ELIZA

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE: DISAPPOINTMENT

Cosmo was driving fast. Way too fast for my liking, actually. I frowned, though I dared not say anything. I grabbed the handles above the door, trying to see what speed we had. We have definitely exceeded the allowed one.

No one was on the road anymore, so he could allow himself to go like this. However, I trembled, praying that there would be a police car lurking along the side of the road. For someone to stop us before we hit a tree.

I looked sidelong again at the dashboard. I think it was over one hundred and forty and Cosmo was as calm as if he was driving forty per hour. Oh no, it was too much.

"What are you doing?" I asked in a thin voice, squinting when he shrugged.

"I think I'm trying to kill us," he said as if he was explaining to me how much is two plus two. I started to breathe quicker. I was definitely sitting in the car with a lunatic.

"Stop it!" I think he wanted to upset me, because instead of listening to what I was saying to him, he sped up even more.

I couldn't help it, but the stress made my eyes fog up and when the car bumped into the hole and I jumped up against the roof with my head, I cried like a baby. I believed him. Like never in the past, I believed him, he only wanted to kill us to make me think it was my fault when I was dying. That I shouldn't run away from him.

"What are you doing? Do you want to hear that I'm sorry? Yes, I'm sorry!"

I didn't look at the dashboard anymore. I was afraid of what I would see there. I'd never ridden this fast in my life, I was sure of it, and he didn't even think to slow down.

"Stop it, do you hear me?! Stop it!"

He seemed deaf to my pleas, he only looked at the road ahead. I wouldn't be surprised if he closed his eyes... Even with these Romanian boys, I wasn't that close to death.

"I won't do it again!" I shouted as I jumped up in my seat again because of another hole. "I promise!"

I tried to recall some happy moments of my life, but my imagination still showed me the vision of the accident.

I screamed when I saw a tiny dog ​​running right in front of our car hood. Cosmo turned the vehicle to the right and probably missed it. I put my hand to my forehead. He had more luck than sense.

"Put on the blindfold," he commanded me.

Even though only ten minutes had passed since we left the city, it felt as if our journey had taken ages. It seemed to me that time stood still.

I took the headband out of the glove compartment and put it on my head myself. I felt even worse than when I saw what was happening, because like a person waiting for their execution...

For the next minutes, however, I calmed down. Maybe because Cosmo slowed down, I clearly felt as we entered some dirt path. I could hear gravel under the wheels of the car.

I thought about Tom and what he was doing. Is it true that he was in a coma, or is this another lie? Or perhaps he returned to Barb?

My heart was pounding in my chest when the car finally stopped and Cosmo took out the ignition key. I thought that we would never get here again, that I would come back to my country in a coffin.

I started crying. A little bit of luck that I didn't die after all, a little bit of regret. Maybe if we crashed and I somehow survived, I would be sent to the hospital, my family identified me and took me back? Yes, it was a possible scenario, but I wanted to live too much to count on it.

In the cottage, Cosmo continued to pout. The first thing he did was taking off my blindfold and then tying me tightly to the bed, as if he was afraid that I could escape from here too. I dried my cheeks with my hand. I wanted to talk to him, understand his point of view.

"I had to try," I started explaining my behavior. He glanced at me as if I were a bug that needed to be crushed. I think I made him upset with that sentence even more.

"You know I'm not here on my accord..."

Faux pas again, of course, I was tactless, but he can't begin to think that I will want to spend the rest of my life here with him.

He still didn't speak, so I sighed loudly. I had to try a different approach. Cosmo went to the refrigerator and took out a beer.

"You lied to me. We are in Romania."

He nodded as he opened the bottle. His face was impenetrable. I would give a lot to know what was going on in his head now. Was he still angry or was he disappointed in my impertinent behavior?

He sipped his beer, wincing as if it were wormwood tincture.

"Can you tell me what city we visited?" I asked, thinking I wouldn't get the answer. However, he surprised me, reminding me of my today's misdemeanor.

"Cluj Napoca, if that tells you anything, though I wouldn't call it visiting."

Unfortunately, the name of the city didn't tell me anything. I had no idea which part of Romania it was in.

Cosmo looked at me lasciviously. He was looking at my body, which made me very embarrassed. I didn't want him to look at me like that. I didn't belong to him, though he probably thought differently.

"What do you feel for me? Do you love me?"

I asked him finally, looking up at him defiantly.