Hooligans

OK, so first I was going to do The Godfather, but that's already a book. Then I was going to do Donnie Darko, but I would need like 5 pages to describe everything. SOOOO, I chose Green Street Hooligans. I chose it because it was a slight challenge for me. The hero's journey in this movie, isn't quite as easy to find at times, expect for the refusal to call which is apparent in the beginning and even resurfaces, which i thought was cool. the part I wrote about was a combination between the Ultimate Boon, and Refusal to Return. I chose these parts of the journey, because they are always my favorite, and this one is (spoilers obviously) sad. Movies can do what books sometimes can't they can bring out emotions in a myriad of ways, by music and slow motion and close ups... It is my goal to one day be able to write a story, a true tragedy. One that leaves the reader so drained of any emotion because nothing good has come of the journey, you want the hero to win, but even in sacrafice everything was fruitless. While this wasn't even close to that, I think it is a start.







I took another drag on my cigarette, but I couldn’t enjoy it. All I wanted, all I needed right now was to be with Pete and the rest of the gang. This fight was as much mine as anyone else’s, my brother-in-law was in the fucking hospital because of me. What Shannon said about no one caring about my rep back home was wrong; I was home now. I had fought, and fought hard to find my home, and I wasn’t letting it go. I had learned that I wasn’t made of glass here, and god damnit I was going to prove it, again and again until this was all over.

My brothers and I stood there in the cold morning; the wharf was the perfect place for this fight, quiet and away from civilization. Men could be beasts here, we could fight as if we were knights of old. I clenched my fists, and they were stiff, but they would still pack a mean punch. I may not have started this war, but I was part of the family that did, and now it was on me to finish it once and for all. They stood there looking like hungry, rabid dogs, and I wondered if we looked the say way to them. The next thing I knew we were running at each other in slow motion, I saw everything clearly, their snarled faces, the hunger for blood in their eyes, and I knew in that moment my face mirrored theirs; I knew that the only difference between us was one town, and a whole world. Flashes of the fight flew past my eyes; I saw my fist dig itself into the once hard jawbone of a man. I saw my knee meet a man’s chin and a perfect arc of thick crimson blood flow from his mouth like he was a fountain. I saw black as my face collided into fists and concrete, and I still wasn’t glass. It wasn’t until one of Tommy’s guys started for Shannon that things slowed down. Why was she here? I didn’t understand but I knew I had to protect her. Everything was slow from here on out, not like slow motion, no. It was a different kind of slow; I couldn’t quite place it. It was almost like I was trudging through sludge and Tommy’s thug was waiting for me, taunting me. He was a full foot taller than me, but I was like a rabid dog, he could have been fucking Goliath, and I David for all I cared.

I was getting the piss beat out of me when everything just stopped; no one was fighting anymore except for Tommy. The air was thick, and quiet, I knew that Tommy’s punches should have made that slapping, thudding noise, but they didn’t. All I registered was what Tommy was doing, and who he was doing it too. There Pete lay, unmoving; Tommy’s fists still smashing into his skull. I knew in that moment that he was dead, my heart sank into my stomach and all that rose back up was rage, blind burning rage. I knocked Goliath to the ground and got in the car. As much as I wanted to kill Tommy for what he did to Pete, I knew that taking care of my sister was more important.

Pete Dunham’s life taught me there’s a time to stand your ground, his death taught me there’s a time to walk away. I would never have the chance to thank him; but I could live in a way that would honor him.