Origin

An origin story. Every superhero has one. Sometimes it varies slightly based on who is telling it, but everyone knows it. Superman was a baby launched into space in an escape capsule as his planet exploded, landing in Kansas and then becoming Clark Kent. Spiderman was bitten by a radioactive spider and then the Uncle Ben thing. Batman’s parents were killed and then Bruce Wayne became hungry for vengeance… or justice. And so on.

But I don’t have an origin story. I was born a normal and boring kid. I was a normal and boring man. Couldn’t get the time of day from anybody. I still can’t get the time of day. But one evening, I was walking home and a man stepped in front of me with a knife.

“Phone, wallet, and watch!” He ordered sternly

“My phone is locked, I’m just going to cancel all my credit cards, and my watch is a $15 Timex I bought on Amazon.” I replied, feeling rather inconvenienced.

“Phone, wallet, and watch, motherfucker!” He ordered again, jabbing the knife forward threateningly.

I stepped forward. Into the knife. I didn’t realize the pressure required to pierce the human body. My stomach is really soft–I don’t do crunches or anything–yet I felt that I had to really lunge into the knife. It pressed against my shirt and my skin until it finally broke through. It slid easily for a second but then I had to press again to get it through the next organ. I’m not sure what the organ was. Maybe a spleen thing or my stomach. I didn’t really pay attention in school.

The mugger gasped and froze as I did this. I moved forward until the blade was all the way in. I could feel his hand pushing against my stomach as it shivered slightly, still tightly gripping the blade.

I jumped slightly and twisted to the left and then to the right. I arched my back and moved around more, feeling the knife twist into me, slicing up anything that was in its way. I could feel organs, muscle, tendons, veins, whatever else was in there, fighting to stay intact until I reached that moment where the blade was too sharp. Too strong. They popped, severed, broke, split open.

As I did this, my attacker coughed. Blood dripped from his mouth. His knees wobbled and he clumsily stepped backward. He let go of the knife to hold a bleeding wound on his stomach. He tumbled to the ground, moaning in pain.

Here’s the weird thing. The knife was never in me. It was, but it wasn’t. When people inflict pain on me, it actually happens to them. So even though technically I was stabbed and I saw the knife in my belly, the knife was more technically in his belly. It’s hard to explain. I haven’t quite figured out the physics of it. As I said before, I never paid attention in school.

I searched my fallen assailant, grabbing his phone, wallet, and watch. I looked over my shoulder to make sure nobody was around, and I walked away.

Not much of an origin story. Not much of a super power either. How can I use that ability for good? It’s only useful if I go running into knives or starting shit with random people. So hard to use this power for good. But maybe, just maybe, I can use it for something else.