The Boys are Back in Town

An adaption of a short story I am writing for my English class, inspired by The World's End

Part 1: The Circle of Chairs

My name is Niel Ellis, when I was eighteen, I was the coolest kid around town, but to be fair, there were not that many kids around who could be considered cool. The year was nineteen-eighty-eight, and it was the last day of school when our story begins, and my friends and I were going home. There was Tyler, he was not the kind of guy we would normally hang out with, ginger, short, a bit on the lumpy side, but he was cool, we liked showing him the ropes, as he had skipped eleventh grade, we called him the Scrub. And there was Ramon, Tyler's older brother, who was ginger, like Tyler, but not as lumpy, and in fact taller than I, he was the Generic, because he was like a cookie-cutter, without a personality. And Steven, he was more of a competitor to me, now that I think about it, he played bass, like me, and he was a player, like me, and he was a rugby star, like me, we were always competing over something, he was the Minister, but then that was too long, so we called him the Min, but that was still too long, so we called him M. And then there was Nick, my best friend, he was a bit of a fat, lazy slob, but he was a great wingman, he could make people laugh like no one else, especially girls, he was the Circle, for obvious reasons. And last, but most certainly not least, me. I was the best dressed, the coolest, the smartest, the best, they called me the King. Anyway, as we walked along, the guidance counselor, Charlie, came over and stopped us, taking me to his office, he was peculiar, he was quiet, but he was loud at the same time, and he was very emotional, "What're you going to do with your life, Ellis?" He inquired.

"What do you mean, Mr. Sheen?" I asked in a sing-song voice, mocking the rhyme, that the boys and I had come up with in 9th grade.

"Well, Niel, look at it this way, you've told me that you're not going to Uni, and you're not joining the Royal army, and you haven't told me what your life goal is."

"Who says I've got one, Charlie?" I stood up, grabbed my black trench coat, wrestling it onto my the sleeves of my black shirt, which was tucked into my black jeans, which were laid over my black leather work-boots.

"I told you to stop calling me Charlie. And why do you wear those boots, you've never done a day of work in your life."

"Its called style, my drunkard friend, its called style." I opened the door, glanced both ways. Seeing the gang leaning against the wall, I walked through the doorway, shoved my black aviators through my thick, black hair, snapped my fingers, and began to walk, knowing the pattern perfectly from repetition, Steven and Ramon joined me to my right, and Nick and Tyler to my left, and we left that hell-hole forever. We had some great plans for that evening, to begin, we were going to have a night of debauchery at the Kerl's head, the local pub. Michael's, another young lad, house for a party until ten, then we were to go to the Newtownfieldville Diner, the town diner, then for the film that had come out that night, Caddyshack Two.

---

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" the man sitting in the blue, plastic chair across from Niel interrupted, "Caddyshack Two? That film was horrible!"

"Now, Jeremy, let's not discourage any other members in their stories." Dr. Kable said.

"Yeah, Jeremy! Anyway, we never made it to the films, we never even made it to Michael's..." Niel trailed off, glancing at each of the chairs' occupants around the circle.

---

Part 2: The Persuasion

Tyler stepped out the front door of his house, waving goodbye to his kids and wife as he shut the front door and rolled his eyes as he pressed the button on his ear-piece, "Yeah... Yeah... Mhmmm... Okay... Yeah... Sure..." he glanced to his left and right as he crossed the street to his car, parked across the way, "Yeah... Mhmmm..." He glanced up as he got his keys out, seeing a ghost, in a black trench coat, black buttoned shirt, black jeans, black boots, and black aviator sunglasses, "I gotta go..." He shoved his keys back into his suit pocket, looking down for only a moment, and when he looked back up, the man had gone.

---

Tyler shoved open his car door, as he stepped out, he looked up at the large building he had seen every day for the past ten years. He crossed the street, sighing. Suddenly, an all black 1972 HSV Ford Falcon GT Phase III sped along past him, nearly hitting him. He knew exactly what the car was, the make, the model, et cetera because his friend from high school, Niel Ellis drove the same type. He took out his ear-piece, shoving it in the same pocket he had his keys nearly fifteen minutes ago, pulling out his iPhone, clicking and swishing a few times with his thumb, and forced it next to his ear, "Ramon. It's Niel. He's here."

