CHAPTER THREE26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVEuLRyAFD0
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.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9i5LHuGhWs
The blue paper clip was gone now.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKv8b1SBnmW
In its place, tucked neatly in the bougainvillea’s twisted stems, was something new.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqipNWCRUqv
A strip of navy-blue school tie fabric, knotted once in the middle. Tied tightly. Left deliberately?26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzNH9ooP295
Her breath caught. It hadn’t rained. No wind could have blown it there.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRjdhiNN489
She saw it.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6KV6k7VNlK
She answered.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9B1I9nJ1mX
But who?26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡur73mzlFue
Kim hadn’t meant to stay out so late. Again.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSrAY6FWV2b
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.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG8mCmVJnWq
Too quiet.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbgmjFTFxra
Suddenly, Footsteps. More than one. Running. Fast—soft, quick, like running feet hitting the red dirt behind the classroom block. Then another.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwSE2RFMQyB
Fast, urgent, cutting through the damp evening like blades.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2jPF3Fd157
She turned her head sharply.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdDQyO3HNRu
From inside the compound.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwTUHDThZY8
Closer.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4DvgzHgn8Y
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.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOv8oFU06BM
They were boys.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0PWpkAjV33
And they were running away—from the direction of her dormitory.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1dcz1e7whd
Her mouth went dry. They didn’t see her. Didn’t stop.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBSb0mMbrlX
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.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXp9OxohW3k
Then—voices. Behind them.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU1RaC11rJP
Kim strained to listen. At first, all she heard was the rustling of leaves. But then came the unmistakable swish of skirts.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqusdr7wHz1
Three figures stepped into view from the same direction the boys had come.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpAmTP1oyC3
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.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7KFd1MXAL0
Kim’s blood ran cold. Were they prefects? No.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq8eaD8SmGv
No prefect moved like that. With such silence. Such purpose.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡraGY3TRliD
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.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPs89l5HT0Z
Kim didn’t breathe. The girl in the hood turned suddenly, eyes locking straight toward where Kim crouched in the bush.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnkc8CY6S5G
The night seemed to collapse inward.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6WOlihwDJF
But they didn’t approach. Didn’t say a word.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvSF5s3Lbr6
Then they turned and walked away.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmECnErlQiV
Back into the dark.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzTTHWigLjG
Kim stayed there for what felt like hours, barely breathing. The wind rustled through the bougainvillea, brushing the tie gently against the stone.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkZtxbdNd10
The wall had cracked. Not broken, but cracked.26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsJy1ExHun9
Something had changed. And tomorrow, someone would know and she had seen it.
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb7tZGHiN6u
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9DkZjvY4JY
