CHAPTER THREE174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUN4KwO4mbs
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.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1l0qtNScF6
The blue paper clip was gone now.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYyOaLwp1fj
In its place, tucked neatly in the bougainvillea’s twisted stems, was something new.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg3BlD8jsev
A strip of navy-blue school tie fabric, knotted once in the middle. Tied tightly. Left deliberately?174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡScfiG3BFUA
Her breath caught. It hadn’t rained. No wind could have blown it there.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe6N1bZf5Ov
She saw it.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9zWRQ0EGKX
She answered.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgEMfOv60fN
But who?174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEjKU1rwYud
Kim hadn’t meant to stay out so late. Again.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA1pYHeRFqS
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.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9pHUxUzb0D
Too quiet.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLm7fOMiaoJ
Suddenly, Footsteps. More than one. Running. Fast—soft, quick, like running feet hitting the red dirt behind the classroom block. Then another.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVk66S4YwZb
Fast, urgent, cutting through the damp evening like blades.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHZTvHJA6GW
She turned her head sharply.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJjDgVSJr6h
From inside the compound.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf8WxP2GXNq
Closer.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7AV8FKNw3u
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.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6rmBMWcqcl
They were boys.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrNryOxsWw3
And they were running away—from the direction of her dormitory.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡToI7rt1tMp
Her mouth went dry. They didn’t see her. Didn’t stop.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1CKj2DnUGw
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.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWQM4KJxdBK
Then—voices. Behind them.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡITmAFPiCD9
Kim strained to listen. At first, all she heard was the rustling of leaves. But then came the unmistakable swish of skirts.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgOXEtaGOfy
Three figures stepped into view from the same direction the boys had come.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIP7mYy1Ury
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.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiI3VNhfMuI
Kim’s blood ran cold. Were they prefects? No.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzRiqP2fuoE
No prefect moved like that. With such silence. Such purpose.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8D7wkTyDha
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.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSHwfC0z34W
Kim didn’t breathe. The girl in the hood turned suddenly, eyes locking straight toward where Kim crouched in the bush.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpvJRUxbhba
The night seemed to collapse inward.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpTgMUjfIsO
But they didn’t approach. Didn’t say a word.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcajecKeyhV
Then they turned and walked away.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhslfSPonrh
Back into the dark.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnHc9StuZen
Kim stayed there for what felt like hours, barely breathing. The wind rustled through the bougainvillea, brushing the tie gently against the stone.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhiVxrHgzyM
The wall had cracked. Not broken, but cracked.174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRtcGNIQRNR
Something had changed. And tomorrow, someone would know and she had seen it.
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174Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡApQMSLJCiI
