Eliza and Will

Chapter 32

"Good heavens," exclaims granny, jumping up from her seat. Georgiana stops playing and rushes to my side, placing her hand tenderly on my arm.

"Where was she last, do you know?" William asks, growing concern evident in his expressions and demeanour.

"She was on a school trip to London and went missing while in Liverpool," I deliver before emotion overcomes me and I burst into tears.

I am so caught up in my despair that I don't feel self conscious crying in front of everyone; I just want my sister to be safe. William fetches me a tissue and stands by me, looking unsettled by my torment.

"I'll bring you home at once," declares grandad solemnly.

As we make our leave, I tell William that if Lydia is found soon then I will return for the job but if she doesn't then I understand if they need to employ someone else.

"Don't worry," he reveals, sorrow present in his tone. "You will always be welcome here, Eliza."

"Goodbye William," my voice wavers as we lock eyes once more, before I am gone from him too quickly.

~

We arrive home to my house at eleven o'clock at night, where granny and grandad will be staying as it is too late for them to travel back to further away Derbyshire.

We enter inside and find everyone seated in the living room, where mum is in a terrible state and dad and the girls appear to be suffering internally with their worries.

"You've just missed the police," mum delivers to us in a hoarse voice. "It's already been on the news."

"This is dreadful, we will do all we can to help Margaret," speaks granny in an attempt to comfort her daughter.

"It's no use," mum wails. "God knows how or who she's ran away with, she could be in a different country by now!"

"How do you know that she ran away and wasn't kidnapped?" I ask.

"She was acting coy with me today and separated from our class group when we were allowed to go shopping earlier on our own," answers Kitty. "Then she didn't return to the meet up place at half six as we were told and that's when the teachers rang the police. I never thought that she'd run away," she says, rubbing her eyes to stop the tears from escaping.

"So you see," mum cries angrily, "She knew exactly what she was doing! My baby Lydia, how could she do such a thing to me?! Not only could she be in danger, but has she brought such a scandal upon the family!"

"Don't worry mum," I try to reassure, hugging her. "We must have faith in the police. If she has any sense, she will return following all of the media attention and the pressure of the police searching for her."

"It's Lydia," Mary sadly sighs, causing my own doubts to seem a possible reality.

"She's gone this far," mum adds bleakly. "I don't think she will give in that easily."

Several hours later, I finally crawl into bed, feeling exhausted and drained after the days events. The heavy burden feeling has now returned after only shifting briefly earlier today. I have a gut feeling that it will continue, much to my unhappiness. My thoughts shift straight to William as my comfort and escape, who I wish I could be with right at this moment.

"Oh William," I think as images of him flood my mind,

"I feel so alone."

A/N: Thank you all for 15k reads and your continued support as always! It feels really special to be posting today as this time last year I watched the 2005 movie of P&P for the first time - my first experience of the story💖💕