Panic rose in my chest.

My heart rattled.

I was on the verge of having an anxiety attack.

Sprinting into the bathroom, I looked at myself. I was in a t-shirt and boxer briefs, my usual bedtime attire. I didn’t remember getting in those clothes at any point. There was no memory. My face and body looked completely normal.

Was I having an episode of early onset dementia?

I rushed over to my tablet to see if I had made any notes.

Sure enough, it was updated, but I had no memory of inputting any of the information in there.

I mentioned my date with Vicky, going to the Club Novus, Vicky leaving early, and me hanging around by myself. I spoke with the server that I thought was the same server at Buckwheat’s, and then I walked around the rest of the nightclub and went back to the inn.

But I had no memory of how I made it back. I read the last paragraph in my journal entry.

“Although Club Novus is strange and unique, I can’t help it feel there’s more to investigate. Until next time I’m able to gain entry somehow, there’s nothing to report that could be seen as incriminating for now.”

I hammered away at the keyboard, “Although there is more to investigate. I can’t recall anything that happened when I left the nightclub. I was walking towards the dance floor, and that’s when everything went blank. I can’t remember faces or anyone on the dance floor. Everyone seemed to blur together, but that is for sure the last time I had a conscious memory.”

Two loud voices echoed down the hallway paired with steps that wandered from left to right, bouncing against the walls like a pinball. Then I heard high pitch laughter that irritated me like a morning alarm clock.

“Aw shit, hold on one second,” a man muttered. I heard him fumbling with his keys. “Goddammit!” He yelled, and then I heard two people collapse to the ground.

“What the hell!” a woman yelled.

Two people cracked up.

I threw on my pants and put my gun in my back pocket. I sprinted out of the door to find the squirrely neighbor with a beautiful woman lying on the ground next to him.

My neighbor scrambled up to his feet. “Oh shit, man! I am really, really, really sorry! I hope I didn’t wake you up!”

“I just wanted to see if everything was all right. The two of you are making a bunch of racket, just so you know.”

“Hey man, look, I’m really, really, really sorry.” He put his hands up and backed away to the corner. He helped up the woman from the ground.

“Why do you gotta be so nervous, Mickey? Relax,” she said.

“Goddammit. I’ve told you a million times why,” Mickey uttered. He turned his attention back towards me. “Look, can you forget this whole thing ever happened? Please, my wife could never find out about this. I’m just goin’ through some stuff y’know? Just please, keep this between us.” His face lit up as if he just had a brilliant idea. “I can even give you something! You look like a young guy. I bet you enjoy some nightlife, well, I have some of the best access to nightlife you could possibly imagine. Club Novus. Here, I’ll even give you a pass. It’s a very exclusive and private club. Not just anyone gets invited. You won’t be disappointed, but you can’t tell a word to anyone about what you’ve seen.”

“I promise, I’m not out to ruin your marriage, but you might want to get a divorce as an outsider looking in,” I said.

“Yeah, that sounds really practical and easy, doesn’t it? Gee, I should have considered it earlier,” he said sarcastically.

I found the whole exchange to be bizarre. But Mickey seemed like an odd person, to begin with. “I would love to go to Club Novus again.”

“Again?” He scrunched his brow.

“Yes, I was there this evening. A friend had a pass, but she only had one. I’d really like to go back. Especially because I can’t seem to remember the rest of my night there.”

“You had that much fun, did you?” Mickey blurted and grinned, taking a deep breath.

I got the sense he was hiding something. “Do you have any idea why I can’t remember anything?”

“Sounds like a you problem, pal.” Mickey snickered, and his girlfriend playfully slapped his shoulder.

I glared at him, conjuring as much fury as my eyes and brow could muster.

“Sorry,” Mickey uttered. “I didn’t mean to make light of your situation. That sounds frightening. But I have no idea. How well do you trust the person that came with you to the club tonight?”

