Swipe Left on Mr. Darcy — Last Seen Online, Page 10
By Suha · Published
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Transcript
A full-page shot of a darkened bedroom, curtains drawn against the afternoon, one thin blade of daylight across the bedspread. Mrs. Bennet lies propped against a heap of pillows, blotchy and weeping, a damp folded cloth on her forehead, her phone held to her ear and one arm draped across the coverlet. Far behind her, small and out of focus, Kitty stands in the half-open doorway. MRS. BENNET: 'If he had listened to me, none of this would have happened.'
Image description
Mrs. Bennet lies weeping in a darkened bedroom with a cloth on her forehead and a phone at her ear, while Kitty watches from the doorway.
About this chapter
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.