The Dour Days

A Freolan Sidequel Vol 1

Chapter 3 - Bank Holiday Sunday

Year: 1999

Ben's Age: Not born (-3 years)

Ben's Freolan Time: 0

Sunday was normally a day when people go to church, enjoy family time, or just rest before a long week ahead. A roast and films; but on a bank holiday everything used to change. A bank holiday Sunday meant religion left the conversation, family time was moved to next week, and the bank account was raided…

The bank holiday madness had already started. Both the Friday and the Saturday nights in the nightclub had been so busy, a lot of disagreements already, but mostly no damage was done. No damage that was worth noting anyway.

John looked across at a clock by his bed as his blurry tired eyes tried to take in the time. He knew it was too early. He had managed to get away quite quickly the night before and was settled into bed by 4.15am. After that he spent the night turning, rolling left and rolling right, unable to get settled. So when he saw it was 9am he was tempted to put his head back down.

He could hear that Emma was up and about, the noises getting increasingly louder as time went on. At 9.15am he rolled across and let his legs fall out of the bed and pull him up in a single motion.

John rubbed his eyes, stretched and walked through to the shower. Thirty minutes passed with John getting ready. He walked downstairs where he was greeted by Emma with a coffee. John put the coffee down on the side and pulled her in closer. Just standing there they both enjoyed the moment of feeling each other pressed against their bodies. No words needed to be said.

Picking up the coffee John headed into the kitchen, sipping it as he walked through. In the background he could hear the hoover go on, as he made some toast. His thoughts were already planning his afternoon. He needed to train. No matter what else was planned he had to find time to get ready for the evening.

Surprisingly, the day flew by with no real plans. They both got on with what they wanted to get on with, and John mentioned training with no disagreement. So at 3pm he was off. He had arranged to meet some others for a workout and sparring, people he knew well, and was exactly what he needed.

As he drove up to the gym, they were already pulling out their kit bags and a slight excitement hit him. Metallica was playing loudly and everything came perfectly together at that moment. The amazing melody and the fun to be had.

For two hours the guys took it in turns sparring, then training some grappling, before finishing with a circuit. They were all beat, covered head to toe in sweat, but smiling like they had won the lottery.

John stood first, fist bumping each of the guys as he carried his bag across toward the doorway. He was now focused on getting ready. As he opened the door one of the guys called out, “safe shift mate.”

John called back, “always!” He then pulled the door shut, jumped in the car, turned on the loud music again and headed home. He could feel his body reacting already as he thought about the evening ahead. He had mixed feelings of excitement and apprehension. He knew this was going to be a bad one.

Once home, John showered again and sat down to eat with Emma. There wasn’t a lot of conversation, John’s mind was somewhere else, and Emma had her own plans. So they finished their food, washed up and both got ready.

Emma looked amazing as always and John was a little jealous. His mind thought about that for thirty seconds and then got back to making sure his shirt had no creases, his boots were polished, and he had everything he needed. He was ready and stood waiting, and he waited. Impatience was starting to rise but he reminded himself he offered to drop her off, so he messaged some friends and distracted himself while he leant against the wall.

Finally Emma was ready and the two drove to her friend's house. A quick kiss and then Emma walked off. John didn’t even wait to see her friend open the door. He was gone. The music was back on, loud and aggressive songs, as he drove way too fast across town to work.

A few times in the early days of his work John had noticed damage to his car, scratches, a small dent, and then one day the mirror was kicked off. Doing a job where you spend all evening dealing with drunk people means you will upset a few people. So now he parked further away and walked into work. More risks to him personally, but damage to the car came with a financial consequence. Something he hated.

As he locked the car and did up his jacket, he looked around to see who was about. Where he parked was very quiet, covered by the local council CCTV, so he felt a little more confident about leaving it there.

The walk in only took five minutes but in that time he had walked past three people collapsed, one person throwing up, and two couples going at it in a dark spot, at 19:30. Nothing that unusual for a bank holiday Sunday. As John walked past the pubs he could see how busy it was already. People stood body to body, raising their pints as they laughed along to whatever they were chatting about. He approached the front door where he spotted a massively overweight guy sitting on the curb across the road. The guy was leaning forwards, head down, fast asleep, but John noticed a slight movement. His arms were folded and his huge neck rolls had caused him to block his own airways, and his body was jerking as he tried to breath.

From experience John knew this could go one way or the other. In the past, when he had tried to help people, it had gone wrong with them grabbing him and saying things like “what the fuck are you doing?”, while in a fit of half asleep rage. One guy had even tried to strangle John, to which he had quickly hit him and left him unconscious lying backwards on the path.

So as John walked over, he moved around behind the man and lifted his head backwards. The man gasped loudly, taking in a huge amount of air. His eyes opened straight away as he looked straight up at John. Confusion then kicked in. John had let go and was moving away. This time nothing was said. John was now crossing the road as he called back to the man, “go and get some food!” The man slowly moved around and helped himself up using his arms and staggered down the road. John watched on as he headed toward the now open front door. One of the staff had been watching on and greeted John as he walked in through the door, and then the door was closed behind them.

