Alice describes pervasive sexism in the academy and her cohort’s disdain for overt feminism. She tries to inhabit a narrow ideal—appearing desirable yet untouchable—to secure respect and opportunity. Aware of Grimes’s reputation, she courts his approval without crossing lines, mistaking this control for power.

Alice accidentally witnesses Grimes’s encounter with Charlotte, a new secretary, and cannot shake the memory. After a celebratory dinner, a drunk Grimes corners Alice in his office. She nearly submits to keep her career safe but recoils, refuses, and flees. Peter arrives at the door mid‑incident, sees enough to misunderstand, and withdraws.

Grimes responds by freezing Alice out—moving her desk, excluding her from projects—while elevating Peter. The department senses a rift; whispers grow. Peter becomes awkward and distant; Belinda hints he suggested Alice is Grimes’s favorite, reinforcing rumors. Alice remains silent, unable to choose between inviting pity or bearing suspicion.

Desperate to regain footing, Alice tries to entice Grimes back to mentorship; he ignores her. She seeks help from Helen Murray, who criticizes Alice’s contradictions, offers bureaucratic and legal paths Alice won’t take, and ultimately advises forgetting for the sake of survival. The counsel reveals institutional complicity and the limits of Alice’s self‑protective myths.

Alice drifts toward suicidal ideation yet continues working out of pride and fear of being labeled a failure. Then Grimes literally explodes from accumulated living‑dead chalk, spattering Alice with blood. She laughs at the perverse escape hatch this creates—the path that will later carry her into Hell.