Siyao's Short Story Proposal

Behind Closed Doors

EXPOSITION: Lydia Monet moves into a small town just outside of London and  enters the Crawford household as a scullery maid in the summer of 1889. Desperate for a job, the young girl ignores all the rumors surrounding the late Mrs. Crawford who had passed away the previous year. At first, Lydia is intimidated by the stately manor house and the prestigious people who walk its halls; however, she soon realizes that she is largely ignored because of her position. Growing more daring, Lydia begins to explore the house and finds that the walls are not soundproof…

INCITING INCIDENT: Lydia freezes at the door with one hand poised to knock. The voices on the other side rise with anger and she is able to make out the words: “You know as well as I that she did not die of an overdose. Mrs. Crawford was murdered!”

RISING ACTION: Lydia begins to piece together the events leading up to the incident through listening to the gossiping maids. After hearing the servants’ view, Lydia uses her status to eavesdrop on the inhabitants of the house. She soon realizes that behind the act they portray to the outside world, the entire household is still shaken about the death of the Mrs. Crawford.

CLIMAX: After a couple of months of snooping around, she finally untangles the web of lies. Upon her discovery of the truth, Lydia rushes to inform the police without taking the time to change out of her dirty uniform. The policeman takes one look at her attire and scoffs at her words. He tells her that all the evidence pointed to an accidental overdose of sleeping pills and the case was already closed. He warns her against poking her nose into matters that have already been settled.

FALLING ACTION: Determined to prove the culprit guilty, Lydia digs deeper into the affair. The culprit grows suspicious that Lydia has discovered the truth and moves to intercept her. As Lydia shuffles through a stack of papers, something hits her on the back of the head and knocks her unconscious.

RESOLUTION: Days later, a boy runs through the town waving the latest copy of the newspaper for all to see. Lydia’s face is plastered on the front page under the bolded words: “Missing Maid Found Dead.”