Part 5

"Kyle," said one of them... the man sitting closest to Owen. He pointed at the motionless shape beside him. "This is Bradley. I don't know the rest."

"Owen."

"LeBon," said the man in the bathrobe. "Maurice"

A muscular man with a severely pockmarked face introduced himself Vince. Next to him a thin, dirty-looking man mumbled the name 'Frank' while scratching lazily at his hand.

The other three men were as unconscious as Kyle's friend.

"So where are we?" Owen asked.

"Was hoping you could tell us," Kyle replied. "Or SOMEBODY could..."

"We don't know," said Maurice. He was the oldest of the crowd, although not by much. They all looked to be in their early twenties to mid thirties, with Kyle and Brad rounding out the bottom end of the range. "I woke up here. With THESE two staring at me." He nodded at Frank and Vince. Vince glared back, while Frank looked away, trying to study the walls for a few seconds before realizing that... for some reason... he couldn't. Owen didn't like either one of the pair... Maurice either, for that matter... but those two made him want to check his pockets

When he did, he found only lint.

"My wallet's gone."

"I don't think you need it," said Kyle.

"We've all been picked clean," said Vince. "And nobody knows anybody-"

"Except for you and sleeping beauty over there." Maurice pointed to Kyle and Brad. "Kinda strange, that."

"So what are you trying to say-"

"How did we GET here?" Owen interrupted the fight before it got started.

Everyone looked at each other for a few seconds before deciding to speak simultaneously.

"I dunno-"

"-can't remember shit-"

"-these girls at this club-"

"-had something in her hand-"

"-I met this girl-"

"-turned around and everything went black-"

"-hit me over the head or something-"

"-Bitch must have poisoned me-"

"-must have blacked out-"

"-never shoulda trusted-"

"Whoa! Whoa!" Owen was on his feet before he realized it. He swayed, but remained upright through the wave of dizziness. "I got none of that."

"I met a woman at a conference," said Maurice as he stood. "We..." He shook his head as if trying to nudge the words loose. Then, as if remembering something, continued: "I didn't know her but, we ended up spending the night in my hotel room. After a couple of hours, she got upset at something and... that's when things get fuzzy. "She was getting dressed; that's all I remember."

"Yeah," said Kyle. "Me and Brad went to this new bar. Not new as in new... new as in... off campus, you know? We hooked up with these girls in the parking lot. I thought I was gonna get lucky, ya know? We were out by the car. Brad's car. I was feelin this girl up and Brad had the other one and then I heard a noise. I woke up here. What about you?"

"We were having an argument, you know. She said she was leaving. We were talking in the bedroom and she got.."

Owen frowned. His memory slid around the rest of what happened the same way his eyes veered away from the distant walls when he looked at them. He tried harder, replaying the scene over and over... each time, it progressed a little further....

"...it was..."

The others were watching him... but they weren't listening. They were trying to remember, too.

"It's like, something's there," Kyle said tapping his forehead. "I just can't get to it."

"Something small. It was in an envelope-"

"No, she had it in her hand," Maurice added.

"Yeah," said Vince. "It was a-"

"Necklace."

Everyone stopped.

"A necklace," Owen repeated. "And when I got a good look at it..."

...this time, there really was nothing further to remember. Owen saw nods of agreement from the others.

"...Everything-"

"-went-"

"Black."

"So what does that-"

"Whoa!" The voice came from beside Kyle. Brad's eyes were open, but focus was still a few seconds away. He squinted at Kyle. "...so did we get lucky, or what?"