He just caught it!

The explosion of the bat, the sharp whistle of the air being cut and… it all happened in a split second. Your vision narrowed, the world around you seemed to slow down. You’ve always had that. Heightened reactions, instant assessment of the situation. Years spent in sports had honed it to perfection.

You remembered how, as a child, you dodged stones thrown at you by the neighborhood boys. How you caught balls flying at crazy speeds during a game of dodgeball. How you saved your sister by pushing her out from under the wheels of a speeding bicycle. Reaction saved you and others more than once.

Now the instinct worked the same way.

The ball, flying off the bat with deafening force, flew straight at your face. Time compressed to a microsecond. The screams around you died down, as if the sound had been turned off. All that remained was the flying projectile, frozen in midair.

You made it.

Instinctively, you raised your hands to cover your face. The blow landed in your palms, crushing and deafening. Pain shot through your bones, but you held on to the ball.

The world around you returned to normal speed. The roar of the stands, the screams of excitement, the smell of popcorn. But you heard and saw nothing. You only felt the pain in your arms and the weight of the baseball in your palms.

Slowly lowering your hands, you saw your friends' faces. Mouths open, eyes wide with horror. They looked at you as if you were a ghost.

“You… you… caught him?” one of them asked hesitantly.

You didn't answer. You just clenched your fists tighter, feeling the pain pulsate.

“That was madness!” exclaimed another. “You nearly lost your face!”

You finally looked up and at them. Their eyes were a mixture of horror and admiration. It was as if they were seeing you for the first time.

“It’s okay,” you said hoarsely, trying to hide the tremor in your voice. “Just a little warm-up.”

You chuckled, but inside you were still shaking. You knew you could have gotten seriously hurt. But you did it. Instinct. Reaction. Destiny?