How It All Goes Down
Amy Elliott Dunne—Seven Days Gone
- Attention please, Shmoopsters—Amy has a HUGE announcement to make. Thanks to Noelle Hawthorne and her big mouth, the world now knows that she's pregnant—and it hates Nick even more than it already did. But here's the real question: How does one fake a pregnancy? Don't fret—if anyone can do it, Amazing Amy can.
- It all began with Noelle, who will believe absolutely anything you tell her. Noelle's blind loyalty to Amy, especially after she declared Noelle her bestie, made her the perfect person to dump terrible tales of woe about her marriage on. When Noelle got pregnant again, Amy saw a chance to make her plot even thicker: she could get pregnant, too. Well, fake pregnant at least. But to the rest of the world, it wouldn't make any difference.
- It went like this: Amy drained her toilet, then invited Noelle over to binge out on lemonade and subsequently pee in the toilet. Amy stockpiled Noelle's pregnant urine, then went to the doctor to confirm her fake pregnancy. Because of her well-documented fear of needles and blood, Amy asked to give a urine sample instead of a blood test, and then supplied the pee hidden in her purse. And—voila—Amy is pregnant and it's on her medical history. And guess who gets to be the first person to hear the news?
- On this particular morning, Amy makes a stop at the main office to see Dorothy, the cabin complex owner, then does a quick sweep of the television stations to see if there have been any developments in her disappearance. Since there's nothing new so far, she decides to go to the pool, and as she puts on her bikini, she decides to call the tip line three days from now to push the cops in the direction of some of the undiscovered evidence.
- At the pool Amy meets Greta, a blonde girl with a split lip and bruises who moved in the day before. Amy has decided to study her to learn how to be a victimized girl hiding from her abusive partner; she tells Greta that her name is Nancy.
- They start talking about the situation that's brought Greta to the cabins. She more or less tells Amy that she's escaping a bad relationship, then jokes that since her type lately seems to be jerky guys, she might meet one at the complex.
- Greta leaves the pool and invites Amy to come to her cabin and watch television, and Amy's totally down for that. Her choice of program? You guessed it—Ellen Abbott, where Amy is the top story. They show a picture of Amy paired with the cover of an Amazing Amy book, and Amy seems to take it personally when Greta says she never liked the books growing up and that, from what Ellen presents about Amy, she seems kind of spoiled.
- Then the parade of Nick haters begins. Amy's old friend Campbell, then Shawna, and even Stucks Buckley come out of the woodwork to talk about how Amy was awesome and Nick was a creep. And then comes the grand finale: Noelle Hawthorne outright accusing Nick of murder.
- Greta says that she hopes Amy isn't dead. She hopes she got away from her bad marriage and is safely in hiding somewhere. Does she know Amy's true identity, or is she genuinely unaware of what she's doing? Let's find out.