"Lizzie, remember when a burst of steam lifted your dress up around your neck? Just outside Harrods it was. Fortunate your undergarments had just been laundered."
The Liddell family was the picture of the perfect family in Oxford. At least, that's what Elizabeth thought as she walked with her family. Her younger sister, Alice, noticed a few stores just a block away from the train station, so they went to window shop.
"Look, Mama!" Little Alice pointed to a display filled with toys. Elizabeth was looking at some fine new dresses, and their father was looking at some books. Elizabeth went inside the store and bought one of the dresses: a beautiful deep red color, which made her eyes more noticeable. Coming out of the store, Lizzie didn't notice she was standing over a vent until it was too late. A burst of steam blew her skirt up over her head. Alice laughed her little head off as their mother tried to help her right her shirt. With her face bright red, she looked around. Nobody seemed to notice what just happened, save for a scrawny young man with glasses, coming out of the bookstore across the street. Lizzie turned away from the guy and walked off with her family.
3 years later...
"All those undergraduates waiting for a word from Papa. 'Might I hold the tea cozy, Sir?' 'Might I pour, Sir?' Bunch of toadies."
Elizabeth Liddell sat in an armchair in her family's library. She was writing in her diary when a little head popped up from behind the armrest.
"What are you doing?" Alice asked.
"Writing." Lizzie answered.
"What are you writing about?"
"Personal things." Lizzie answered.
"Like what?" Alice's curiosity was sometimes a nuisance.
"I can't tell you because it's personal." Lizzie said.
"But you always tell me everything." Alice said.
"Not everything." Lizzie added another sentence to her diary. When she raised her pen to think of how to word the next sentence, Alice snatched the book from her sister's hands. "Alice!" Alice ran out of the library, giggling. "Alice, no!" Lizzie chased after her sister.
Elizabeth looked out the door to the library and saw Alice enter the living room - where her father had company. She chased after her younger sister and burst into the room. Five pairs of eyes landed on her. The three on the couch instinctively stood up.
"Bennett, Richards, Bumby, these are my daughters." Arthur Liddell introduced the girls. Elizabeth recognized Bennett and Richards as students from her father's school. The one she didn't recognize bowed to her and kissed her hand. Lizzie tried to hide her annoyance.
"Tea?" His blue eyes met Lizzie's green ones.
"No, thank you." Lizzie turned around, snatched her diary from Alice, and walked out of the room.
That night, as Lizzie tucked Alice in, she told of the encounter.
"His hand was slimy, Alice; like an eel from the Isis. And his name won't help. Bumby! If he ever qualifies, his bed-side manner will require improvement."
"...claimed I'd stolen his heart. Trifling with his affections! Creepy sod. Touching me... Told Papa to never invite him to tea again!"
Elizabeth looked down at the front yard from her bedroom window. She watched the undergraduate - Bumby - step out of the carriage. He looked up and gave Lizzie an almost challenging look. She glared at him and closed the curtains. She ran downstairs to make it to the library before her father could ask her to join them for tea. She just closed the door behind her when her father answered the door.
"Ah, Bumby! Glad you could make it!" her father said. Lizzie quickly jumped onto an armchair, lifted her legs onto the seat, held her skirt closer to her, and leaned a little to the right. She knew from experience that when she did that, she couldn't bee seen from the library doorway. Just as she predicted, the door to the library opened. Lizzie held her breath and hoped nobody would check the chair. "I could have sworn she was in here." she heard her father say. The door closed again and she heard footsteps go into the living room. She let out a relieved breath and went to the bookshelf where she kept her favorite books. When she pulled out a book, another book fell out. Lizzie tried to catch it, but it crashed to the ground, making a large thump. Lizzie froze, listening for any voices or footsteps. When there were none, she picked up the fallen book and put it back in its spot. From the living room, she could hear the undergraduate ask if he could use the bathroom. She heard his footsteps walk over to the bathroom, then smaller, quieter footsteps move towards the library. For a second, she thought it was Alice - until the door opened.
"Hello, Lizzie." Bumby said. Lizzie glared at him.
"That's Miss Liddell to you. What do you want?" With no one around, she didn't bother keeping the dislike out of her voice.