I held my hand out. “Just give me the pass to get in again, and I won’t say a word to anyone about this exchange.”

“That works for me. Here, darling, why don’t you go in the room.” Mickey fished the key from his pocket and unlocked the door, and his girlfriend went inside and smiled at me as she exited. Mickey reached inside his suit and pulled out a pen and a Club Novus slip. “All right, give me the name that’s on your ID.”

“Edward Wright.”

Mickey scribbled my name on the back against the wall. He handed the pass back to me. “There you go, pal. Thanks for keeping this between us.”

“Sure thing.”

“Oh, and by the way, if anyone asks you how you got a pass to get in, tell them you became friends with me. We were eating lunch at the same time at Main Street subs, we got to talking, and we became acquaintances. That’s the story of how I gave you the pass, got it?”

“Got it. Can I ask you a question, do you work for Club Novus or something?”

“Yeah, I work with the operations. Now look, excuse me, but I don’t want to keep my lady friend waiting.”

“By all means.”

Mickey went inside his room and slammed the door in front of me. I went down the hallway and took the elevator to the ground floor. That’s when I saw Elizabeth typing away at the keyboard as her father was placing coffee mugs on the counter.

“Eddie, are you feeling any better?” Elizabeth asked and smiled at me.

My stomach dropped. I approached the counter and took a deep breath; I couldn’t control my shaky hands. “Elizabeth, I have to ask you something strange when –wait– did you just ask me if I was feeling better?”

“Yeah? Earlier, you didn’t look so well, and you said you weren’t feeling that great.”

“When you say earlier, what do you mean by that?”

“Uh, you came here around 1:00 AM, so I guessed several hours ago? Are you all right? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost. Or do you need to go to the hospital? Are you feeling worse?”

I waved my hand at her. “No, no, it’s not like that, or at least I don’t think... I don’t really know. Elizabeth, I’m a little scared. Tonight I went to Club Novus.”

“You did? What was that like?” Elizabeth’s eyes widened.

“I don’t know. It’s a nightclub, but something bizarre happened. I have no memory of leaving the place. I remember walking up to the dance floor, and then my mind went blank, or at least, that’s what I have in my memory bank. I have no recollection of coming in here and seeing you. Did I say hello to you when I walked in?”

“No, I don’t think so. You came in, walking at a slow pace, and you were reserved. Like you had a glazed-over expression, you know? Like the lights weren’t totally on? So I said hello to you, and that’s when you turned around and said hello back. I asked if you were okay, and you said you weren’t feeling all that well and that you needed some sleep. I said I was really sorry to hear that you were under the weather, and if there was anything you needed, just let me know, and then you got in the elevator. And that was that. It seemed out of character for you, almost like you were zombified.”

“Do you know anyone else that has gone to Club Novus? That I can talk to?”

“No, I’m afraid I don’t; I’m really sorry about that.”

“That’s okay, I’m not sure what happened, but something happened to me tonight that made me go on autopilot, I guess. And I have no memory. I need to investigate more.”

Elizabeth nodded at me. “Yeah, that’s so weird. I’m so sorry that happened. Do you think you were drugged or something?”

“I don’t know, I think so. I was with Vicky, we had gone out together at Lorenzo’s, and then we went to Club Novus because she had an invitation that had been sitting in her purse for a while.”

“Oh yeah, we talked about going one time, but since we hang out with a group of friends usually, It would be weird for two of us to go without the others, you know what I mean?”

“Yes. I actually got another invitation a moment ago. There was a man up in the hallway, he’s staying across from me. Do you know much about him?”

“I’m afraid I don’t. But are you really going to go back there?”

“I have to. I have to understand or investigate what happened.”

“Did you have anything to drink?”

“Yeah, I had the house cocktail.”

Elizabeth contemplated for a moment. “You know, I have a pack of special straws that changes colors if someone has slipped anything in your drink. I mean, you probably have fancy equipment with the FBI you could use, but if you’re planning on going back there and trying to recreate what happened, perhaps you could use one of my straws?”

