I opened my eyes slowly, the room was nice and bright. Then I suddenly had my eyes wide open! I looked around the room, it was our bedroom, I was back home! Muffin wakes up as I begin to move a bit. Meow,meow?=How you feel this morning? “My head is sure sore,” I told her, “how did we get back home?” Meow,meow=Kat come get us after you fall down stairs and go to hospital. “What are you talking about?”, I asked, “I never fell down any stairs, we were all drugged, probably something in those pancakes.”

Meow,meow.=Nope, you not better yet, still confused. I look at Muffin. “I’m confused?,” I asked, “then what happened?” Meow,meow.=After breakie we go search upstairs, lots of junk, then you miss first step and fall down to bottom of stairs, hit head hard and go to hospital. I look at Muffin again. Is she telling the truth? Why do I not remember any of that? Was I just dreaming because I hit my head? Right then Kat comes into the bedroom. “How do you feel today?”, she asks me. I guess everyone will be asking me that question.

“I’m not sure, a little confused,” I said, “Muffin and I seem to remember things a bit differently.” “It is likely that knock on the head,” she said to me, “tell me again what you remember.” I cannot remember telling her before, what has happened to me? So I told her anyway. “That is not what Muffin and MC tell us Steve,” she said nicely, “the doctor said that hard knock could affect your memory a bit, but it should only be temporary.” “But it seems so real,” I said to Kat, “I know we were drugged. What about Susan, what does she remember?”

Kat looks at me, “Steve, there is no such person as Susan, Olivia said she has no nieces at all.” Now that got me, something is very wrong here. I get out of bed and start getting dressed. “What are you doing Steve?”, asked Kat, “you should be staying in bed.” “No, no, no!”, I said firmly, “something is not right here and there is no time to waste. I am not letting John win this one! We are going after him. Is everyone here, or at least close by?” “Mostly, Chung is at the clinic, Jennifer and Kristina are in town shopping,” answered Kat.

“Get hold of them to come here right away,” I said, “we are having a PI team meeting.” Kat looked at me, gave a big sigh, but said she would do it. I went over to her and gave her a hug, “trust me on this one Kat, something is wrong, Susan’s life is in danger, if she is even alive now.” Kat smiled and off she went. I go to the library, Muffin finds MC and they join us there. “Good morning Steve,” said Baldwin, “what are you doing out of bed?” I wanted to scream, but I had to be careful, I want people to believe me and not think I have flipped because of hitting my head.

“I’m feeling much better,” I said, “and we need to have a PI meeting, right away, I’m glad you are here already.” “Well, we will have to exclude Rock, I sent him on an errand for me, he will not be back until tomorrow,” said Baldwin. “That’s too bad, well, hopefully everyone else will get here quickly,” I said, “Annelie, what about the photos of the people I sent you?” “Sorry Steve,” she said, “but those people just do not exist.” “That is impossible,” I said, “I can’t take pictures of people who are not there, surely you can see the photos are real.”

Kat came in at that moment and said the others would be here soon. “Please sit down Steve,” she said, “you should not be on your feet so much.” So I sat down, with Kat on one side of me and the cats on the other side. “Well,” continued Annelie, “that is something that bothers me. I have checked and rechecked those photos and they are real, yet there is no trace of these people.” “This is not making sense, and I am not making this up, it has nothing to do with hitting my head or falling down stairs,” I said firmly, “if I fell down those stairs it was because someone pushed me after we were drugged.”

Meow=Yep, you right, he still flipped. Muffin shook her head up and down. “So how come the cats remember things differently Steve?”, asked Baldwin. “I do not know the answer to that, unless they were hypnotized or something while we were drugged,” I said. The cats ears go straight up! “John is trying to make it look like I have gone crazy,” I said just as Jennifer and Kristina came into the room with Chung. “I gave you Susan’s address and phone number,” I said to Annelie. “There is no such address or phone number Steve,” she said, “but I know the pictures are real, that part really bothers me.”

Everyone is looking at me. “Hey, I am fine,” I said, and I jumped to my feet. But my head was pounding by this time. I woke up that afternoon, back in bed, my head was spinning. What is happening to me? Are the cats right? Did that fall affect my memory? What about Susan, is she real or not? I want to scream…

To Be Continued.

©2022 Steve McLeod.