Eve

I couldn’t hear much of what was going on. The translator was talking non-stop, but it was more for Stan to hear than for me. I caught some of it, but not enough to really feel like I knew what was going on. Since it was my life in the balance, I was worried about what that meant for us. I knew that the judge was pissed, and it was because of the Cambodian lawyer that we’d hired running late.

Stan instructed me to kind of look forward and try not to let out too much. That was easier said then done because the whole time I was freaking out inside. My life was being decided around me and I couldn’t even understand what was being said. It was not a good feeling at all if I was perfectly honest with myself.

Callie seemed to be as upset and confused as I was. She was giving the cameras what they wanted, and I tried a couple of times to tell her to calm down some, but I don’t think that it was possible for her. It certainly didn’t seem that way.

“You have to chill out.”

“I can’t. What if they send us back to that place? I can’t go back.”

Her voice was rising, and I tried to shush her before she pulled some unwanted attention to us.

It was too late because the judge seemed to notice, and he was not happy. I still don’t know what happened exactly, but the next thing I know, they are hauling Callie out of the room and I can hear her getting upset and calling to me. It was a horrible feeling and I looked at Stan. He had a grave look on his face. She was going back. I just knew it.

Was I about to go back to that horrible place too? It was now a realer situation than it was before somehow, and I sat at the small table with Callie now gone from my side and for some reason, that made it all the scarier. For the first time through this whole ordeal, I felt alone, and I knew it was because Callie wasn’t by my side.

Another hour went by with several men and Stan arguing back and forth. It was not like any court room that I’d ever seen, though in truth I never had been to a real trial before. I’d seen them on television and I was pretty sure that it was not going the way it did there. Everyone here was shouting and several times the judge had to bang his gavel. The room would shut up and quiet down for a time, but it was never for long.

I was relieved to get a moment reprieve and I was able to get a little bit of time alone with Stan. Carl wasn’t allowed to come, but I told him I would meet him out front as soon as I talked to Stan. It started out as just a conversation.

“What happened to Callie?”

“She was sent out and put back in jail because she can’t control herself. What was going on with the two of you?”

“She’s freaking out Stan. What do you want me to say? She’s afraid that they are going to send her back.”

“Well they already did, and it made it look worse on her. You’re going to have to think about leaving her behind Eve. I think that you have a far better chance of getting on the plane and going home than she does. Didn’t you say that you were going to go back at the road, and she was the one that wanted to push on?”

I shook my head that it was, but then I started to realize where he was going with it and it started to make me nervous. He was trying to make Callie into a patsy and I didn’t like the idea of it at all. I wasn’t going to let him do that to my best friend.

“I’m not throwing her under the bus. You can forget it.”

“Then I don’t know if I can help you.”

We were at a stalemate and I knew then that I may be on my own. How could I go home and leave my best friend here in a jail to rot? There was no way that I could, and I resented Stan for any suggesting it.

“Both of us need to go home Stan because both of us are innocent. Let me tell my side of things. Don’t I get a chance here to do that, to defend myself?”

He said that I did, but he didn’t think that it would be a good idea. I didn’t know how it couldn’t be a good idea. I hadn’t done it. It was that simple so why did it need to be pretended that it was complicated. For some reason, I was convinced that I could just tell them what had happened and then everything would be okay.

“Let me go up there and tell them what happened in my own words. I’m sure they will then let us go. They must see that we didn’t mean any harm by any of this. I never wanted to come to Cambodia and I certainly wasn’t trying to hijack their culture. It was just a pretty vase and a wrong turn.”

“I know that, you know that, but they may not believe you and if they don’t, there could be hell to pay because of that. I want you to know that I’m not trying to scare you or anything like that, but at the end of the day, I need to make sure that everything works out okay. I told your brother I would get you out and get you home. I didn’t make the same promise to him about Callie.”

“You made the promise to me.”

“I said I would do my best.”

“Then do your best and get us out of this. I’m grateful for what you have done and what you’re doing, but I can’t leave her behind and I’m not going to use it to my advantage. You need to find another way.”

He didn’t seem to happy with my answer. I was bummed out that it had taken the turn that it had because there was a moment where I’d planned to jump his bones just in case I was sent to jail. But now I couldn’t even think about it much, not with Callie already locked back up and a judgement supposed to be rendered today. This was fast justice and with everything going on, I didn’t need the distraction.

The recess was over before I knew it and if I thought that everything was going fast before, I was wrong. Now it was at hyper speed.

Stan was called up, as well as the other lawyers to talk to the judge. It was a quick meeting with the microphone covered so no one else could hear what was going on. Stan came back with a smile and he told Carl that it was all going to be okay.

I didn’t say anything because of how the Cambodians felt about talking in their courtroom and I was just going to have to wait and see what he was talking about. Did this mean that he had gotten us off and that we could go home? It was too early to celebrate, but I let the seed of hope finally seat in my heart. I was ready to get home and get back to my boring old life.