Swipe Left on Mr. Darcy — Last Seen Online, Page 13
By Suha · Published
Log in to see this page
Page 13 of Last Seen Online is for signed-in readers. Logging in brings you straight back here — and an account is free if you do not have one.
Transcript
Panel 1: Lizzie and Jane's upstairs bedroom in the evening, one warm bedside lamp. Lizzie sits on the floor with her back against the bed frame and her knees up; Jane sits above her on the edge of the mattress with her hands folded in her lap. LIZZIE: 'He's done this before. To a girl younger than Lydia.' Panel 2: Close-up on Jane, blue eyes wide with slow horror. JANE: 'Then why did nobody —' LIZZIE: 'Because I decided it wasn't my secret to tell.'
Image description
In a lamplit bedroom Lizzie, sitting on the floor, tells Jane that George has done this before to a girl younger than Lydia.
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.