Scum
stvn...@hotmail.com
"BEAST! BEAST! BEAST !" shouted James, with each exclamation banging a
wooden plank to the ground, a sharp crack emanating from the force of
the blow, with each blow a green wave came rushing towards Sidney,
with the inevitability of contact of an oncoming train moving slowly
towards a car stuck on the tracks, slow but determined in its momentum
towards him, unstopable, with nowhere to hide Sidney stood with a
sickening sinking feeling as he awaited the mist as the culmination of
to him the proof that something paranormal had happened which was not
of the realm that he was used to and something told him it wasnt going
to be pleasant as there was an element of truth in this ignominy which
ominously foretold of the significance of this mist, another drug
induced hallucination which seemed more real than life itself.
"Im not a beast" He tried to shout his voice faltering and laden with
uncertainty as he knew the thoughts he was having.
As each wave hit him he felt as though life itself was being sucked
out of him, his energy draining from his body his breath catching and
not in some metaphorical manner this was very real yet at the same
time it was paradoxically unreal. Jankie Joy, named such because of
his fondnes for Heroin,stood on the descending hill turned and shouted
to James at the foot of the slooping road, to stop, his voice
containing a hint of urgency, his hand outstretched as though that
lestening of distance between himself and James would influence his
power to stop him making such a serious accusation, something more
than licentiusness. And work it did the plank being thrown to the
ground as James momentarily paused to run his hands through his hair
before turning with just the slightest hint of ostentisity and the air
of a man whose work was finished and whose work had been succesful. At
the same time Jankie turned his body bending slightly into the hill,
returning to Sidney standing further up than him, his arm outstretched
as though in an offer of friendship, instinctively the other man
raised his hand accepting jankies grip, his mind clouded by the green
mist his body gripped with pain and discomfort, his mind thinking of
ways to get out of this fog. As soon as the two hands connected Sidney
felt his life force being drained again, like when engulfed by the
mist but this time it was ten times worse as though he had just been
punched in the stomach, like some kind of electric shock in reverse,
the electricity leaving him, sucked into jankies body as though jankie
was in possesion of some secret esoteric power that only a privileged
few knew about, the loss of his energy, painful to him, the urge to be
sick almost overpowering. Then Jankie said something strange as he
leaned forward, pulling Sidney towards him, Sidney who no longer
possesed the strength to resist, who had to listen to what Jankie had
to say for expediency to free himself from this awsome power. "The
family will never go against us in court" he said. Strange thought
Sidney because the family followed the criminal codes of not talking
to the authorities and of sorting disputes with violence, the law of
the jungle, the urban jungle. It all seemed surreal especially that
last statement he never realised that this was Jankies confession that
their small clan was responsible for the proceeding events and not as
was later claimed that Sidney had just freaked out. With that Jankie
turned and departed with the others, as he watched them turn and
dissapear away from this unreal world he realised that he would have
to get out of this green mist which was as powerful as he could
imagine quick sand being, draining him of his strenghth, holding him
and slowing him down, but he knew that if he could just reach the top
of the hill then he would be alright, he would be free of this mist
which held him making his movements slow, sluggish and sore to make.
Once he reached the crest of the hill it was just as he predicted the
mist had dissapeared and with relief he was able to breath easier, the
effort that had been required to climb to the top lifting, no residue
of fatigue remaining. He turned back round to see if the mist was
still there it was strangely to his surprise, even though expected,
gone as though it had never been there at all. He started to walk
along the lane his elbow stinging and bloody from a fall he had taken
from running from James who came at him with the plank in revenge for
putting him on his face.
It had started in James and Jankies house as they had all partied,
about 16 of them although he hadnt noticed that about 5 or 6 bodies
had dissapeared. Suddenly as he sat there someone he had seen but
never met started to bang a shoe in time to the music behind his seat
and although he didnt realise it at the time this had been a
prearanged cue for them all to start operating in unison, a unison
which was so effectively coordinated that it was to become the
catalyst for Sidneys monotheistic beliefs. As they became one he
suddenly felt that the others had lifted up to some higher stratum
upon which he wasnt. He looked at his sister who was sitting on the
sofa opposite him, shared by two others and she smiled enigmatically
her eyes jumping up arching along with her eyebrows then they bounced
round to look at the next person whose face took on the same
expression their eyes following the same movement and so it went until
everyone in the room had done the same thing, as they became one,
working in unison. As it got to the second last person, 'Fakir', his
lips blew up almost in slow motion, as though he had just had a
massive Botox injection, puckering up to form a sardonic kiss aimed
towards him. Then the last member of this small group looked at him
with a smile to his lips and said "do you know what Scum means"
pausing for effect, but not for an answer to this hypothetical
question as he continued "it means Animal". Both References to
nicknames he had gained Scum as a child, Animal as an adult, the name
'scum' forming after he had watched the Sweeny, a late 70's early 80's
London detective program and had walked around saying like an
addictive mantra to people "you scum, you slag" in an imitation
Cockney accent fashioned after those characters. This had quickly been
jumped upon by another who had turned it around calling him Scum and
the name had stuck. Animal was a name that had started its life as
'Manimal' a reference to his wild nature said to be half man, half
animal but over time had metamorphisised into Animal as he got wilder
and more deeply into the drugs on his return from Amsterdam.
