I drove home and parked up outside my flat about 14:55 today, (Friday 3rd June) turned off the ignition and grabbed the bits and bobs I had laying around the motor to take into the house. I got out the car and had taken no more than two steps toward the front door of my block of flats before I heard someone shout in a scouse accent, "Hey Big Guy!"
I turned to look across at the shopping centre that sits opposite my house, and saw a collection of scaggy looking, junkie sh!tebags slouching around the back of the centre all looking across at me as one of their number shouted at me. I ignored it and kept walking to the door of my flat, and again the boy shouted, "Hey Big Guy, are you a f*cking bouncer?"
I stopped and looked across, and thought it best to not admit that I was in case it set them off. So I said, "Sorry lads, not me".
This was mistake number one.
"You're a f*cking liar" screams the tall lad wearing a dark blue tracksuit top and bottoms, "You f*cking are a bouncer." He shot me a look of pure hatred before turning to his group saying, "Let's do him".
Now, the group consisted of two young lads, a fat blonde girl and two old lads that looked like they were in their 60's. I knew that if I ran to the security door and fumbled in my pocket for my keys, that by the time I had put the magnetic fob against the security panel, got in through the door and shut it behind me they would have been well in behind me, with access to all the flats in the block. Not wanting them to find out which flat was mine, I decided to stand my ground.
As they reached me I shoved the car stereo face and the keys I had been carrying into the pocket of my jeans, turned toward them and waited for the attack. I tried to remain calm, but I won't lie to you and say I wasn't worried. The two lads that came at me weren't that big, and they both looked like they were in their mid twenties, and I fancied my chances at defending myself against them.
Now, don't be under the misapprehension that I was thinking I was some kind of hardman at this point. No, my self belief came from seeing how out of their heads they obviously were on some kind of narcotic, and the nervousness I could see in their eyes when they saw me stand my ground as they charged me.
They attacked, and I spent what felt like five minutes throwing them around in an attempt to defend myself, (even though it was probably less than a minute in total) all the time growling at them in the hope that this would intimidate them to back off, and it would alert my neighbours who would hopefully phone the police for me. Back and forth they came, as I deflected, (and received) blow after blow, kick after kick..
It was coming to a point where I could sense things were swinging well in my favour, and I could see by their eyes that they thought the same as I did. They both backed off, and the lad to my right shouted across to the fat blonde girl, "Give me the knife!"
My heart froze, I watched as she opened her handbag and reached inside and my first reaction was to take him out the game so that he couldn't get that knife from her hand. I dived at him, and powered him to the ground thinking I had stopped the knife from coming into the game.
This was mistake number two.
I had clean forgotten about junkie number two, the slightly smaller and more weasel like one had ran around behind me, and had taken the knife from the girl. As I watched him extend the folding locking knife out my heart sank, and I knew that I was now in some pretty deep shit. The blade was a good 4-5 inches long as I watched it sway in front of me, and as I stood there transfixed by the swinging metal, I heard him say, "Not such the hard man now, eh?"
Now, I can honestly say that this scared the shit out of me. By the look in his eyes he was meaning business, and as I watched this blade get closer and closer I knew that I had to get myself out of this.
I backed away hurriedly, holding my hands up in front of me telling the guy that this was a bloody silly mistake, and that if he left now I would say fuck all to the police. He kept coming, swiping at me with the blade whenever he got close.
I tried to remain calm, hoping that I could get through to the lad before he stuck me like a human pin cushion. Twice more the blade flashed past me, how the hell I was dodging it was a mystery.
Eventually I stumbled, and seeing the opening he lunged toward me and slashed the blade across my chest. I had managed to move back as it hit me, so it didn't cause as much damage as it could have, but I felt the blade run across my upper torso as the lad stared at me with a smile.
I looked down, and could see no damage to the top I was wearing, so thinking I had had a lucky escape I stopped dead, faced the approaching lad waving the blade and said, "Enough of this shit. Neither you or I want to get hurt here. I can hear the police car coming now, and if you take off now I will say fuck all when they get here."
Hearing the sirens approach they stopped in their tracks, and the other lad that had been egging knife boy on realised I was right. He grabbed knife boy's arm and pulled him away, and they all turned and ran down past the shop and into the distance.
I ran into the flat to grab my camera, determined to get a picture of these b*stards to help the police identify them. I ran for the bedroom window that overlooks the back of the shop where they had stopped, and zoomed in with my camera trying to take a pic. Unfortunately the picture came out really poorly, as the digital zoom on my camera is pretty poor at best. I decided to go back outside and try and get a closer snap, and as I stepped out the front door the police car swung in beside me, (they had received three calls about the incident) and asked where they were. Once I'd pointed out which direction they had gone they shot off, and had managed to stop the lads on another street nearby and took them into custody.
I felt my chest stinging, so lifted my undamaged shirt to find a 4 inch abrasion across my chest, with maybe only an inch of that being broken skin. What I think happened was that the edge of the blade itself wasn't sharp, but as he dragged it over my chest the point must have connected with the skin without tearing the shirt. Anyway, it's only a minor cut at best, so I wasn't really worried about it.
I gave statements to the police, and had to take the night off work so that I could go along to the police headquarters to have pictures taken of my cut. They also wanted me to ID some clothing they had, but unfortunately that didn't come to pass and I'll have to go back at a later date to do that.
Here's the thing, once the dust had settled and I had time to sit down in my home to relax I started acting a bit strangely. I couldn't stop taking deep breaths for a good while, and I found myself unable to sit for long without getting up and doing something active, possibly to take my mind off what had just happened to me. I was pacing around the house like a caged animal, finding faults with stupid things around the house that I could get angry about, and then when I started phoning people to let them know what happened I was holding back tears in my eyes, and I seriously had no idea why they were there as I felt calm and collected recounting the tale over the phone line..
My mind was racing, and still is to an extent. What if I hadn't been able to move back as much as I did? What if that cut had been deeper and wider? Why the hell didn't I try to disarm the b*stard? They say that hindsight is 20/20, and I know that I shouldn't be pouring over what should have been, but I can't help thinking 'if only'.
Like I said I took the night off work, and after I explained what happened to my employers they were more than understanding. I even received a text from my main boss telling me not to worry, that he would take care of my lost nights wages for me. I really appreciated seeing those words on the wee screen of my mobile phone.
I also really appreciate that so many people tried phoning me and texted me so soon after it happened to check I was ok. Meant a lot to me that so many people were so concerned about my well-being. Thanks to everyone that got in touch, it really gave me a boost.
So what now? I'm sitting here at my computer and it's now 03:09 in the morning. I've tried sleeping and that sure as hell isn't working, I've tried watching some tv but I'm finding myself distracted and easily losing the thread of what's happening on the screen.. I'm sure it'll pass,
Anyway, there's the story of what happened to me today. Seemingly attacked for being a bouncer..