"Oh, Lizzie, you're such a tease." Bumby closed the door behind him. "I saw you waiting for me in the window."
"I wasn't waiting for you. I heard a carriage and thought it was someone important. Obviously I was wrong." Lizzie never liked her father's undergraduates, but this one she was starting to hate. Bumby stepped forward and cornered her against a bookshelf.
"Stop trifling with my affections, Lizzie. We both know how you feel about me." he said, feeling her up and down. She pushed him away.
"I know how I feel about you, but I don't think you are getting the message." Lizzie said.
"Oh, I'm getting the message." Bumby grabbed her and forced a kiss on her lips. Suddenly, the door opened and Bumby stepped back. Alice stood there in the doorway, clutching her stuffed rabbit and staring at the two adults standing closer to each other than was proper. Bumby walked out and went back to the living room.
"Lizzie?" Alice said, confused about what went on. Lizzie stood there with her heart pounding, both from anger and fear. How far would he have gone if Alice hadn't come in? Snapping out of her daze, she ran past her sister and up to her room. When her younger sister followed, Elizabeth wouldn't say a word. When tea was over, all Lizzie said was for her father to never let the man in their house again.
"Once the bounder followed me into the Ladies at Waterloo Station. I had to call the attendant."
"When is Papa coming home?" Alice asked.
"His train arrives at noon. Have patience." Their mother said.
"I'm going to the Ladies' Room. I'll be back." Lizzie made her way to the Ladies' Room, but one glimpse to her right showed a frighteningly familiar face watching her. She ducked her head and hid in the restroom. She thought she was safe until she saw him standing in the restrom with her.
"Remember three years ago when we first met? Only a block away, when I got a nice look at your bloomers. Tell me, Lizzie, what do you look like without them?"
"Go away!" Lizzie said, recognizing him from that day. "Get out!"
"These games have gone on long enough." Bumby got dangerously close to her.
"What games?" Lizzie asked. "I only want you to leave me alone, you dispicable cockroach!" He pinned her to the wall, feeling her squirm in his grasp. Lizzie felt every inch of his body; a few inches in particular hardened on her stomach. "Let me go!" He ignored her plea and instead whispered dirty things in her ear, asking her to do things even a prostitute wouldn't do. When he guided her hands to his private, that's when she snapped. She crashed her knee against his most sensitive area, making him double over. Lizzie ran to the door and called for the attendant. Despite the pain, Bumby ran out of the restroom before the attendant saw him. Lizzie re-joined her family at the platform.
"What took you so long?" her mother asked.
Oh. There was a rat. I had to wait for the attendant to remove it." Lizzie lied.
"I'm no toy! He wanted me to do things I didn't want to do."
"You raped my sister, murdered her, and killed my family to cover your crime. You will pay!" ~ Alice, unused line
One night, while Alice was getting ready for bed, there was a knock on the door. Her sister Lizzie came in, holding a piece of paper.
"Alice? I need to tell you something." Lizzie told Alice everything Bumby did to her, starting from his second visit to the train station incident. "Here, Alice." Lizzie gave her the paper, which was a letter that told everything Lizzie just confessed. "Keep this under your pillow. If anything happens to me, give the letter to Mama and Papa. Understand?" Alice nodded. Lizzie kissed her sister goodnight and went to bed.
Elizabeth was sleeping soundly when pressure on her bed woke her. Opening her eyes, she saw Bumby sitting on her bed.
"You've teased me long enough, Lizzie. Time to give in to what we both want." Lizzie cried out as he raped her. In an attempt to quiet her, he covered her face with a pillow. Soon, her body slowed and she became quiet. Bumby removed the pillow and saw she was dead. He then kissed her one final time, then left the room and locked the door. That's when he saw young Alice watching him and cowering. He locked her door as well and grabbed the lantern from the hall. He dropped it in the library and ran out of the house.
He watched the house burn and heard the screams of the family inside. Something dropped from a window and he realized it was Alice. She stumbled to the edge of the trees where he was hiding. Her skin was burnt, yetshe managed to hold onto her rabbit. She wiped ash out of her eyes and looked right at him. Bumby ran further into the trees just as firemen arrived. He knew the brat couldn't possibly survive those burns...