The whole time a trance tune played in the background by Warrior
called Vodoo, the lyrics "voodoooo, vodoo on you" hypnotically getting
right into Sidneys head and the haunting melody not going unoticed.
Sidney was perplexed unable to see any normal reason for why this had
just taken place, but in the few seconds within which this had
happened he saw something supernatural and unreal about the whole
situation and he knew that his perception of reality was perrenially
altered. He sat back slightly in his chair looking at those around him
who were all looking at him mysteriously and he wondered what his next
move should be then Dougie sitting next to his sister shouted out
"little Boys" and suddenly a realisation came upon Sidney 'its a
joke' he thought and with exagerated movements while bouncing in tune
to the music he started to make a joint, haphazerdly sticking three
Rizla papers together and dancing them up in some form of demonic jig
into the air with an abandon towards what went on not caring about the
reasoning he must have seen behind their actions an explanation but
one quickly forgotten when the demons began helping them again. As he
got the skins up in the air things took on to him an even more surreal
turn as the papers seemed to lift up out of his hands as though lifted
by some being that he couldnt see and pulled up and off to the left
before floating to the ground. Sidneys blood froze and his sense of
discomfort increased as a sickening feeling started in the pit of his
stomach and the thought that this world wasnt quite as normal as he
had always believed caused this feeling to spread instantaneously
throughout his body. Sidney slumped into his chair a feeling of
dejection hitting him in a nauseating wave. Then his sister leaned
forward a taunting smile playing out on her face as she said "cant you
work it out". Sidneys eyes widened as a darkness engulfed his mind as
he could not work this unreal world out at all so different was it to
reality. He looked round and a girl he had once slept with for want of
nothing better to do, who was just a few years younger than his
mother, put her right hand to her forehead and did a twirling motion
away from her head. As she did that he had the feeling that his memory
of what had just happened was slipping and would soon begone while at
the same time he had a feeling that those he partied with were privy
to some form of esoteric ability which gave them a power over him and
he wondered were they able to freeze him in some form of waking coma
during which they could run rings around him, physically aswell as
literally him paralyzed and dazed as though they could suspend time
and even reality. A feeling engulfed him that he had to get out of
there immediately or they would be able to take away his cognition of
what had just occured. His mind confused by a mix of panic and drugs
he jamp up sweeping his hash from the coffee table and stuffing it
into his pocket while rushing out the first door he could see but in
the opposite direction to the exit. He moved quickly down a small
hallway and into a bedroom, immediately realising that he was going in
the wrong direction he stopped and turned to see Jankie and Dougie
following him down beckoning to him that everything was alright and to
go back into the party. He turned and saw one way out a small double
glazed bedroom window, pausing momentarily, he put his foot through
the window taking out most of the glass but leaving a jagged edge all
the way round which he went through in a hopping motion, as he went
through a sharp bit of glass cut his right arm. Time seemed to slow
down as looked to see an inch long cut appear, the skin opening up
revealing what was underneath, one solitary bead of blood running down
his arm leaving a line as the thought 'thats my eye being opened' ran
through his head the cut looking like an eye on his body staring at
him.
As he emerged out onto the street he became aware of the people who
had dissapeared earlier not realising that they had done so in order
to not be part of what had occured. Sidney raised his arm into the air
trying to stem the flow of blood which by now covered most of the
inside of his arm and which reached down onto his rolled up jumper
sleeve. James's girlfriend approached him in the street screaming
about the window of her house and all he could say was "i had to get
out, i had to get out" his voice showing how dazed he was, his
expression vacuous as he had other things on his mind, not that he was
bothered by the temerity of this girl shown in her complaint of a
situation that she was involved in.
Sidney started wandering down the street unsure of where he was going
when he heard shouting as his attention turned to the cacaphonony of
what was verging on a small mob almost baying for blood. He turned
around to see 4 people coming towards him Dougie, the boy who had
gained the nickname scrotum in the jail, Jankie, James and another boy
whose name he was unaware of. They had violence in their eyes but
Sidney was in a truculent mood, he stopped, turned, pointed to Jankie,
the one whose name he couldnt remember and said "if you or you get
involved i'll get the Family involved " the Family were a group of
what could be described as the closest things to gangsters that you
could get in the nearby city called Inverness, aka 'The Town', they
had already worked Jankie over with a car brace and a chain after
Jankie and James had beaten up Nan Taylforths husband for no reason in
the middle of the day while the two were high on coke. Nan had
fostered a lot of disadvantaged kids and some of those disadvantaged
kids turned into people like the family who were willing to do her a
favour. Sidney was involved with them on the drugs front. He didnt
even say anything to Dougie as he knew that he was a shiteing bastard.
