bag hanging from one hand. CAPTION: 'Nobody had answered their phone in six hours.'
Page 2
Panel 1: The open front door seen from inside the hallway. Jane Bennet stands in the doorway gripping the frame, pale, her honey-blonde hair loose over a soft-pink cardigan. Lizzie is a dark silhouette on the step outside with her bag. JANE: 'She's gone, Lizzie.' Panel 2: Close-up on Lizzie in the hall light, dark-brown eyes widening, the strap of her duffel slipping off her shoulder. LIZZIE: 'Gone where?'
Page 3
Panel 1: The warm, cluttered Bennet living room. Mrs. Bennet lies collapsed sideways along the sofa with the back of one wrist across her eyes, phone still in her hand. Kitty is curled in an armchair hugging a cushion. Mary stands stiffly to one side. MRS. BENNET: 'She has ruined us. All of us.' Panel 2: Close-up on Kitty, blotchy and tear-streaked, chin pressed into the cushion. KITTY: 'She made me swear not to tell.' Panel 3: Close-up on Mary in profile, prim and serious, glasses catching the lamplight, headphones around her neck. MARY: 'Statistically, it was always going to be Lydia.' Panel 4: Lizzie stands alone in the living room doorway, still holding her bag, jaw tight, looking at all of them. No dialogue.