A surprise

After winning my first match, I went on to win my other three matches without giving my opponent a single point.

"Good job Andrew, now you are a finalist. If you win the next fight you win the kid's junior division." teacher Haru said while handing me one of my nutrient bars.

Opening the wrapper I bit into the rock-hard nutrient bar.

"your next opponent won last year's kid junior division, he is 6, and from what I saw from some of his fights, is that he has a good balance between speed and strength, like yourself, so what you will need to look out for is his reach, he has a few inches on you so be careful," he said.

But I didn't listen to his words.

Now that it was the final match I had butterflies in my stomach, with thoughts of failure floating through my head.

"what if I mess up" "What if I." "What if" over and over the thoughts of Failure crashed down on my head like a tsunami slowly drowning me and weighing me down, forcing me deeper into the thought of failure.

My hands started to shake, and sweat began to roll down my face.

"YOU CAN DO IT ANDREW." I heard being yelled from behind me.

Turning to look I could see my parents sitting on the bleachers, both of them waving at me.

I couldn't stop the small smile that spread across my face.

"it doesn't matter if I don't win, at the end of the day they will still love me." I thought.

The thoughts of doubt that were weighing me down lifted off my shoulders allowing me to breathe easy again.

A few minutes later I was on the mat with my final opponent.

His name was Kevin Owenson, and just like teacher Haru said, he was around five inches taller than me, giving him a reach advantage.

Bowing to each other, we step onto the mat.

Kevin had bright red hair and freckles that covered his face, as well as a self-confident smirk.

"Ready" "Ready" the ref asked us both.

Nodding our head the ref lowered his hand and said.

"Begin"

Kevin moved quickly, and in just a second he was right in front of me.

I moved without thinking.

Stepping to the side I avoided his grab.

Not giving me any time to breathe, Kevin attacked again.

And once again, I moved without thinking.

There was just a feeling in my head telling me to move and how to do it.

The thoughts were so clear it was like I could see Kevin's move before he did them.

Leg sweeps or holds, all of it.

Then I had a mental picture of Kevin going low, for my leg to unbalance me, and get me to the mat for a joint lock.

Deciding to go with my instincts, I twirl in a circle, and out of the way.

And just like in my mental picture, Kevin went for a low-leg attack.

Kevin looked surprised that I had known what he was going to do before he did it, it made him seem like a fool.

But I didn't know he was going to do that, the picture of him doing it just appeared in my head, as well as a strong feeling that it was going to happen.

While momentarily distracted by my thoughts I got the feeling again.

Then a mental picture of Kevin going for a GI grab then a throw went through my mind.

I decided that since it worked once, I might as well trust it again and use it to my advantage.

I waited for my premonition to come true, and once again, it did.

Kevin went for a GI grab.

But instead of letting him grab my GI, I grab both of his outstretched hands by the wrists.

Now with both wrists firmly in my grasp, I cross his arms and do a cross-arm drop seoi-nage.

Where I cross both of his arms and turn, drop to a knee, and throw him over my shoulder.

right before he hit the mat the buzzer rang signaling the end of the match.

I didn't even register the fact that I had just won.

Instead, my small brain was trying to process what I had done in the fight.

I was surprised, for one I was seeing things in my mind before they even happened, and second I was seeing things before they even happened.

I knew from the TV, that some people in the world are born with certain abilities, but never had I thought that I too would.

Before I could continue thinking about it any further, I got the feeling again.

The image of Kevin kicking me in the side of the head flashed through my head.

Since the end of the match, I hadn't moved from my kneeling position, I was in the perfect spot for him to kick me in the head.

Moving fast, I duck under his fast-moving kick.

I could feel a swoosh of air above my head, his foot only inches from my head.

Not wanting to get in trouble either I fast crawl away from him as the ref steps in between us, stopping Kevin from going after me again.

Kevin ended up being disqualified from the competition while I got first place.

All through the trophy ceremony, I was distracted.

I had watched things on the TV about the people with powers, and how people didn't like them and shunned them for the fact that they had the powers.

So looking over at my parent, while I was being handed a trophy bigger than myself, and seeing their happy smiles, I promised I would never tell them about my ability, for one, I didn't know if they would still love me if they knew, and second I didn't want to worry them, and accidentally put them in a hard place if it was to ever get out that I had a power." As I was having that thought my father lifted a Polaroid camera and took a picture of me standing next to the trophy bigger than me, and a small smile on my face.