---

Niel walked with purpose, shoving all of the papers from the secretary's desk into her lap, "Sir!" she yelled as Niel continued, turning to his left, shoving open the door open.

"Tyler!" the man behind the desk looked up.

Tyler's gelled blond hair nearly meeting his eyebrows as he trailed off, "Niel!.."

---

Ramon watched as Niel walked into the construction site, he had earlier received a call earlier from his brother warning of Niel's soon arrival. A man in a hard hat walked up to Niel, his response being a raised hand, awaiting a high-five. The man in the hard hat rolled his eyes, shoving a second hard hat into Niel's raised hand. Niel twirled it around, then tossed it onto his head. Niel walked into the building, opening the door, despite the walls not being complete and full of two foot wide holes between the wooden boards, stopping in font of Ramon, pulling the hard hat from his head, "What's up, Ramon?" he yelled.

Ramon ripped the hard hat from his hand, shoving it back onto Niel's head, "What do you want, Niel?"

---

Steven stepped out of the airport, still in his shorts and Hawaiian shirt as the brightness of the tropical islands was suddenly faded out by a very recognizable man wearing all black approaching him.

---

Nick rubbed the crumbs from his lunch off his khaki polo coat as he saw his secretary pacing, then looking up at him, ran furiously around her desk and sat back down at the chair. He sprinted, albeit very slowly, the last few meters of the way to the desk, "What's wrong, Jane?"

She shook her head, "There's a man... In your office, he's going through your things, he says he's your friend."

Nick walked past his secretary, shaking his head as he opened the glass door, "He lied."

"Nicky!"

"Why are you here, Niel?"

"Well, me and the guys are having a bit of a reunion this Saturday."

"And?"

"We want you to come, silly!"

"Get out, Niel."

"Come on, Circle! It'll be fun!"

"The boys are coming?"

"Yeah!"

"All of them?"

"Of course!"

"Tyler? Ramon? Steve?"

"Duh!"

"Really?"
"Yes, Niel! All the guys are coming! Just meet us at the London Train Center."

"Where are we going?"

"Where do you think we're going? To Newtownfieldville! It's the twenty-fifth anniversary of that fateful night! Mike's even throwing another house party! And the bar's still open! And I rented out the whole theater just so we can watch Caddyshack Two!"

"Niel, I watched Caddyshack Two over fifteen years ago. It was awful."

Niel's face fell into a mix of depression and disappointment as he began to walk from his former best friend's office. Nick looked down for a moment, then up again, "Niel!" Niel stopped, turning around, "I'll see you there... If you get me my money that day."

---

Part 3: Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting

Tyler, Steven, and Ramon sat on a bench, awaiting the arrival of Niel, "Do you think that Niel got Nick to come?" Ramon asked, doubtful.

"Doubt it, doesn't Niel still owe Nick like... A thousand quid?" Steven pointed out.

"Yeah, that's right. Jeez, which of us are the stupidest, do you think?"

As a train cleared from behind them, Nick yelled from the platform behind, "Me!"

---

"Jeez, Niel, is this the same Gat?" Steven gawked, referring to Niel's black 1972 HSV Ford Falcon GT Phase III.

Niel turned, now walking backward, "Do you really think that I'd trash the Gat? Of course its the same!"

---

Niel pulled into a gas station, saying he needed to grab a few things, leaving the gang behind with the car. "So, guys, where's life taken you?" Ramon asked, continuing with his own story, "Jenn left me, lost my job at the architectural firm, and so now I'm just some dope at a construction company."

Tyler spoke up next, "Well, I got married, I work at a new law firm that I started."

Nick rolled his eyes, "I actually started the firm that Tyler left, so there's that."

