Swipe Left on Mr. Darcy — Last Seen Online, Page 9
By Suha · Published
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Transcript
Panel 1: Lizzie sits on the edge of her unmade bed with her phone held to her ear, seen from the side so only the back of the phone is visible, her eyes closed. CAPTION: 'Three days.' LIZZIE: 'Lyd. Please just pick up.' Panel 2: A closed bedroom door in a dim upstairs hallway with an untouched tray of food set on the carpet outside it. Panel 3: Kitty sits alone halfway up the staircase, knees pulled up, chin resting on them, staring down at nothing. Panel 4: Lizzie stands at a window at grey dawn, seen from behind, her phone held low against her hip, back of the case toward the reader.
Image description
A four-panel montage of three days: Lizzie calling Lydia from her bed, an untouched tray outside a closed door, Kitty alone on the stairs, and Lizzie at a window at dawn.
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.