The Longest Night

Leading up to the night, he had promised us that it would be a huge night.

There was excitement in the air and consequently last Saturday night was going off. Amidst the drunken tomfoolery, an absent home-bound, baby-sitting friend of ours pranked us all, later folllowing it up with a comedic stab at our mate with a SMS.

Infuriated at this SMS he wondered the house. "Where are my keys?", he asked whilst searching around. I realised then everything was about to change.

Ironic he said tonight was going to be huge, but we were expecting an orgy-like Twister (minus the sex) and other great party games. Nothing what we were about to experience.

He reversed along the muddy driveway, out onto the street. Another friend rushed to the door, trying to open it but he sped off on him.
Next thing, the three of us were speeding through the streets of Pakenham attempting to catch up to our speeding friend.
Manuevering between two cars into the slip lane, we turned left as I turned around to look at the glaring car beams behind us. Getting that gut instinct I tend to always get about things, I realised who it was. Blue and red illuminated the houses on the street around us and pulled off the road, right opposite the house we were heading to. As the police questioned the driver, we saw our friend in his car casually, but quickly enough, turn up the road and disappear into the night.
I cautiously approached his house; the mate who pranked us in the beginning. His family poured out of the door with Bourbon in hand to see what the fuss was all about. Our mate was fine and accordingly nothing happened between he and our friend who stormed off at the party, albeit a few car beeps he did until the cops scared him off. The cops naturally didnt care what we were trying to do, no matter how well our intentions were. Luckily their reprimand was minimal.
The three of us from the car, my mate, his father and partner; we sat on the terrace of someone's frontyard discussing the nights matters that lead us to this surreal situation. An hour later, in a stupour some of us still were from our drinks, we ventured through the streets, looking and hoping we would find our mate. But, we found nothing. He had disappeared.


The figure walked in a zig-zag fashion in the middle of the road, right outside of the local train station. The driver tooted his horn and the figure spun around, his pissed but angry face startled by the car's beams. He began walking towards us...I remember screaming to everyone to lock their doors and wind up any windows. He slowly came to a stop at the driver's window and just looked at him, almost like he was ready to punch the window or windscreen. My mate's father jumped out of the car and questioned if there was a problem, or something along these lines.
Next thing we know, they're parking (as in what they do in Boxing) in the middle of the street next to the car. We all realised this was it as more crazy bogans came out of nowhere and a brawl was about to start. I looked around at my mate (the original prankster)..he had jumped out to defend his father...the door was wide open and I could see the approaching "gangs" of mid to late thirty men. The violent sort who beat their wives and piss their pay away at the pub.
We freaked and screamed. We panicked and froze. "SHIT" my mate in the front passenger seat screamed as we saw our mate and his Dad get beaten to a pulp. I thought about bolting to the station but it would be our luck to get someone who wouldnt be able to help, aside from the fact they can't leave their shift and become involved. I glanced at the door, wide open to anyone Bogan who wanted to venture into our car. "Get out of the car! GET OUT OF THE CAR! Run for it!" his father screamed at us before landing back on the ground. Stop.

I thought what is the best thing to do in a situation like this? My mate in the front and I were so close to jumping out and fighting these bastards but we were afraid they had knives...then I realised, call the cops.

The door slammed shut as someone kicked it and we sped off while I dialled 000. I thought to myself I must speak as clear and coherently (in my quickly sobering slumber) to the operator, so that the police come before it's too late. Fifty goddamn questions later, the phone at the police station rang. And it rang. And rang some more. I looked at the park opposite the train station where the fight was and saw all these people running through it, including a gang of Aborigines Slowly my ears tuned back to the sounds and heard from the others that our father and son team were running for us to pick them up on the other side of the park. Again, fifty goddamn questions from the police, I asked for an ambulance...I saw the unconscious body of my mate's father on the road.

The car was parked in front of him, the light showing his red top that made me realise who it was. Everyone had dissipated as quickly as they appeared. There was a police helicopter in the area too at this time I was to find out later. We\I must've been really drunk because we never heard a thing. The Aborigines were all around the curled up body. I saw our front passenger had rang the police too, and so I cautiously wound down the window and asked them if he was ok.

Amazing irony. His father is a nurse who has worked for a time in Darwin, and helped many injured Aborigines he had told us only earlier that night. Here they were, all around him. I walked up to his lifeless body, his head propped up by some leaves and branches. I asked him if he was ok, he blinked and replied. Some of them came upto me and told all of us to just get out of here before anything else happened. The police were just at the end of the street, waiting as if there wasn't a rush in the world. The suddenly sped off up the road like a bat out of hell.

They helped him up and he grabbed hold of me, I wrapped my arm around him and dumped him into 'my mate's car and locked the door. I asked if my two friends were ok and to let's go and get our friend who we heard, had ran to his grandparents house.

I liked this situation. I felt in control. I was helping people and it seemed so right.

Again, we drove around the streets a shade after midnight, travelling to the grandparents house. But his father just kept telling us to drive, "just keep going, it's up here somewhere". Twenty minutes later, we were at his grandparents. Right at the place where we were before we left.

Thankfully, father and son were ok and so were the rest of us. We explained exactly what happened to the grandparents and in particularly, to the father for his continual repeated questions assured us he had the worse case of concussion most of us had ever seen. Whilst in the toilet, our friend; the one who we went searching for in the first place, pranked me. He was back at the house of the party, distaught and very upset.

Ten minutes later, father and son were taken to hospital for a check up by the grandparents. They both had huge gashes on their arms and a smashed mobile screen. I was shocked to see our missing friend in one of the cars. Thank God he was safe.

We all went back to their house. The house where only just before, we had been pulled up by the cops. My mate's father's partner told us to go to her room where we talked casually well into the morning. The driver of the night, a good friend of mine, left at 2am and gave him a huge. A smile showed and that's what counted. (Ed: Good on you mate, I was woorried about you that night, how you would cope with everything. But Im glad you kept your cool and that you were with us in the first place. Your hug put a smile on his face, but it put a tear on my cheek). We eventually tucked our embarrassed, emotional quiet friend into her queen-size bed. The remaining three of us; the partner, the other mate who rang the police and I, continued drinking out on the porch well into the early hours, having one of those talks that covered everything in life.

A shade after 5am, father and son came home in fine shape. Our other friend was woken up and he silently left in the light of dawn, to walk back home. As I walked home at 7am, I realised that our friend needs us as much as we need him. Maybe he's realised how much he means to us? Hopefully we can all get together soon and finish off the party we started that night.