James came forward but not with as much enthusiasm now that it was a
square go but unable to back down without losing face he came forward
especially as Sidney had left the invite to fight open. Sidney
immediately grabbed James by his hair with his left hand dragged him
down and bent him over with a sweeping movement. Rather than get
involved in a long protracted fight which had the danger of others
getting involved he ended it quickly with two swift punches which
landed on the soft, side of James's neck. He was surprised by how soft
the neck felt as he connected with it and with each connection James
made a soft grunting noise as he exhaled air and then fell to the
ground. Sidney turned and proceeded to walk away slightly chuffed with
himself for reaserting his dominance over another man physically his
ego getting the better of him. As he walked he turned around a few
seconds later to see James running at him with a plank of wood. The
plank looked like something between a fence post and a railway
sleeper. Now was not the time to fight this out or to stop and discuss
the situation, now was the time to get out of there, so with that he
ran, but with difficulty as the shoes he was wearing had been worn
into the ground and were no longer a snugg fit. He slipped crashing
heavily to the hard concrete of the road,his elbow taking the brunt of
the fall, but through the pain he was aware that James was still
coming at him with the plank. Quickly he looked over his shoulder to
see James bearing down on him with it raised above his head. He
brought it down in a sweeping arc towards his feet and ankles but the
plank came down short crashing heavily to the ground and the thought
came to him that James's antics were more to save face over his being
beaten in the fight than to have actually do the damage he could have
done as that would have resulted in the continuation of this battle
and Sidney had already given James four beatings one night 9 years ago
when he was 17 and James 18. James had a problem taking each beating
as an answer, repeatedly returning for another.
Within a fraction of a second Sidney was back upon his feet and
charging down the slightly sloping road before veering to his left and
back up a hill with a steeper gradient running parallel to the one he
had just come down. If anyone had been making an effort to catch him
there was no chance that they would be able to as at one time he had
been one of the fastest 800 meter runners in the country, a time when
there hadnt even been a drugs scene in this part of the world let
alone the chance that drugs would ruin his chance to do well as a
runner. Even at that time he was a problem dinker even if he was too
young to drink as a 16 year old but that was 10 years ago and he had
been drinking since he was 13 addicted to the feeling after one night
when he had his first drink, He would save up his school dinner money
and excitedly anticipate the weekend, allthough part of him realised
that he was in danger of being taken over by it.
It was as he had got up this hill that James had appeared at the
bottom of it with the plank which was to produce the demonic unreal
mist. As he looked down the hill Jankie and Fakir appeared out of a
lane a couple of meters from him which ran between his road and the
road he had just came down, the two roads running parrallel to each
other and the small lane coming out almost where the flat was with the
window he had just jamp out of. The lane had a house on one side and a
garden wall on the other, taller than any man. Fakir said nothing but
as Jankie turned and walked away after draining Sidney of his energy
Fakir turned giving Sidney a look of pure hate adding almost to the
surreality of the whole situation.
He had a mile to walk to get to his house first along this road which
led out onto a busier road all country roads, the first one being
single lane with what Sidney would one day describe as high dem houses
on his right and on his left barbed wire fences enclosing fields with
gorse bushes and and horses in them. The second road lead continuosly
on as the first road joined with it. On the left of this road there
were flat farm fields and on the right more farm fields and hills some
with farm sheep and cattle in them. As he walked along the field he
saw three people that had been at the party away in the distance up
ahead but had left as soon as things got out of hand when the
obfuscsated mind of Sidney took him through the window. One of them a
male called Paul turned round and seen him, then his girlfiend turned
also and for some reason Sidney had the overpowering feeling that if
the other one, the girls mother, turned around he would forget what
had happened, so he climbed over the fence and jamp into the gorse
bushes scratching himself in the process. As he sat in the gorse, his
mind almost burnt out and he knew that his world was changed and that
he had just experienced something that would never leave him.
Crouched down and bent over he looked at his cut, now scratched,
bloodied arm believing that he was about to witness the marks
dissapear and that he would come round wondering why he was in the
bush with no more memories of what had just occured but that didnt
happen it would maybe have been better had it occurred and after a few
minutes he painfully dragged himself out of the gorse bushes and over
the barbed wire fence. He walked down the road and as he got about
half way along a couple of vehicles past by with people from the
party, someone waved to him but he waved back with a two fingered
salute in defiance. He had just come from one village and was entering
another but as he entered he looked upon the new bungalows on his
right on the edge of this expanding village and wondered to himself
was there really anyone in them or were they just the image of the
coming together of two different worlds, the one he lived in and the
one they lived in one he could never see. He wondered to himself was
there anyone watching him on that bright 6 am morning as he walked
along with the blood drying on his arm into his scruffy jumper, spots
of blood on his old worn trousers. As soon as he got home he took a
couple of largactyl tablets and went to his bed exhausted.