Everyone looked to Steve as he eventually rolled his eyes, sighed, and answered, "I'm a-"

"How's it goin' boys?" Niel yelled, loudly, from behind Steve, pointing to the Dance Dance Revolution machine inside the gas station, "Did you guys know there's a DDR machine in there?"

---

Dozens of men in their late fifties were in the bar, listening to Aerosmith's Dream On. "What is going on here?" Niel yelled, absurdly outraged in comparison to the situation.

Dr. Charlie Sheen stood from his barstool, smiling at the boys, "How's it goin' guys?" Niel's eyes widened, as the words came out of Charlie's mouth, all of the old men in the bar stood, some holding bottles by the neck, some ready to reach for their stools, some ready to fight with their bare hands.

As Dream On ended, Elton John's Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting began, and the ensuing battle between seemed to follow the beat of the music:

It's getting late, have you seen my mates?

At this point the five forty-something year-olds were attacked by old men, nearly into their sixties.

Ma, tell me when the boys get here.

It's seven o'clock and I want to rock.

Want to get a belly full of beer.

My old man's drunker than a barrel of monkeys.

And my old lady, she don't care.

My sister looks cute in her braces and boots,

A handful of grease in her hair.

Don't give us your aggravation.

We had it with your discipline.

Saturday night's alright for fighting,

Get a little action in.

The five men sped away in their car, leaving the bar filled with old men, some injured, some angered, with Dr. Charlie Sheen in the trunk. "Well, that was fun." Niel laughed.
Nick turned, disgusted, "I hate you."

Tyler leaned in between the two men in the front from the back seat, "So, why was Dr. Sheen mad at you? And why does he have a gang of old people?"

Niel sighed, "That, my friend, is a very long story, which we actually do have time for..."

---

The year was 1989, and whilst you were all at uni, I had returned to Newtownfieldville for revenge against Dr. Sheen for all those years of bothering me. It was the last day of school, and a gang of the new twelfth graders and I watched from the bushed as Dr. Sheen walked to his car. I stepped out from the bushes, one foot raised onto a rock, and yelled, holding up a handful of pebbles, "Fire!" And the boys did so, we tossed the pebbles, which eventually turned to rocks at Dr. Sheen's orange 1961 Jaguar E-Type.

---

The four men looked at Niel in disgust, "You did what?" they yelled simultaneously.

"He was a jerk!" Niel defended.

"No! He was cool!" Nick yelled, "Stop the car, I'm getting out." Niel, realizing his friends were angered with him, punched the accelerator with his foot, and sped towards Michael's.

"We're finishing this. Once and for all."

---

Part 4: Michael's and the Diner

Niel led his four mates into the house, which Michael still lived in with his parents, who were out of town on a business trip, or something of the sort, "Come on, guys! It'll be fun!"

They shook their heads. Then, seeing the women who had arrived, lit their faces into joy.

A few hours later, while Niel was continuing to be immature, a window shattered, and Michael fell to the floor, causing dozens of screams and all but a few people remained ducked under the windows, "Hey, Niel! We want Charlie back!"

Nick looked towards Niel, "What are they talking about?" he whisper-yelled.

Niel shook his head to and fro, "Well... I kind of... Kidnapped Dr. Sheen."

Nick's eyes widened, "What is wrong with you, Niel?"

Niel rolled his eyes, "I'm sure it'll be fine." As the words exited his mouth, another crash came through another window, and a very large, very fit man fell to the floor. "Okay, everything won't be fine." Niel continued.

Hearing this, Tyler, with a shocked look upon his face, jumped to his feet and ran out the door, yelling, "I surrender! I surrender!"

Nick and Niel peered through the window, "Tyler!" they whisper-yelled, "Get back here!"

An old man walked up to Tyler, placing a gun to his head, and then- BANG. The man fell to the ground.

Nick and Niel looked around, to see Steven, trembling, aiming a pistol out the window. "M! Get down!" Niel whisper-yelled. As the words exited his mouth, several gunshots were heard, peppering Steve's chest with holes, sending him flying over the table. Ramon looked on in horror, running out to his brother, grabbing him by the arm, and running back to the house.

