Ghost Skills

Ghost Skills Chapter 2

Now don't get me wrong, you do have to be a cold bastard to do my kind of work but as a child I never thought I would be capable of something like this. But a life full of hurt ,pain and loss had numbed me to the point that I could do these things without the slightest twinge of remorse. This is the story of how I got to that point, and later redeemed myself.

My life started sometime after midnight on August 25th 1982, and during my first hours of life, I was given the name Daniel Stevens. You might expect to hear that it was a dark and stormy night, but to be honest I don't remember. But something remarkable did happen in those early morning hours, the world was changed, in a good way or a bad one is your decision.

Of my early childhood I do not have many memories, so I will not bore you. My memories start when my mother and my two older sisters, Tracy, Sabrina and I were in a park taking pictures that were destined for the family photo album. It was raining, as it always did in our dreary, little town in Washington state, Aberdeen. My mother was pregnant at the time with my younger sister Tiffany, or as I came to call her, Kiddo.

My little story really starts sometime during the year I was 9. Tiffany and I were in the park located a few blocks away from our humble little house when four older boys from my school showed up and started pushing me around. I sat there just taking it, as I usually did at school until Tiffany walked over from the swing set to see what was going on. The oldest and biggest of the boys, a 6 foot tall ogre named Joe grabbed her by her ankle and held her suspended upside down in mid-air. She whimpered, then her eyes found mine. Her face contorted, ready to scream, and Joe laughed.

As I watched this, my face got hot, my hands balled into fists, Help her! my brain screamed at me. The look of pure terror on her face incited the strength, speed, and other new abilities that I later jokingly came to call my Ghost Skills. Springing into action I shrugged off the two brutes that were holding me by the shoulders and ran straight toward Joe. Not in a panicked, waving the arms, swinging to hit anything rush. But calm, cool and collected already knowing how it would happen.

As I covered the 20 or so feet that separated us, I scanned his body looking for the weakest spot. As I reached him I put all the force my body could muster into a punch directed at his sternum. My aim was true and my punch solicited a loud "ooof" as the wind was knocked out of him. As he fell he released his hold on Tiffany who fell through the air toward the grass, with a cry escaping from her lips.

I caught her and gently lowered her to the ground, and whispered in her ear, "Run and tell Mom". Being the sweet angel that she was she ran for home as fast as her little legs could carry her. As she ran the other three boys realized what had happened, with their leader being on the ground wheezing for air, the three of them advanced on me. I maneuvered myself to the point where they were formed in a rough triangle with me in the center.

As the first of them came forward I stood there with my hands at my sides just waiting. As he neared me he threw a hard left hook straight for my face. I moved into and around his punch ending up on his left side, and with his arm still extended I grabbed his wrist and pulled him forward using his own weight against him. As he flew forward I drove my knee into his gut, and on his way down I delivered a swift kick to his chin, sweeping his head backward before he hit the floor.

With two boys on the floor and two more advancing on me at once, one on my right and one in front I waited till they moved closer so I could strike. They attacked me at the same time, so I dropped to the ground and rolled to my right so I was behind the bigger of two, and kicked in the back of his right leg. He dropped to one knee for a split second and with a quick turn of my body, I brought a full spin kick to his right temple, knocking him out cold. I recovered from my kick and turned on the fourth, albeit smaller boy, he backed up quickly with fear in his eyes, turned and ran.