CHAPTER THREE209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHYvdxgMP4t
Two nights after Kim found the letter—and after Seline’s cryptic warning—she returned to the wall again, this time unable to stop herself. The silence was addictive. Dangerous, even. She hadn’t told anyone, not even her closest friend Shiko. Especially not Shiko.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfZiCoJvo1d
The blue paper clip was gone now.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7x3N9vMT89
In its place, tucked neatly in the bougainvillea’s twisted stems, was something new.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJv4QdgP3zv
A strip of navy-blue school tie fabric, knotted once in the middle. Tied tightly. Left deliberately?209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLHlIvnnb7s
Her breath caught. It hadn’t rained. No wind could have blown it there.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsK4L7ddrH0
She saw it.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaRrmtGMXxK
She answered.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiMfiWIGvqk
But who?209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDUYRaPkzHx
Kim hadn’t meant to stay out so late. Again.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVCha5gtZBQ
But the tie—the knotted strip of blue—had her trapped in thought. She sat half-hidden behind the bougainvillea wall, hugging her knees to her chest, watching the stars blink through a thin curtain of cloud. The school was unusually quiet.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHoHbFiSUeF
Too quiet.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY31VsktXOf
Suddenly, Footsteps. More than one. Running. Fast—soft, quick, like running feet hitting the red dirt behind the classroom block. Then another.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK8XSz4LHY1
Fast, urgent, cutting through the damp evening like blades.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZETK1qecdM
She turned her head sharply.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7yITxVkOd0
From inside the compound.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOl5Bo0Qmmx
Closer.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ80GoZiBQar
Kim ducked instinctively as two figures sprinted past, barely ten meters away. Shadows, tall and lean, moving with practiced urgency. Not girls. Not the way they ran. The cut of their silhouettes. One had short-cropped hair, the other a limping gait.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKRZaG5wKfd
They were boys.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHmVAYv2pE4
And they were running away—from the direction of her dormitory.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa2ezSTH4p1
Her mouth went dry. They didn’t see her. Didn’t stop.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPv6aT3cZjn
She crouched lower as they reached the wall. One of them boosted the other up effortlessly, then scrambled up behind him in a way that spoke of practice, of routine. They had done this before. She watched the top of the wall as the shadows passed— shapes, tall, swift-moving. Then gone.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFUDQWEV4FR
Then—voices. Behind them.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAxJVB00sMx
Kim strained to listen. At first, all she heard was the rustling of leaves. But then came the unmistakable swish of skirts.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ74epP7QU4O
Three figures stepped into view from the same direction the boys had come.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv42Lwb24vq
They were wearing girls' school uniforms—blue skirts, white blouses. One of them had a hood up, shadowing her face. The others didn’t speak, just turned their heads slowly, scanning the darkness like wolves in the dark.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCnmf7Hhm1w
Kim’s blood ran cold. Were they prefects? No.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3zwISR0CIv
No prefect moved like that. With such silence. Such purpose.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAG0ydiGuOw
The tallest of them bent near the wall, picked something up—the torn shred of tie fabric—and held it to her nose. As if scent would tell her what sight could not then tossed back on the ground.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH1myOoZMjf
Kim didn’t breathe. The girl in the hood turned suddenly, eyes locking straight toward where Kim crouched in the bush.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlxVABuFbjM
The night seemed to collapse inward.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0I5JgKPiSB
But they didn’t approach. Didn’t say a word.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvkjiGlyorg
Then they turned and walked away.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡakUMMaSgF0
Back into the dark.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2xXmZI8jCg
Kim stayed there for what felt like hours, barely breathing. The wind rustled through the bougainvillea, brushing the tie gently against the stone.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ72gCTqzqxm
The wall had cracked. Not broken, but cracked.209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRL1ENdSA9c
Something had changed. And tomorrow, someone would know and she had seen it.
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209Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT2e71UDPJo
