ELIZA

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: TAKEN

I woke up in the car in the back seat. I felt dizzy and wanted to vomit, although no fluids were coming out of my mouth. Including saliva that seemed to evaporate. My mouth was dry. I didn't understand anything. I seemed indifferent to everything.

It was also terribly hot. Though I wore only shorts and a short-sleeved blouse, sweat was pouring off me. I was still in the car. I was still shaking in the backseat and still wanted to vomit.

It was horrible. As if I had drunk too much alcohol and had a hangover now instead of in the morning. But I didn't drink anything. I groaned. A dull pain shot through my head.

"Shhh, sleep," I knew that voice. That voice was soothing, that voice couldn't hurt me. I blacked out.

I opened my eyes. I was no longer nauseous, but I had the metallic taste of blood in my mouth. I had to bite my lip while the drive.

I was at some abandoned gas station. At least it seemed like that. I wanted to go somewhere, run away, but I couldn't even sit down. I was too weak. Someone weakened me on purpose, and that someone had no good intentions.

"You've woken up," my kidnapper got into the car with the receipt in his hand.

"Cosmo?" I rasped.

He didn't answer. Maybe he didn't hear. Only now did I notice that I couldn't reach him, that there was a transparent glass between the front and rear seats. Probably in case I managed to escape.

I closed my eyes again just as I was regaining clear thinking. I smelled something and fell asleep for a long time.

This time I woke up in bed. I didn't know how he got me there without arousing suspicion. Or maybe he just lied or gave someone a bribe?

I didn't recognize the place. It was dark and chilly, as if the air conditioning was working. I was trembling.

I tried to get up, but my head was dizzy, so instead of getting out of bed, I tried to get up to a sitting position.

Only now did I feel pain in my arm. I rubbed it as I looked around. There was no one but me. This might be my only chance to get out. Cosmo thought I was still asleep.

When I sat down, I felt sick. In order not to throw up on the sheets, I put my hand to my mouth, though it didn't do much anyway. I needed to refresh myself. I wanted to find a bathroom, but getting out of bed meant a carousel in my head. I felt like I had labyrinthine dysfunction, the world was dancing, preventing me from escaping.

I was only wearing skimpy nightgowns. If I wanted to go outside, I had to change.

I climbed out of bed, almost on all fours. I couldn't find a window in the room, only the terrible air conditioning provided any air.

I leaned against the bedside table, depressed. In this state, I certainly won't outsmart Cosmo.

Finally my brain started to contact and it made me panic. I felt fear - the knowledge that Cosmo was insane, since he could do such a horrible thing as to abduct me as if he was doing a human trafficking for a living.

I went out on a limb and staggered toward the door. I pulled the handle, but of course the door was locked from the outside.

"Help," I tried to scream as hard as I could, hitting the door with my hand, but it was too weak since I could barely hear myself.

I haven't got my voice back yet. It was hoarse from the heat in the car and the air conditioning here.

I closed my eyes. I was trembling. I didn't know if it was more because I was worried about myself or because of the cold. I tried to figure out the motives for Cosmo when he decided to kidnap me. Was he trying to rape me? Or sell me? Or kill me? Or maybe all at once?

I wondered where I could be. I remembered lying in the car, but didn't recognize being in his apartment. He took me to a less obvious place.

I had nothing with me. Neither clothes nor phone nor shoes.

Scumbag, he even stripped me of my underwear, I realized, looking under my nightgown.

In the corridor outside the door, I heard a rattling sound. Someone was walking towards my room, so I gathered all my energy to hurry back to bed. I even closed my eyes and pretended to still be asleep.

I saw him through half-closed lids. First he turned the lock, pressed the handle, then walked into the room as if nothing had happened. Cosmo didn't even suspect that I had woken up, so I decided to observe him a bit. I had an advantage.

He came with a bundle that he unpacked on the table. Most of the purchases consisted of food, although I think I saw some clothes as well.

He ran a hand through his hair and looked at me. I closed my eyes tighter. I was like Sleeping Beauty, except that my prince wasn't beside me. He was a bad prince, the good one was definitely looking for me.

Cosmo's phone rang. He picked it up.

That's good. Thanks to it, Tom and the police will find us faster, I thought logically.

And when I breathed a sigh of relief that my kidnapper wasn't so smart, I noticed that Cosmo wasn't using his iPhone, but some old cell phone. Probably to be able to throw it away when he no longer needs it...

"So he's alive?" I received a scrap of a telephone conversation. Cosmo seemed to be concerned. "Sure, I will, but I don't think she wants to see him."

A moment of pause.

"Of course, but please understand that we're not going to come back from Romania just because he had an accident. Anyway, she wrote you everything."

I swallowed loudly. I didn't understand anything about this chaotic statement except that I was in Romania!