ADELINE'S POV
It'll be two months soon. Two months spent in this hell hole. That means I only have a few more weeks till auctioning day and I have to talk to Colton about it as soon as possible. I have to make him aware of what he has to do so that he and Dante can plan on how I'm going to get out of here.
I'm up early today. I haven't been able to get the little bit of sleep I used to since I found out that Naomi is here. I reckon that she hasn't been sleeping much either. She must be so scared and just the thought of her struggling and trying to make sense of her situation sends my stomach into a spiral.
I pace around my room when I suddenly hear my door click open. My heart leaps with joy in my chest as I expect Colton to walk in so I can talk to him about the plan but all joy and hope flies out the window when I see three girls walk into my room. One of them being Della. Except Della doesn't have the kind look on her face that she usually does and with the way the other two girls are staring at me, something tells me that they're not here to chat.
I recognize them as Poppy and Storm from the stage name that Veronica gave them and they are some of the girls that used to hang out with Silver.
"What are you doing here?" I ask them carefully as I take slow steps back. "Della what's going on?"
My thoughts are all over the place as I wonder where the guards are, as I wonder where Colton is.
"You don't belong here." Poppy says as she stalks closer to me.
"Don't come near me!" I warn her as I push myself back to the wall. "Della what the fuck is going on?" I ask Della again and she doesn't even have a remorseful look on her face. She looks like she has been completely possessed and corrupted by the two girls in front of me.
"Della, whatever they told you, it's not true." I say.
"Oh, they didn't have to tell me anything. Why do you get special treatment and we don't?" Her voice as she talks to me is something I do not recognize as the kindness that she introduced me to. Has she been pretending all this while?
"We're just here to remind you that you're not all that special. That you're just as pathetic as the rest of us." Della says and I don't believe the words coming out of her mouth. It doesn't make any sense.
"Della, what are you talking about? I'm your friend. I've been helping you all this time." I say as I try to reason with her, but she just looks away from me and focuses her gaze to the floor. I frown and look to the other girls.
"I thought we didn't have the right to leave our rooms." I say staring at the two other girls in front of me.
"Well sometimes, when Veronica isn't around, we make deals with the guards in exchange for a little bit of freedom." Storm says. "You walked in here and made us all look stupid in front of Veronica. You came in here to reduce our chances ate getting chosen during the auction. Tell me, do you think Veronica will like you all that much with an ugly face."
As she ends her sentence, she takes out a hair pin from her hair and points it at me. "How about we redecorate that face of yours."
My eyes widen. My heart beats in my chest. I look over to Della with pleading eyes btu she avoids my gaze. I'm trapped. Where the hell is Colton?
"If you're wondering where your little boyfriend is, one of the guards drugged him. Your little bodyguard boyfriend won't be coming to save you." Storm says with an evil laugh and then she launches at me and starts sticking the hair pin straight into my face. I thrash my body around in a futile attempt to get away from her.
I scream. I scream until my lungs hurt and then I hear a voice.
"WAKE UP ADELINE!" I jerk up from my bed with a loud scream. Hot tears stain my face and Colton, Colton is sitting on my bed and he's here. He's here and everything is fine. He holds me tight against him and I let him.
"My face. My face…" I stutter. "They were here and, and they were…" I sob and sniff as I try to get the words out of my mouth but all that comes out is gibberish and sobs.
"I- they were here. They were-" I cry harder.
"It's okay." Colton whispers softly. "It's okay. It was just a bad dream. You were dreaming that's all." He says and I hold him. I sink into his touch and I let him comfort me. He lets me cry until I can't anymore. Until all that is left in the room is silence.
"Can you please switch off the lights. Leave the one in the bathroom on." I tell him and he doesn't hesitate to obey. I don't know why I had such a horrible dream. I guess my paranoia is getting to me. I check the time on the wall and it's 3a.m.
"How did you-"
"I heard you scream." Colton answers. "I was just outside your door."
I raise my eyes to stare at his. "Do you stay there all night?" I ask him.
"Most nights. It's safer for you if I'm constantly guarding you." He tells me.
"You can just lock my door. No one will come in." I say.
"You don't know that. The men here are terrible. If we give them even the slightest opportunity to take their chances, they will. I wont let that happen." He explains and I slowly nod my head, still feeling wetness in my eyes as I sink in bed and pull my sheets closer to my body.
"What were you dreaming about?" Colton asks after a short pause.
"My face was getting stabbed." I say with a light scoff. "Of all the things I could worry about in my dream, it's my face getting destroyed that my mind decided to dream about."
"I think it makes sense." Colton blurts out and I look at him curiously.
"Here, you're required to be perfect. You're held up to standards that no one can meet. Maybe your mind doesn't like that it's been forced to be perceived as something it is not. Think of the dream as your subconscious telling you that your beauty doesn't lie in Veronica's eyes, but in yours."
He smiles softly at me and then starts walking back out.
"Colton…" I whisper.
"Yes." He answers.
"Thank you for coming." I say. He nods. He sighs. He walks out.