Elena slowly woke up to the sound of chattering. She wasn't even awake yet and everything was already beginning to annoy her. She stayed still for a moment, trying to make out what the voices she was hearing were saying.
They were speaking in hush voices, as if they were trying not to wake her.
"Do you think she'll be calm?" a tiny voice asked.
"She doesn't look like a calm person. Trust me on this." Another slightly thicker voice, but still tiny, asked.
Yeah no shit.
"I don't want her to end up like Judy, she really looks pretty."
Who the hell is Judy? And what happened to her? Why don't they want me to end like her?
These questions swarmed in Elena's head as she tried to keep her eyes shut, pretending to be asleep.
"Guys look, I think she's awake." Another different voice said and they all grew quiet.
Elena knew they were all looking at her, but she still refused to open her eyes and face a reality she was still struggling to accept.
She remembered her head being covered with a black cloth last night after she was successfully sold and bought. For a moment, she panicked, thinking she was about to be hanged, but then she realized that the black cloth was probably to prevent her from seeing the route to the place they were taking her.
Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately in some aspects. She had fallen asleep before they even reached where they were taking her. And now here she was, pretending to be asleep while she felt about two to three sets of eyes trained on her.
At this point, pretending to be asleep was suddenly starting to get harder. She could literally feel their eyes on her.
"We can see your eyelids flickering." The tiny voice said again and giggled.
She heard a sigh, then a voice followed. "It's really no use pretending to be asleep. It's better you're already awake and functioning by the time they come for us."
Come for who?
Elena slowly opened her eyes after that and sat up slowly. Her eyes didn't take long to adjust to the not too bright lights of the room, then she noticed three people sitting on the bed opposite hers.
She stared openly at them, taking them in one after the other.
The first girl from the right, looked the oldest, about a few years older than her. She had long dark hair and a set of feline, grey eyes that seemed to stare into Elena's soul. The second girl looked a bit younger, about Elena's age. Just like Elena, she had blonde hair, but a bit lighter in color and very curly and her eyes were a beautiful shade of green.
The last girl however made Elena's eyebrows raise in questioning. She looked tiny, very tiny. Like a child. She's probably no older than seventeen. Or maybe even less.
The thought spiked fear and irritation in Elena's chest. Could it be that she was also sold like she was?
She had a beautiful set of orange curls and beautiful bright green eyes with a very bright expression on her face. She looked the happiest to be here.
Needless to say, they were all very beautiful and looked very healthy. That gave Elena the tiniest bit of hope.
"Hello new roommate! My name is Camila and I'm 21 years old!" The tiny girl exclaimed first with a bright smile and Elena immediately noted that she was the one with the tiny voice she was hearing in her sleep.
So she wasn't seventeen.
Elena didn't know if she should be thankful or surprised that the girl is actually an adult and not seventeen.
Camila looked at the other two girls as if waiting for them to introduce themselves too.
The one beside her rolled her eyes and sighed.
"I'm Victoria, 24 years old." Victoria introduced with less enthusiasm than Camila.
Then they all looked at the last girl, the one with the grey eyes.
"I'm Janice, 26 years old." Jadice said flatly.
Camila was the first to look at Elena with an encouraging smile. Elena knew what that meant and sighed.
"My name is Elena." She introduced briefly.
Silence settled in the room as they all looked at her.
"What?" Elena muttered dryly after a while.
"Your age?" Victoria asked.
"I don't think that's necessary." Elena replied curtly, finally deciding to look around. There were a total of six beds in the room, three on opposite sides.
The beds all had the same buttercream blanket. And she also noticed that the three girls in the room all had the same nightdress.
Elena immediately looked down at her body and realized she was wearing the same nightdress too. Her face paled in horror. Had those men changed her without her consent?
Judging by the way the older and powerful men were bidding on her at wherever she was last night, she didn't trust the powerless ones either.
"Calm down. We changed your dress for you. And about the age, it's pretty much something we'll be reciting everyday of your life from now on so you might as well start now." Janice said flatly.
What did she mean by that?
Elena didn't care. She just gave Janice a look and focused on something else. For example..
Where was she?
Why are there three other girls dressed alike and living in the same room?
After a while of silence and looking around, Elena finally decided to ask the question bugging her mind and stop beating around the bush.
"Were you guys bought at the auction like I was?"
The silence that came after was so loud it was deafening. She noticed Camila and Victoria look at each other briefly before looking back at her.
Just as they were about to give her a response. A knock sounded at the door and a woman who looked like she was in her early thirties walked in without permission.
She was dressed in a suit and a very fitted skirt, her pencil heels clicked as she walked into the room like she owned it. Her platinum blonde hair was straight and packed into a tight ponytail and the bright red lipstick painted on her thin lips was enough to blind Elena.
"Rise and shine girls! How was your night?" She asked so brightly with a smile that definitely didn't reach her eyes.