“Without warning the man lashed out with his fist toward my face.”

I’m from a small town in central Illinois, and when my folks dropped me off at school at Northwestern University, which is located in a suburb of Chicago, I was filled with excitement and anxiety.

The dormitory was bustling with activity and everyone was getting acquainted with each other.  I felt like a fish out of water and sat in my tiny dorm room alone wondering if I had made the right choice.

Then in walked Edmond and somehow I knew my life would never be the same.  Edmond was tall and gangly and he had this strange little smile on his face.  I liked him instantly and within minutes it seemed like we had known each other forever.

If this was college, I was going to love it.  I could write an entire book about our experiences during the ensuing four years, but none was more bizarre than the one I’m about to tell.

We were walking to the library one evening, and because it was drizzling outside and cold, not too many people were out on the street.  As we were turning the corner, we were approached by three guys that didn’t look like they lived on campus.  We knew instantly they were trouble.

Only one of them spoke, and he gruffly told us to give him our money or we’d be in for it. I started to reach in my pocket, but Edmond stopped me and just shook his head.  Without warning the man lashed out with his fist toward my face, but Edmond, in a move so fast it seemed like lightning, intercepted the man’s arm with a chopping motion that struck the man’s arm down before it reached my face.  I could hear the awful sound of bone breaking and the man screamed out in pain.

The other two men started to move forward, but Edmond, in what appeared to be an almost nonchalant move, grabbed one of them by the neck and started squeezing until I thought the unfortunate guy’s eyes were going to pop out of his head.

Edmond released him, gave him a wry smile, and said run along now before I get angry.

After they left, I couldn’t believe what I had just happened.  It was as if I was part of an action adventure movie.

To this day I believe Edmond possessed strength that was not normal and that it came from within, perhaps drummed up by his psychic energy.  Somehow when Edmond needed extraordinary abilities he was able to summon them.

I have more stories to tell about this one-of-a-kind extraordinary individual and will write you again.

Mark Summers
Danville, IL

“It was as if time was standing still.”

It was the ninth of August, and my brother and I were on the way back to our cabin in the northern part of Wisconsin.

We had spent the day fishing and hiking, and it was a pleasant way to end our week’s vacation and head back to our families in Milwaukee.

When we walked into the cabin, we were greeted by two smiling men, dressed in jeans and T-shirts, and we instantly knew we were in trouble.

One of the men was brandishing a knife, and the other was sitting at the kitchen table with his muddy boots resting on top of it.  We asked what they were doing here and they just laughed.

We started to leave, but the guy at the table pulled out a gun and asked us to stay.  It was surreal because we had seen this type of scenario on TV a thousand times, and here it was happening to us.

My brother said they could have our money and watches but to just go and we wouldn’t tell anyone.  They just snickered.  I felt they were on something, perhaps drugs, maybe alcohol.  But these were bad guys and our lives were in danger.  Big danger.

All of a sudden I heard myself asking my brother what time the other guys were coming back.  Fortunately, he was sharp enough to play along and he looked at the two guys and asked them if they knew what they were getting in to.

For a moment, I didn’t know whether or not they believed us or were going to get angry and do something unthinkable.  It was as if time was standing still – but our bluff worked.  They were out of there within seconds, taking only our money, not our watches or wallets.

My brother told me afterwards that he had a bad feeling while we were walking back to the cabin.  He said he could hear voices in his head talking, and that when we opened the door to the cabin and the men started speaking, he said these were the identical voices he had heard.

Although we did report the incident to the police, the men were never apprehended.

V. Pierose
Milwaukee, WI