sense 22.sen.001001 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

Because of the early ridicule I endured, I had no support system. There was no one with whom I could talk and no one I would trust to listen. I felt very alone, but learned to go on with my life. I did occasionally wonder about things and I think on some level I always knew something was going on. I would catch myself thinking about an odd mark or unexplainable bruise, and deciding, “Oh, they must have been here last night.” It took me years to wonder who “they” were. I accepted my odd fears and worked to overcome them. I didn’t question where they came from. There were times I would awaken with my nightclothes on backwards, inside out, or both. I became obsessed with checking them to make sure they were on correctly at bedtime, which they nearly always were. In the morning, I would be at a loss to explain how they had turned or flipped. Every once in a while, I would wake up with nothing on and find my night clothes in another room. This was extremely hard to explain, but I managed to simply shrug it off and not think too deeply about it. Occasionally, I would see some cartoon character or drawing of something with large eyes. They made me uncomfortable, but I would just avoid them. I didn’t like to spend the night at anyone else’s house because I felt a vague sense of guilt that I would somehow endanger them. I kept to myself for many years.

Everything changed in my 20’s when I accidentally picked up a book on alien abductions. The book was Communion by Whitley Strieber. I have been an avid science fiction reader my entire life, but always stayed well clear of UFO and abduction topics. I had never read any other books by this author, and didn’t have any idea what this particular book was about. I bought the book as part of a package for joining a book club and without thinking picked Communion. When it arrived, I put it aside and ignored it for months. The cover bothered me, so I turned it over and put it under a stack of other books. Even though I hadn’t read a word in it yet, I didn’t like the book. It disturbed me. Ultimately, I ran out of other reading material and picked it up again. As I began to read, I realized that I was recognizing more and more of the material. I read it from cover to cover in a few hours, never putting it down once I began. No other book has ever affected me as that one did, before or since. Quite literally, my world fell apart that day.