ELIZA

CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN: VERDICT

Yes, I was forced. Nobody knew it better than me. I didn't know we were leaving, in fact, I was under the influence of drugs that made me out of touch with reality. It's obvious that if the prosecutor found out about this, it would be bad. Or maybe he already knew it.

"Sometimes it's hard to know what's best for you. For Eliza, the trip was the best. If by that you mean forced, then yes, I forced her."

The prosecutor looked down at him.

"How did you plan the kidnapping?"

"Kidnapping again..." Cosmo shuddered. "It was a trip. A tour of Europe and Asia."

The prosecutor smiled with scorn. It seemed that the defendant himself denied the possibility of abducting me. I didn't know much about psychology, but I thought that maybe they would consider Cosmo insane and instead of going to prison he would end up in a mental institution. Neither option appealed to me.

"All right. How did you plan this trip? Where did you go first?"

"I didn't plan anything. It was a spontaneous decision," Cosmo didn't give up. "I know Romania because I used to travel there. I wanted to show Eliza the places I like. We started with this country. We had to sleep off the journey anyway."

To the casual listener, everything he said made sense. The judge nodded.

Cosmo's interrogation took another fifteen minutes or so. After some time I got lost in thoughts, nervous about what would happen next. There were several options. Cosmo may or may not have been convicted. He could go to prison and be imprisoned for several years, or not at all. A psychiatric hospital was perhaps the most unrealistic scenario.

And what about me? Will I be prosecuted for what I said? After all, hallucinogenic mushrooms, the use of false passports, it all affected me too. In order to save Cosmo, I chose to lie in my testimony.

I didn't know if he will appreciate it. Did he understand that I lied in most of the answers to uncomfortable questions, just so that the judge would find him innocent? 

It made me wonder why I was defending him so much? Why was it so important to me to get him out of this? Did I really love him? Or maybe... Maybe I was really influenced by him? Maybe I was his victim and if so, how should I deal with it?

Cosmo was calm as the verdict was read out. I, on the contrary, felt like I had run a marathon, my heart was pounding like crazy. It seemed to me that nothing could be heard in the courtroom except of my heartbeat.

Everything was going to be clear soon.

Like flashbacks, I was reminded of the moments with Cosmo. The first meeting, the wedding I went to with him, a trip to the seaside and then Romania, Serbia and Dubai. A flight on a plane when I was devastated that he stayed abroad and I returned to our country.

Then, finally, shock, disbelief when I saw him and our separation by the police.

It was all surreal. Our entire relationship was off the charts.

I must have been a bad actress. The court didn't believe my testimony. Cosmo was sentenced to two years in prison.

I would give anything to be able to talk to him even for a few seconds at that moment.

Cosmo's gaze, as usual, was inscrutable. What was he thinking? What did he feel? Was he mad? Was he cursing that he had met me?

I felt guilty. Have I done everything in my power to help him? Could I have done more? Maybe I wasn't convincing enough? I had thousands of questions in my head. Unfortunately, no answers.