Congratulations, Rose! You have been accepted for the role of Linda Goode (FC: Jodie Whittaker). We have our heartbroken momma! You captured Linda’s motherly nature so perfectly, I was smiling through the whole application. You’ve made it so clear that while her life may not have gone according to her dreams or plans, the children she got out of it make everything worth it. I love her passion for writing, too! Welcome to Devil’s Knot! Please have a look at this page prior to sending in your account.
OUT OF CHARACTER
Name: Rose Age: 23 Pronouns: she/her Timezone: so I accidentally got it wrong in the other app haha, it’s currently GMT +1, soon just GMT because I’ll be moving to the UK Activity estimation: Right now I have all the time in the world but in September I will start my masters so it will probably be a little less but I’m sure I’ll have time to work around it. Overall my activity would probably be around 7 or 8. Triggers: REDACTED
IN CHARACTER
Full name: Linda Elizabeth Goode (nee Holland) Age (DD/MM/YYY): thirty-nine (28-09-1957) Gender: Cisgender female Pronouns: She/her Sexuality: heterosexual Occupation: currently on the look for one. After living without Paul, her ex-husband, she has enough money to move and live for a few months with the kids but she’s been keen on finding a job and becoming a part of the community. Before that she was, and still is, a stay-at-home mom. Connection to Victim: Well, about as closely connected to him as one could be. She carried him for nine months, goodness sake. He is her baby. Brian is her youngest son who she loves so dearly. With the other two being older and a little more rebellious, Brian is all she has left to love and hold dear of her children before he gets older and more independent as well. Alibi: The Saturday that Brian went missing, Linda had been busying early in the morning. She had woken up at her usual time, seven in the morning, and prepared breakfast for her children. They all came tumbling down one by one, eating their pancakes bleary-eyed except her daughter who always looked ready to take on an army with her deep scowls. After that, she went food shopping and came back. She had just made lunch for herself and Brian, her other two children out for the day, while she loaded all the dirty plates and cups into the sink and started to clean. All it took was a split second while her hands had been in soap or while she had been drying the plates for Brian to leave. Linda left looked up through the kitchen window where Brian had just been, only to find him gone. She shrugged it off for a second as she tidied everything away first. After that, she decided to ask if he felt like coming in. When she went outside and found him nowhere to be seen, that’s when she started to panic. Faceclaim: Jodie Whittaker
WRITING SAMPLE
“Mom! Mom, come on!” Brian yelled from the car, his brown hair waving along on the breeze of the wind. Linda, feeling like a sumo-wrestler, walked towards the vehicle with two big bags in her arms. One on each side, swinging back and forth with every huge step she took. Pushing them inside the boot, she closed it as she moved to the front. As she did, she walked past the rest of the car where within lay her three greatest treasures. David, Beth and Brian. Her eldest son was sat in a corner, shading his eyes from the sun. The wrinkle between his eyes indicated what he truly thought about being trapped in such close vicinity with his two younger siblings. Beth sat in the middle, her unruly red hair tumbled down her shoulders while her blue eyes moved around the car to see everything that was going around her. In the other corner sat young Brian. His wide eyes, similar to Linda’s, watched his siblings with great interest. The smile on his lips seemed to brighten the entire world. Linda felt a surge of pride and pure happiness as she saw them. Moving to the front of the car, she sat down and turned to face her children.
“Who is ready to go to the beach?”
Linda enjoyed the gritty feeling of the sand between her toes as she slid them deeper into it. The big lime green towel that was their collecting point lay flat open with a parasol to keep create a little shade in this otherwise lovely warm weather. Through her sunglasses, she saw her whole new world unfold before her. The lovely warm glow that was cast on everything she viewed. Beth’s hair was the colour of live fire as strands of it almost seemed gold, David’s skin seemed slightly tan and warm and Brian’s smile and bright yellow sunhat seemed as bright as the sun itself. It created a warm feeling in her chest that spread through her, turning the corner of her lips up. Paul had left for a few days on a trip to another state so Linda wanted to make the most of her time with the children. It was summer and the weather was so nice, that when they’d come down in the morning she immediately asked them what they thought about going to the beach. They spend the entire day there until David had a slightly red-ish hue to him, Beth had managed to pick a fight with someone and Brian had stomped off because she hadn’t let him get every ice cream he wanted to try.
As they were about to leave, Linda called the three of them to her and told them to sit down on this wooden bench close to where they were parked. Judging by the annoyed groans and sighs she could tell that they weren’t in the mood for a picture but Linda had enjoyed this day so much that she wanted something tangible to remember it by. They were perched on the bench and faced her as she took a photo. She took a few extra ones for good luck, or so parents always said but she enjoyed having as many pictures of her children as she could.
A deep sigh escaped her lips as she looked down at the photo in her hand. She remembered so well David walking next to Brian as they chatted together. Laughing together. Beth running around them. Helping her younger brother get up after she’d pushed him too hard and caused him to fall down. Brian. It had been a week since she’d last seen him and the weight of that reality settled heavily on her shoulders. She’d walked passed the mirror, catching a glimpse of her ghoulish appearance. That’s the best way she could describe it. Sleep didn’t come easily but so didn’t getting out of bed. The dark shadows under her eyes revealed as much. Her hair, pulled back in a ponytail, hung loose and you could see the greasiness of it in the morning light.
