On the outskirts of South East Addis Ababa, in a dusty field sparsely dotted with trees, Enke found himself face to face with an increasingly larger fist.
Whoosh,
Enke loved the thrill of evading punches, the sound they make when rushing past his ears, the prickly feeling on his skin from the breeze that comes with each near miss. He could always feel where they would land in advance, something like a sixth sense that's never failed him. He was currently in an open field surrounded by five other youths, each trying to land at least one punch to bring him off his high horse. Whilst this wasn't exactly an easy fight, Enke showed no signs of lacking confidence. He reminds himself that this was only a game as one youth, Kunta, grunts and lunges at him in an attempt to tie him down and let the others pummel him.
[Heh], Enke smirks and then leaps backwards towards another youth, Moh, who panics at the sudden change and raises his guard to block what he thinks will be a hit to the face. Enke takes advantage of this and braces himself for a shoulder barge, knocking Moh down and giving himself just enough time to turn around and see Kanaan and Benny B throwing another round of punches his way. Enke weaves left towards Benny B, named so because he thinks it's cool and will gladly throw mud on your plate of food if you disagree, and slips past the youth's fist, returning one of his own to the area below the waist. He knows it was a low blow, but Enke believes that the world they live in as orphans is anything but fair. Maybe in another country he and his friends could stay carefree as orphans, but not here.
The pain takes Benny B out of the fight as he crumbles onto the ground, but Kanaan quickly launches another salvo of punches Enke's way.
{A left, right, right, hook, now a body blow. He might as well be saying these out loud with those exaggerated movements.}
Enke sees these all coming and calmly weaves his way around them as he closes in on Kanaan and grabs his head. Enke is about to go in for a knee to the stomach when suddenly a shiver rushes down his back.
{Damn!} he shouts in his mind
Enke pulls Kanaan in and spins around on the balls of his feet, switching positions with him just in time to hear a loud THUD. Kunta's dropkick lands on Kanaan's back, making him stagger for two steps before he dives face down into the dirt. Enke takes this opportunity to knee Kunta in the side before he manages to recover, winding him and leaving him out of action for hopefully enough time to deal with the last one; Freddy. Enke turns around to face Freddy, only to see him looking back at him like a spectator; as if this whole situation has nothing to do with him. Acknowledging the clear lack of intent to continue fighting, Enke declares victory.
[You guys, five on one and I still didn't get hit even once. Just give up and admit it, I'm the Avatar! A god is among you! Muahahahahaaaaa!]
Kunte coughs and responds, [Screw you Enke, if you didn-]
[If I didn't what? Fight you five against one? What would happen?] Enke cuts him off and retorts.
Silence.
[It's okay man, just let me be the Avatar of the group, you can be Zuko or whoever you want] he continues. Enke sees himself as the type to never shy from celebrating his victories, of which he has many; he refuses to be ashamed of being better than someone else just so he doesn't hurt their feelings. Though he dislikes the idea of pandering to sore losers, these are his only friends, and so he relents and attempts to pacify the situation.
[Whatever, I need to go and help uncle China out soon. We can continue this another time. He gives me enough food for everyone so I can't be late; he hates it.. when…]
Before he can leave his friends on the higher moral ground, Enke notices a man leaning on a tree, maybe four meters away from him and his friends.
{What the hell? How did "I" not notice him until now? Why do I feel like he's been here the entire time but none of us noticed?} Enke thinks to himself as the hairs on his skin stand to attention. Blood filled with adrenaline rushes to every muscle fibre in his body, he finds himself on edge just by looking at this man.
{I don't know why I feel like this, like the lives of me and my friends mean nothing before him. It's as if he could snuff us out of existence simply by breathing too hard; I know this can't be true, but my instincts are screaming otherwise.}
The man smiles, and for Enke the oppressive feeling disappears as quickly as it came. For him, a simple change of expression is the difference between feeling like he was at death's door and feeling like the man before him wouldn't hurt a fly; even if it meant he would die instead. What Enke finds even stranger is that none of his friends seem to have picked up on anything unusual. They are all looking at the man with the same look they would give to any other tourist that happens to find their way down this side of town; with pity.
All of these things combined freak Enke out for the first time in his 13 years of existence, but before he can fully process the situation, the man gently pushes off the tree and takes what Enke can only assume is a fighting stance; his gently smiling eyes trained on Enke and no one else.
{Does he want to fight me? But why? Did he see my fight with the others and decide he wants to teach me a lesson? A grown man fighting a kid? He doesn't look embarrassed, that's for sure, nor does he look like he wants to kill or even seriously hurt me. He hasn't said a word but his body language seems to be speaking volumes, and for some reason it feels like he can read mine too}
These thoughts run through Enke's mind as he resists the urge to say anything, the man doesn't seem to feel talking is necessary, and for some reason Enke feels inclined to respect this.
{So what do I do? Fight him? Or back down and walk away? When have I ever walked away from an interesting challenge that didn't seem like it would kill me? I mean, if my instincts are accurate, then he wouldn't need to do all this to kill me or anyone I know for that matter; so I honestly feel like he just wants to test me. }
He takes a deep breath.
In.
Out.
{Screw it, I'm going to try, and maybe I'll find out what this is all about.}