PERFECT DOLLS

ADELINE'S POV

Colton is calling Dante again today. Today he has to leave to run an errand for Veronica. According to Colton, Veronica's trust in him has been progressively improving. She now involves him in important meetings and she has been trusting him with some important errands and all that is thanks to the fact that I asked Colton to start talking and acting rudely towards me.

And I'd like to say Colton has been playing that part a little too well. If Veronica finds out that he doesn't care about me and he could care less what happens to me, then that will push her to like him more. Given the fact that she doesn't like me in the first place, seeing someone else be rude to me will only push her closer to that person and I was right.

Colton is like fresh fish to her. Colton gives her the impression that she can push him around without any consequences because she has his sister. It's a plan that we can use to our advantage. I'm just excited about the fact that Colton will be getting to Dante again today to tell him about auction day.

On that day, Colton's sister has to be saved. Naomi and I have to be taken out of here safely and why not all the other girls if everything goes well. I can't wait to leave this place. I can't wait to breathe in fresh air again I can't wait to leave good food and I can't wait to have the freedom to go wherever. I've been locked up for so long that now I don't even remember what it felt like to be free.

I don't remember what it felt like to have the wind on my face, to have the sun on my skin. The only thing I can't seem to forget is the happiness I felt when I was with Liam. The comfort I felt whenever I was in the presence of my best friend. The only thing I can't seem to forget is the way I felt with Dante.

For the first time, I was finally with someone who appreciated me. Who loved me. Yes, I have no doubt that Dante loved me dearly, but he lied to me and he put me in danger by letting me get so involved with Adrian when he could have just warned me. I love him so much, but I don't know if I can forgive him after all what I have endured in here.

All of this could have been avoided if he had just told me. I'm not going to lie and say I would have easily understood him, but at least I would have known the truth about him and about Adrian. All he had to do was trust me.

I feel a tear run down my cheek and I immediately wipe it off when Colton suddenly walks into my room. He notices the look on my face and his eyes soften for a second. I smile lightly to tell him I'm okay and he nods his head. An action that is barely noticeable unless you're really looking at him.

For the past few days, that's how he and I have been communicating. It has become our secret language to use only our eyes and facial expressions to talk to each other. I don't like Colton. I don't like anyone who is responsible for my being in here but Colton and I have an understanding.

And I understand his reasons for doing what he did, but that doesn't change the fact that he hurt me. It doesn't change the fact that I might die in here without ever even having the chance to escape. I hate Colton for it and I hate Dante for it.

No matter how much I feel sorry for Colton, and no matter how much I love Dante. I don't know I if I can ever forgive them.

"Let's go." Colton says in an authoritative manner. He stands still and watches me walk out of the room. As I walk out, his fingers slightly graze mine and I take it as a sign. A quiet promise that everything is going to be okay and I hold on to that. I hold on to the small hope that I'll be out of here. Maybe not now, or today, or tomorrow, but soon.

As soon as I walk into the room with the other girls, I spot Silver and rush to her side. She greets me with a smile and a nod of her head. I scan the room for Della and I spot her at the side of Poppy and Storm, the same girls that I dreamt about.

A feeling of dread washes over me as I think about the fact that my nightmare is about to come true.

"What is she doing over there?" I ask Silver as my heart beat drums in my chest.

"I don't know. As soon as I came in here, I saw her with them. I have a bad feeling." Silver says as I turn back my gaze to meet Della. She doesn't meet my gaze but she looks like she is in deep conversation with the other girls she's with. I've always had a good intuition. I have always trusted my sixth sense but I don't believe in dreams coming true. I know Poppy and Storm have hated me just like Silver did since the first day I got here. I know they have been trying to pin people against me, maybe for the same reason that Silver felt insecure about me but never in a million years did I think anyone would get Della to hate me.

I can't bring myself to believe that Della would go against me. We had an understanding and I promised to protect her. I promised to be her friend and she promised to be mine and she knows for sure that Poppy and Storm are definitely not the girls she should be trusting for anything.

Veronica walks into the room, her heels clicking on the floor like a ticking time bomb, and we all form a line in front of her as usual. She sneers at us, a horrible scowl on her face.

"You all look like shit." She says with a smirk on her face. "But no worries…' She starts walking close to us, examining us one by one as she speaks.

"In the coming days, we will focus solely on your looks and then we will use two weeks to teach you all how to be proper dolls." She says with a huge smile on her face, as if she were announcing the fact that Christmas is tomorrow. I hate her. I can't wait for the day where I see her downfall.

I keep thinking that when I get out of this place, I might forget everything and never want anything to do with this place again but how will I be able to move on with my life knowing that people like Veronica still exist. How will I be able to turn a blind eye to everything that might still be happening around the world.

I know there are still so many people around the world like Veronica. So many places around the world just like erotica. How do I just move on with my life without sharing my experience, without warning other people about the atrocities that other humans commit? How do I go on with my life without making it my mission to find and stop every person in the world concerned with organizations like this?

I won't be able to fall asleep knowing that there are people out there ruining the lives of girls like me, like Naomi, like Della. I won't be able to live with myself.

"Some of you will be auctioned off. You will be taken by your new husbands and for your sake, I hope you will act like loving wives towards the for the length of time that they want you to be." She says and my stomach turns. Every time I think about the fact that there are grown men out there who want to marry us only for a period of time and then discard us when they no longer want us, makes me sick to my stomach.

People like that don't deserve to live. People like that should be sent to the darkest pits of hell. People like that should never live to see another day.

"You will act like you are supposed to. You will all be perfect on auction day." Veronica says, her voice resonating in the room like she had a fucking mic stuck to her throat.

"The rest of you who are not up to auction age will stay here and continue training to be the best dolls erotica has ever produced. That is all I ask of you. It's not too much to ask, is it?"

I want to yell in her face and scream profanities at her and call her all the names that I have kept locked up in my throat all this time but I keep my mouth shut just like how I have been taught too and then it gets to me, none of the girls here want to get hurt because they disobeyed any of Veronica's rules.

We have all been trained to keep our opinions to ourselves and speak only when we are asked to, so I guess in some way, all of Veronica's lessons have gotten to us. I guess in some way, we have all learnt to behave an act just like how Veronica wants us to. the fear of what she would do to us if we disobeyed her is greater than our courage.

If I say anything to her now, she'll send one of her men on me.

"You will shave every bit of hair you have on your body. You will dye your hair the desired color. You will act like you have been taught too and if you by any means disappoint me, or the people you are to be pleasing, you will surely die. If any of you do anything to jeopardize auction day, and I mean anything at all, you will surely die."

Her eyes settle on me as she talks. She stays like that for more than ten seconds, just staring at me like she was talking directly to me. Like her message was being passed only to me. I don't meet her eyes, I look everywhere but at her, because no matter how much I want to spit in her face and slap her, I know I cannot win. So, I shut up, and I take in her condescending look, and look everywhere but at her.