The club was due to open at 20:00 and had already collected a group of people queuing to get in. They were twenty-five minutes early, just standing there, hoping to get in.

John said his hello’s as he walked around to make a coffee, and quickly headed upstairs to the office. The manager was in there, going through paperwork and handing out items as staff members constantly walked in. John walked over to the window to see if the man was still up and about. He muttered to himself “fucking hell” as he watched the man lean on a wall, swaying left and right. Shaking his head John turned and picked up a radio and earpiece. He stood and listened to the team chatting away as he connected up the radios, one for internal comms, and one for the town link. A way of communicating with other venues and the CCTV.

Taking one last look at the CCTV before leaving the office, he noticed the queue was even longer now. As he walked out through the top bar and towards the first fire exit he could hear some of the team coming in. All talking about a fight from down the road. It was beginning he thought to himself, and then as if perfectly timed the town link went off.

John walked upstairs to the balcony, checking it was safe, clear and all the doors opened. It was a check he had done a hundred times. The town link continued to describe the people involved in the fight as he walked down the back stairs to the ground floor. At the bottom of the stairs it led into an area of double door fire exits so John opened and closed each. This time the in-house radio went off as the radio checks began. He held down the button and replied, "loud and clear. Back in two minutes." John had a couple more fire exits to check after he had taken a quick look around the toilets.

The last fire exit was on the far side of the nightclub, nearest the town centre where the busy pubs were already dealing with drunks and fights. John unbolted the door and tried to push it open, but something was blocking the way. He pushed harder, sending someone falling forwards, while the door flew open. As the person stumbled they managed to hold themselves up. Instantly they were awake and angry. The tall man turned and shouted. "Who the fuck do you think you are? You nearly knocked me over, you fucking wanker!"

The man stepped forwards and threw a huge right swinging punch. John leaned back and let it pass by.

Pointing his finger John shouted back. "You better fuck off my friend, or you will get seriously hurt."

The drunk and angry man went to throw again, but as the punch loaded John had already stepped in, his arm hitting across the chin. The other arm locked an arm and then John swept his leg back taking the drunk man's legs out, sending him rotating up through the air and landing on his back. John had been nice this time, as the drunk man went down John followed, holding his head so he didn't smash it into the concrete slabs. John's knee was now placed on his chest and his hand had moved round to grab the throat. Squeezing just enough to let the man know he was in deep shit, John shouted again. "Last warning, get up and fuck off!"

The man's whole attitude had changed as he looked upset now, he mumbled. "Okay okay."

As John slowly started to stand up off the man, his eyes were drawn across the road as he heard the doors slam open. Two men flew out backwards, then followed by others, then a group came running out as well. Across the road it was becoming a huge brawl. One of the men ran forward and hit another man with a powerful right cross, sending the punched man flying backward into a heap. Door staff now appeared dragging a huge guy out of the venue. This guy was a unit, over six foot tall and built like a tank.

The door staff had to drag and choke him all the way to the door. Once outside they dumped him down and then the chaos really started. People were punching and kicking the large build man, and people were punching and pulling the people attacking him. It had become twenty plus people fighting. The CCTV was calling for info. John was already running over as he asked the team to come down to the fire exit door.

As John grabbed one guy throwing punches, he pulled him back, sweeping his feet and sending the guy spinning round and down onto the ground. Another of the group went to hit John with a lazy punch that missed him by miles, so he hit a firm jab into the nose, sending the man reeling back, holding his nose as the blood started streaming out.

The radio's were now both going off as John grabbed another guy in a rear naked choke, wrapping his arms in tight.

CCTV. "Police are on their way, we are monitoring."

The manager. "We open in five minutes John, get back to the venue please."

As John dragged the now unconscious man over the road, he passed his team who were now running in to help the door staff. Each one committed to getting hold of someone or stopping the fighting. John lay the sleeping guy down in the recovery position and ran back over again as he replied to the manager. "Be there in two minutes!"

Things were now calming, door staff from other venues had turned up as well and pulled people apart. John grabbed one of his most trusted team members, a strong guy called Trev who threw cows around for a living. They stood by the two door staff in the doorway. The two door staff were being threatened by the big guy. The huge man with a ripped t-shirt was shouting angrily, his veins were popping across his body as he threatened to rip their heads off. There was no calming this guy down. And then the siren could be heard, quickly followed by the flashing light. A police car pulled up and then the wagon followed. Six officers jumped out and ran over. One had already pulled his spray, so when the big guy turned angrily, everyone got a blast. The pepper spray was directed at his face but flew past and filled the air.

John had taken some, not for the first time, he knew not to lick or wipe too much. His eyes and nose were sore but nothing like the big guy, who was screaming in agony. John knew that this was a good time to leave. He walked off quickly, calling on the radio. "Let's go chaps, we have a venue to open."

The manager was shaking her head as they all walked in and went straight through to the front door. Everyone took their positions and the night started.

More to follow soon

John is Ben Mapstone's father, a character who appears throughout the three main books . This is a background book that develops the character as a violent and selfish man. A father that Ben grows to hate as he gets older and wiser. This is all fictional, the characters and the events, while based on real-life experiences.