Mother Gothel: The Untold Story + Other Short Stories

The Unforgotten Crime

Sarah had been planning this a long time. She'd had discussions with her parents over the last few years as to what she wanted to do with their family home; it was perfect. However, when the time finally came to renovate her mum got poorly and her dad almost seemed pleased the plans had been stopped. Only in her sixties it was completely unexpected, but a hidden heart condition changed their lives completely. Within a few months her mum had died and Sarah and her sister, Margo, were left completely helpless...

Sarah felt sad as she walked up to her family home, watching the workmen pull down parts of the house she had grown up in, the house tainted with memories of her beloved mum. Her phone distracted her trail of thought and she rapidly answered, surprised Margo was even awake at this time on a Saturday morning.

"Hi Margo, are you okay?"

"Erm, yes and no. I can't get hold of dad, do you know where he is?"

Sarah laughed, " oh you know what he's like, I am sure he will get back to you soon. Anyway, haven't you got Rich there to distract you?"

Margo giggled nervously, "yes... Sarah, just let me know if you hear from him, I'm worried! He never not calls in the evening and it's been nearly three nights in a row."

Sarah suddenly heard some of the workmen shouting from inside and furrowed her eyebrows as she slowly started to walk towards the house. "Margo, I have to go, somethings come up..."

"Are you at the house? What's come up?"

"No, nothing major. I'll call you back!"

Sarah hung up and quickened her pace towards the house, holding the hard hat firmly on her head. In the doorway a large rugby sized man stood in front of her, "you can't go in there at the moment."

Sarah looked at him in confusion, "what do you mean? This is MY project..."

"Yes, but I've been given clear instructions to not let anyone in at the moment!"

Sarah huffed, knowing it was a losing battle and stormed over to the outside window, peering in to see what all the commotion was about. Huddled around a broken-up fireplace were eight builders muttering between themselves. There was so much dust around Sarah could barely see anything and within a couple of minutes she heard sirens speeding in her direction. She turned around as two police cars pulled up and four policemen got out, walking straight towards the house. Sarah looked around her in confusion as she saw the two main builders appear from inside. She ran over to them and pulled one of their arms making them turn around. "Why have you stopped?" she asked, looking at both the builders hesitantly.

The first builder who's face reminded Sarah of a boiled egg looked worried and turned to face the police officer, ignoring her. "It's inside...", he muttered.

As the policemen and the two builders started to walk inside Sarah followed closely, knowing she needed to be part of this as much as anyone - it was HER house! As they reached the doorway she grabbed the boiled egg looking builder's arm, who paused and turned to face her. "Tell me what is going on!"

One of the policemen stepped in and took Sarah's hand off the builder. "Do you live here?"

Sarah gulped, suddenly feeling cold. "I did... as a child. It was my parent's house..."

"And where are your parents now?" the policeman interrupted.

"My mum died a couple of months ago", she said, her voice starting to wobble as the pain drew up through her body, "and I don't know where my dad is at the moment."

The policeman nodded and looked over at his colleagues who were looking behind the fireplace at what had been found. "You need to come with me", he said authoritatively.