[ WP ] : You do n't remember what you do for a living . Literally . You black out for 8 hours 5 days a week and a paycheck appears once per month .

The two men in the front of my door looked dead serious. 
 
 I ’ d just finished eating breakfast with my wife Shelly when the doorbell rang. Expecting some kind of early door-to-door salesman, I opened the door, only to be greeted by two fully suited men looking ready to visit some kind of funeral. 
 
 “ Are you Mr. James Cardi? ” The older of the two asked, his deep wrinkles squirming slightly with every word. “ I ’ m Ted Hunter, and this is my colleague, Leo Wolfs. ” He gestured to the young looking man next to him before flashing a badge. “ We ’ re here on government business. ” 
 
 My muscles tensed. “ Yes I am. Why? ” I thought of my parents who were traveling the country. “ Has something happened to someone I know? ” 
 
 “ I don ’ t know, ” The man answered nonchalantly. “ How about you tell us? ” 
 
 I raised an eyebrow. “ What do you mean by that? ” 
 
 “ What we would like to know, Mr. Cardi, ” the young man interjected, clearly not happy with the way his colleague was approaching this, “ is where you were yesterday at exactly 14:03 in the afternoon. That is truly all we wish to know. Give us a satisfying answer and we ’ ll leave. ” He gave me a white smile. 
 
 A chill went down my spine. Yesterday was Thursday, a workday like any other, a workday of which I remembered awefully little. 
 
 “ I was at… work. ” I answered half-heartedly. 
 
 “ Ah, yes, we figured as much. ” The man ’ s voice was honeyed. “ Please, Mr. Cardi, tell me, where do you work? You see, we ’ ve been doing some investigating and, even though you get paid every month, we couldn ’ t find out where you work. The company that ’ s supposedly sending you money doesn ’ t exist. ” 
 
 I stood there for a second, contemplating all kinds of answers to the man ’ s question, but couldn ’ t come up with a good explanation. It looked like it was time to finally come clean. 
 
 “ I don ’ t know. ” I answered honestly. 
 
 The smile immediately disappeared off the man ’ s face. “ We ’ re going to play it like that? ” He asked in a low tone of voice. “ If so, you would have to join us for a trip to the Bureau. ” 
 
 I put my hands in front of me defensively. “ No! You misunderstand. I truly don ’ t know. ” 
 
 A sudden chill on my left wrist caught my attention and I saw that the now grinning older man had put a handcuff around it. Below it I saw my watch slowly ticking. It was a few seconds before nine in the morning. A few seconds before work. 
 
 3…, 2…, 1…, 
 
 The older man opened his mouth. “ You ’ ll be coming wi– “ 
 
 Blackness 
 
 When I opened my eyes it was already getting dark and I was standing in an alley I ’ d never seen before, my entire body hurting. My left hand had a handcuff dangling from it and was covered in blood. A quick inspection of the rest of my body revealed it to be full of bruises. It also revealed a white envelope stained with blood spatters in one of my pockets. 
 
 It contained my salary. 