I mulled the idea in my head for a moment. “Yes, I think that will work for now. By the time I were to get anything from the FBI offices, it might not get here until tomorrow.”

“Let me run home and grab it then. I can come right back here if you want.”

“That sounds good. Sorry, I know you’re just getting off work, and I hate to make you go out and come back here but, I really appreciate it. I owe you one. A meal or something, on me.”

“You’re too kind but don’t worry about that. I just want to help out.”

“Great, thank you, Elizabeth. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”

Elizabeth nodded and walked around the counter. “Dad, I’m going to be right back; I have to grab something for Agent Wright.”

“Okay,” He replied.

Elizabeth left the lobby.

Her father went behind the counter and greeted me. “You doing okay, agent Wright?”

“I’m hanging in there, I guess.” I explained to him everything that had just happened and why Elizabeth would be coming right back.

“Wow. That’s some pretty strange stuff going on. You know, I eat a lot of strawberries. I hear that helps with improving your memory.”

I know that he didn’t consider that as a serious remedy to my situation. Still, I said, “I could eat all the strawberries in the world, and I don’t think I’d remember anything that happened tonight. Thanks, though.”

He frowned. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to... Never mind.”

I waited in the lobby for a moment and then went into the bathroom and pulled out my phone, calling someone from the FBI Chicago office.

“Hey, Foster, how are you?” I asked.

“Agent Wright, what do I owe the honor at this early hour?”

“Look, I want to get some blood work done at the local hospital I’m working near.”

“You want them to send a sample to our lab?”

“That, and I need you to set up the appointment for me at Saint Mary’s hospital in Hickory, Indiana. I wanna see what they find right away.”

“What’s the blood test for?”

“I think I was drugged by someone.”

“Oh shit. Are you kidding? Do you know who did it?”

“I’m not sure how, nor do I know what drug. I was checking out this suspicious nightclub in the town of my investigation, and I have no memory of ever leaving or how the night ended. I fell asleep at some point and woke up with no memory.”

“I’m not going to tell you what to do with your case or how to do it, but I think you might need to start issuing some warrants. At least a search warrant to this place.”

“No, I want to do this fast. I want to see what I can gather from this place on my own. I feel like I’m getting close to something. I just want to know what was put in my body.”

“If you say so. I’ll get that appointment set up for you. The hospital will do some blood work for you and lab testing with a quick turnaround, but then we’ll also get a sample size to do some of our own work for anything they might miss.”

“Great. Thank you, Foster.”

“Sure thing. I’ll text you with your appointment details.” Foster sighed into the receiver. “And really carefully think about what you’re doing. You might be risking your life here waiting on a warrant. You understand that, right?”

“Yeah. I hear ya loud and clear.”

“Take care now, Eddie. Heavy emphasis on the take care.”

I quietly chuckled, but Foster was as serious as a heart attack. “I’ll take care of myself, I promise. Thank you.”

I hung up the phone, went out into the lobby, and sat waiting in the cozy chair. I wanted to fix myself a cup of coffee, but I also wanted to go back to my room as soon as I received the straw to try and salvage as much sleep as possible. Perhaps if I fell back asleep, I might even remember a little bit more of what happened last night?

I also had to text Vicky, but I wasn’t entirely sure what to say. There was a lot that transpired in such a short time frame. Part of me wanted to overanalyze communication with her as if we were dating, but I had to know if her memory had been fuzzy at all. And I was also curious how her grandfather was doing.

The concerns outweighed the fantasies of dating someone I felt a connection to.

Pulling out my phone, I messaged her.

Hey, sorry about your grandfather being admitted to the hospital. I hope he’s doing better. If you’re able to call me soon, I’d appreciate it. Something happened last night to me, and I have no memory. I’m concerned, and I wanted to talk to you. No rush. Hope you’re doing okay.

I sent the message after rereading the text a thousand times over.