It was her real face, but the town of Devil’s knot had no time for reality. They wanted to see a mother put together, one that was not a failure, that could stand up to the unbearable of a missing child. It was impossible, but she tried, stepping into the shower as if it could wipe away all that buried into her heart.
Her hair hung in its usual styled bob and a little make-up worked miracles to hide the dark shadows and harsh lines that had become prominent on her face. Once perhaps she’d have spent a moment to appreciate her features, wide doe eyes and small lips that had been admired for long ago. The notion of such fanciful ideas was laughable however, in the face of a tragedy such as this.
“Mom, are you ready?” David stood in the opening of her bedroom, seeming larger than life in the shadow of the hall lights. He’d become the man of the house, or at least tried to, and she found herself being so very proud of the effort. But it was too much to ask him and Beth to keep a brave face. The haunting of Brian’s absence was replicated on them as well.
Linda tried her best to conjure up the warmth and be the caring mother they needed, but a facade could only do so much. The practical was easy, making breakfast, doing simple chores, but when it came to the emotional, to actually looking them in the eye and saying it would be okay - she wasn’t sure she could really be there. Linda let out a soft sigh as she tried to rid herself a little of the pain and emotions that raced through her. She tried not to let her children see too much of what it was exactly what she was feeling, she wanted them to see her as strong and determined because that’s exactly what she was. Linda knew her son was out there somewhere and she was sure she’d find him, as sure as the earth goes around the sun.
“Yes, come on honey. Let’s go and look for your brother.”
ANYTHING ELSE?
→ Linda was a girl who didn’t look like a “nerd” but she was smart. During her high school years, she worked hard to get the best grades that she could get and worked for it. Her wide eyes and soft smile caused her to receive quite some attention from guys but she never pursued them. After graduating, she got into her state university and pursued her dream to become a journalist. Her love for writing grew as she read literature and got involved with extracurricular activities and what was going on in the world. At that moment in time is when she met Paul Goode, the darling of the political classes and one-time guest speaker at her university. He was the most charismatic man she’d ever met, and she fell, easily, dramatically, and most of all, foolishly. It wasn’t his wealth that got her, nor his position, but his passion. He had a drive that was infectious and a tendency to sweep you into his path whether you want to or not. And so, like a love-struck teen, she let him spin her into his web and he kept her there in every sense. Her pregnancy for one. They started dating in her second year and in her third year she found out she was pregnant. She was worried her mother would disown her, instead she fully embraced it. The woman smelt the opportunity with such a man on the up and up, and so, they were married. You’d think for someone so clever she’d have avoided that easy pitfall, but no, she ended up with David at the age of 21, with no prospect of finishing her course and no choice but to lean on Paul. Till unhappiness do them part…
→ Linda is a good mother. Perhaps too good. There’s such a thing as caring too much and that’s exactly what she does. But what else can she do? They were after all her life, literally. After giving up her own dreams and ambitions, she has close to nothing else to do except care for her children. It’s not her intention but its manifested into a deep, constant need to take care of them. From fussing over their hair to making sure their rooms are perfect to accounting for their location almost constantly. Over time the incessant has produced friction in the house, especially with David and to a lesser degree Brian. Who unlike their sister were unable to easily break out the chains of her overbearing nature and Linda tried her best to break habits far too old in the making. It makes Brian’s disappearance all the more stinging, knowing that she could have stopped it if only she’d loved him more and kept a closer eye.
→ The notion of putting on a good face is not exclusive to Devil’s Knot. In fact, it has been Linda’s recipe for life ever since she had gotten pregnant. No matter the abuse Paul threw her way, nor the stresses of essentially living as a single mother even when she was married, she could always be relied upon to put on the show of a happy housewife. The truth, however, beneath the mask, is that Linda has been unhappy for decades. It buries down to her bones, a dark stain, that clouds her mind in the moments that she was alone. All it would take would be a few visits to a therapist to know she had depression, but the notion doesn’t even enter her mind. Instead, she loses herself in her duties. When she makes the kids dinner or folds their laundry, she’s not ever really there. She’s just an empty shell, going through the motions, watching the world pass but taking no joy in it. She’s afraid that should she take a moment to really face what she felt, she would no longer be able to keep going.
→ She may be a housewife, but that didn’t mean Linda was without skills. She had been a journalism major for a reason, and she had a mean prose when she chose to wield it. In the fleeting moments of loneliness at home, she sometimes returns to her old flame, but she’s scared to really consider it again. Writing was hard enough when you’re young and unafraid, but she has a family to support, and a dismal lack of self-belief means that she often considers it a fancy that she has no right to indulge in, despite the deep joy that it brings. Watching the evening news and the morning paper will just have to do. She hopes one day to be able to pursue a certain kind of job that would allow her to write again like she’s always wanted to, but for now, that’s not something she’d want since she’s still completely focused on her children.