ELIZA

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE: CITY

We haven't been in our country, that's for sure. Not only did I not know the city, but here and there I saw signs in a foreign language, written in the same way as those I found in the cottage.

I was never fluent in languages. Maybe if I put effort into learning foreign languages, I would know a little more, but now, the only thing I could say was that we were not in Germany, France, Spain, Italy or England. I was leaning towards the Czech Republic, Slovakia, a group of Slavic languages, but still incomprehensible to me.

It didn't worry me. I knew that in the city I would find clues from parked cars and their registration plates. Yes, I could notice cars now, too, but they were moving too fast for me to recognize the number plates. I had to be patient.

The city looked big as we approached it from a distance. Cosmo must have known it well, however, because he didn't use any GPS, nor even looked at the signs we passed. We headed downtown, that's for sure. We left the hills behind us, entering a picturesque city, which, unfortunately for me, was not teeming with life.

Rarely have I seen people. It was true that I didn't know what time it was, we might have left later than I thought and people were already asleep...

The sun was long past the horizon, so it was already dark and gloomy. I didn't even feel like sightseeing.

When we stopped, I couldn't almost control myself. I was about to snap at him to take us home because it was too dark to watch anything...

I don't know what I was counting on. I must have thought that we were in some more civilized place, that when I escaped from Cosmo, I would have no problem with the people who would look after me. And those here...

I just watched a group of young men whom I would have never approached in my life. They were completely drunk. I wasn't the type of suicide to ask for their help.

"Are you getting out?" I didn't even notice that Cosmo turned off the car.

He got out first, but when he noticed I hadn't moved, he walked around the car.

It's a shame he took the key out of the ignition... I thought and without waiting for him to open the door for me, I got out of the car alone, inhaling the fresh air.

"We'll take a walk in the Old Town," Cosmo offered gently, and I shrugged my shoulders, but followed him politely.

I looked around intensely, looking for any help. If there were people, I tried to let them know with my eyes that I was under duress, if we passed a signed street, I tried to locate it in my head.

And so I found out that "strada" was a "street". It sounded very Italian, but I was definitely not in Italy because the rest of the words didn't match.

"You're not satisfied," Cosmo noticed, stopping on one of the alleys.

What was I supposed to say to him? I smiled faintly, but he kept insisting.

"Can I tell you something about this city? Take you somewhere?"

"No," I was still moody. "I just feel uncomfortable. I've never visited anything at night."

"You'll like it," Cosmo had so much hope in his eyes that I just nodded my head, showing him to go on.

He grabbed my hand. We must have looked like a couple to an outsider.

"What's the name of this city?" I asked, hoping he would answer me.

"You certainly don't know it," he replied evasively. "It has two parts."

I couldn't remember any two-part cities, and of course, there weren't any cars here in the Old Town.

On Piața Unirii, I realized that we were in the center with a huge church in the middle of the square. It was very nice, but I couldn't focus on anything but escaping.

On the one hand, I felt sorry for Cosmo. If it weren't for Tom, maybe I would have stayed with him longer and would have extended this trip to the end of the summer holidays. However, visiting the city with the knowledge that my boyfriend had no news from me, and not knowing if he had even woken up from a coma seemed pointless. I couldn't fool myself. I had to and I wanted to get out of here.

The chance to escape came on its own. I just went to the bathroom that we found on the market. As it was in the basement, I didn't even think it would be so easy for me to escape from it. There was a small window in the toilet to the other side of the city, which I didn't even expect. Cosmo surely as well, since he allowed me to go alone.

I didn't even have to explain myself to anyone, because there was no one else in the bathroom. I climbed onto the stool on which usually the lady who was charging a fee was sitting on and opened the window that looked out onto the sidewalk. I slipped out with little difficulty because it was a bit too small for me. First, my head, then my bust, I had no problem with my waist either, only my hips resisted. I had to bend at a strange angle, although I think I did it so quickly that Cosmo didn't even suspect that I was escaping.

Outside, I rushed forward, taking care not to run into my abductor. Happiness smiled at me; under the cover of night it was much easier for me to hide behind buildings or trees, and it took a few minutes for me to hear his call. But I was already three streets away, I could boldly run forward, I didn't even have to look back. He didn't know which street I was going, neither did I, I was simply running blindly ahead as fast as I could.