Nick turned in horror to Niel, to show him the trouble he had caused, but Niel was nowhere to be found. Suddenly, several gunshots could be heard, along with several screaming old men, and the Gat crashed through the wall, "Come with me if you want to live!" Niel yelled, shoving open the passenger door. They pulled out from the wall, leaving Steven unconscious and probably dying in the house, where he was probably safer. "Nick! Call 999! Send them to Michael's! Ramon, take this!" Niel reached into his trench coat's pocket pulling out Steven's pistol, and tossing it to Ramon in the back.

---

Niel pulled into the diner's parking lot, taking the gun from Ramon and tossing it into a trash can, "Are we seriously still going to the diner?" Nick yelled, furious, "Steven is dead!"

"No, he's not."

"Yes he is!"

"No, he's not, I took his pulse."

"You know, Niel, for a minute there, I thought you'd changed, but you're still the same godforsaken twat you were twenty-five years ago!"

Niel stopped, turning on the spot, putting his finger to Nick's chest, "Never-Never call me a twat."

Nick shoved Niel out of his way, grabbed the keys from his hand, and walked back towards the car, "Nick!" Niel reached out for his friend, "Let's finish this for Steven."

Nick looked to his feet, only able to see the toes of his shoes past his stomach, then turned back to Niel, "For Steven... We're going to the theater now, though, the diner's too obvious."

---

Part 5: Caddyshack 2

"Oh god, that was awful!"

"Terrible!"

"It was sickeningly disgusting!"

"I feel like I want to kill myself... But it was all worth it, to spend a bit more time with my best mates in the world," Niel raised his large cup of Coca-Cola, "To Steve!"

"To Steve!" they all joined in on the toast.

"I was serious about wanting to kill myself. I waited twenty-five years for this." Niel walked along the road a bit, his friends, confused, followed. He came to a steep hill, where memories arose of his childhood self and his childhood friends sitting here, just sitting. The hill, now, was much steeper than he had remembered, to the point where it seemed as if, had he walked from the road, he may just keep dropping, rolling, perhaps, unable to stop, until the bottom.

Nick, with a worried look upon his face, spoke out against his friend's silence, "Niel... What are you doing?"

Niel looked back, eyebrows raised, face low. He pulled the aviators from his face, which were totally useless by now, as it was nearly midnight, and dropped them to the floor, lifting his foot, and dropping it atop the glasses. It was at this point that Nick noticed that the glasses were the same that Niel had as a child. Niel turned his gaze back towards the hill, "This was fun, tonight." He grabbed the railing, leaning over. Suddenly, after several moments of looking at the bottom of the hill, he brought his foot upon the first rail, then brought the second to the second rail, then the first back up from the first, towards the third, hooking the heel of his boot into the rail.

Nick ran to Niel, grabbing the back of his trench coat, "Niel! You need to let go of the past! You need to stop! You need help!"

Niel jumped back to the street, pointing his finger into Nick's chest, "I have! I have got help! Okay?" he pulled the sleeve of his trench coat up, showing a bright yellow plasticy band wrapped around his wrist, labeled London Psychiatry Centre. "I go to an alcoholic's meeting. Hell, I live there! I-I live in an asylum, okay?! I don't want to! My mum put me there! Alright? So just... Just... Just shut up! Just shut up! I'm sick of people telling me what to do! Everyone, my whole life has told me what to do. Except you guys!" he began to tear up, "I love you guys. That's why I'm here, I broke out of that place and I came here! Because you guys are the best friends I've ever had and ever will!"

Nick looked down at his shoes, shook his head, and looked back up at his friend, "Niel! You need to grow up, okay? You need to get a bloody life! You can't keep doing this to yourself! You can't keep living in these places! Stuck in the past! You need to grow up!"

Niel pulled his keys from his pocket, shoved them in Nick's chest, which he grabbed, and walked towards the road.