CHAPTER THREE95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMxqz5vWGaB
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.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmEpWgWX3lM
The blue paper clip was gone now.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCGvu2LNmcp
In its place, tucked neatly in the bougainvillea’s twisted stems, was something new.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqgV79lJ6Ru
A strip of navy-blue school tie fabric, knotted once in the middle. Tied tightly. Left deliberately?95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCVll4DcZhA
Her breath caught. It hadn’t rained. No wind could have blown it there.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrVSZMwMgcK
She saw it.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0JIuh9RHxg
She answered.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQFWlPDjy8p
But who?95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0UgTNejXIc
Kim hadn’t meant to stay out so late. Again.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvwk6lTRSJN
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.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfX1RlmVJmV
Too quiet.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ52UqeypKzR
Suddenly, Footsteps. More than one. Running. Fast—soft, quick, like running feet hitting the red dirt behind the classroom block. Then another.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡckNlA1DstN
Fast, urgent, cutting through the damp evening like blades.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNcCClEGflq
She turned her head sharply.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcKT02yAiJ3
From inside the compound.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnuluaJT6Y2
Closer.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCUD8Maxztm
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.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmFZ6vVLoB9
They were boys.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvYxd1ckEAS
And they were running away—from the direction of her dormitory.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGUh97x14Tl
Her mouth went dry. They didn’t see her. Didn’t stop.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ929dhqwvY
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.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGxjBgRxqCt
Then—voices. Behind them.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6NUfG4TlEU
Kim strained to listen. At first, all she heard was the rustling of leaves. But then came the unmistakable swish of skirts.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ltOTfCh4i
Three figures stepped into view from the same direction the boys had come.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe97v7BnSJ6
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.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa1rUYRENp1
Kim’s blood ran cold. Were they prefects? No.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡftJgst0YRP
No prefect moved like that. With such silence. Such purpose.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMh4CcqPn81
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.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZPRjpNlBe
Kim didn’t breathe. The girl in the hood turned suddenly, eyes locking straight toward where Kim crouched in the bush.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUEsekHXDn3
The night seemed to collapse inward.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1UFkL4S0D8
But they didn’t approach. Didn’t say a word.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ91mIXA8oZB
Then they turned and walked away.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMs528ErWzk
Back into the dark.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh2zFgywoVm
Kim stayed there for what felt like hours, barely breathing. The wind rustled through the bougainvillea, brushing the tie gently against the stone.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE7sbd7UiDx
The wall had cracked. Not broken, but cracked.95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIb6kthVihF
Something had changed. And tomorrow, someone would know and she had seen it.
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95Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPp6S6EEFaT
