Wow, I don't even know where that came from. But it was totally badass. I hope that's enough to intimidate him and cause him to withdraw due to my by my new found 'bravado-from-out-of-no-where'.
He tilts his head to one side and squints at me "You think you can tell me what to do? Haven't you learnt anything yet?"
"Just take it easy man, I'm just trying to......"
I don't get to finish, because his meaty fist is suddenly Hurtling towards my face.
Crap crap crap!!!
What have I gotten myself into now!!
I begin to panic and try to think of a way out. Didn't even notice that he had been stealthily striding towards me till it was too late.
I wonder how stupid I'd look if I suddenly cut tail and run.
He's so fast for his large size. You'd expect such a large person to move more sluggishly, but no. Not him. I'm not that lucky.
I'm about to start panicking, when I realize with a shock that something doesn't seem right..
I see His massive fist Hurtling towards me, but not with the normal regular speed I expected. In fact everything all around me appears to have slowed down to a lazy crawl.
Time is still moving normally, but my senses seems to have sharpened to the point of almost hyper-speed.
I can see the way his body is leaning fully into the swing of his arm. Wow, this is weirdly exciting. In fact, this is the biggest and most exciting live-action moment I've ever experienced in my life.
Before now, the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me was when I was chased by an angry turkey. The turkey won by the way, because I had to jump over my neighbor's fence to escape the damn creature.
But this level of excitement isn't worth getting creamed by this angry beef head!!!
I can actually see the way his face is crunched up with so much focus, and the spittle that flies off his lips. I blink as I take in everything around me in the space of a breath.
By now his fist is really close to my face. And I realize that I need to decide what to do quickly, or that mac-truck of a fist will make my face it's new parking space.
I don't know how I got this ability. Is it from big-dumb-brute or is it all me? I don't know, but as I look at the fist again, i Smile because I know exactly what to do.
Instead of moving out of the way Like every normal person would, I instinctively take a half-step towards him, a few degrees to the side and grab hold of the fist.
The very moment I make contact, something really strange happens.
I finally understand what I was sensing from him earlier.
It was the essence of his body strength. The raw vitality coursing through his veins.
His......'Chi'???
And in that split second of making contact with him, the raw energy in his energy signature gets imprinted in mine.
Like.....like I photocopied it. Is this even possible? This has never happened before.
Now apart from the hyper-speed, I can feel strength like I've never felt before coursing through my body, spreading all over. that split second is over, and I realize I've actually stopped his punch.
In my own smaller palm.
He and I are both stare at my hand holding his fist in place. And then we both look up at the same time staring at each other in shock. And with a single raised eyebrow he says..... "huh?!!!"
I would have smirked if I wasn't so scared and shocked at the same time. I've never felt so.... Alive!!! It's so good it's scary.
But the moment quickly passes. And next thing I know, he attacks me again, but with even more conviction. Coming at me with a flurry of punches.
One comes for my head and I duck under, marveling at the way his abs are so scrunched up and hard looking. But before I can muster a counter, the same arm is swinging back towards my jaw. So I have to give ground and make sure none of his volleys hit their mark.
And it becomes like a choreographed dance. Somehow I'm able to block or evade each and every one of them, some of the punches are so hard that when I make a block, I feel the vibrations all the way to my shoulder joint.
He throws a Cross punch with the other hand, which I stop with a raised arm, he follows up with a jab, and then a hook. But I evade and block them all.
Suddenly I see an opening and hit him hard with a right uppercut to the his chin. I follow up with a Powerful open-palm strike to the solar plexus, dropping my body weight into it for greater impact.
This knocks the air out of him, he staggers backwards holding his mid section and struggling to breathe.
He tries to come at me again, but can't seem to fully stand erect due to the amount of pain from his midsection.
Changing my footing, I watch him carefully waiting for him to come at me again.
I hadn't noticed before, by now some of the people gathered round are cheering me. I don't listen to them. A small part of my mind is still trying to understand what just happened.
I was never a fighter, or the fighting type. Because I always knew I didn't have the strength to compete with the strong ones. Or to take a hit, that fear of pain was always enough to deter me from confrontations.
But here I was, going toe to toe with this brawler.
If I knew long ago that I could hold my own so well in a fist fight, oh how many world championship belts I would have won in the WWE by now!!!!
Big brute rubs his swollen chin once again and stares at me with murder in his eyes. Then he raises himself to his full height and scoffs... "you're lucky I'm taking it easy on you. Wouldn't wonna break those tiny bones. But watch it, if you mess with me again, I won't hold back next time".
Despite his words, it's obvious that he's still struggling to breathe.
He quickly withdraws to his truck, starts it and zooms off. All the while still glaring at me. Good thing he doesn't know where I live. But I still make a mental note to lock my doors and windows real tight tonight.
I release the breathe I didn't know I was holding and look down at my fists still clenched tight, my hands are slightly shaking. I can still feel the raw energy coursing through my entire being. It feels so exhilarating, my body wants more. I had to take deep breathes to calm my racing heart!!!
What is happening to me???
I look around. Now everyone is looking at me. Some with approving nods and smiles on their faces. I begin to feel awkward.
"That must have been a hell of a punch to have scared him off like that"
Looking to the side, the man that tried to intervene earlier is walking up to me. He reaches me and pats me on the back.
We turn and walk towards the lady who's now back on her feet, looking at her bashed car.
The man greets her and exchanges a few words, then hurries off to work. Leaving me alone with her.
Not knowing what to say, I just smile and ask ..."are you ok, that split lip looks painful".
"It's alright. I'm not feeling it yet. Thanks for stepping in. That was really brave."
"Naa no need to thank me, I did what I felt was right. Didn't want the situation to get any worse."
"I thought I had it under control. I guess I wasn't really thinking".
By now the crowd had mostly dispersed. But for one or two still hanging about at a distance.
"My dad's gonna kill me once He finds out about this", she says, taking a closer look at the damage.
"well, better a bashed up car than a bashed up face"
I walk her back to the drivers seat, we exchange numbers and she drives off.
As I watch her car drift away, icant help but think... "well, that's not how I expected to start the day at all".