CHAPTER THREE229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi1ivhJIQg5
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.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkthMOzrvLl
The blue paper clip was gone now.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvgU3dCyfcx
In its place, tucked neatly in the bougainvillea’s twisted stems, was something new.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJgHujSmgiT
A strip of navy-blue school tie fabric, knotted once in the middle. Tied tightly. Left deliberately?229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBUbz5v3IAL
Her breath caught. It hadn’t rained. No wind could have blown it there.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyCYVWI9gCY
She saw it.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7iKFjO6GDY
She answered.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfObrtnFBaZ
But who?229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhw3bznCuMO
Kim hadn’t meant to stay out so late. Again.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2hIQHY6ihE
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.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRX7gyLQyhR
Too quiet.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI6WmxNB3tp
Suddenly, Footsteps. More than one. Running. Fast—soft, quick, like running feet hitting the red dirt behind the classroom block. Then another.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnnypT6ZFD5
Fast, urgent, cutting through the damp evening like blades.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOVLfzjrZJI
She turned her head sharply.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjIIzG9mcFx
From inside the compound.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVEyriv11Mc
Closer.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjTlwPINjtw
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.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8RQxR5XRrY
They were boys.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG5KIfkYj1t
And they were running away—from the direction of her dormitory.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡen3Reo9ojF
Her mouth went dry. They didn’t see her. Didn’t stop.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpQNfwIcNnD
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.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvfGHPgvMem
Then—voices. Behind them.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0rybEmKRRl
Kim strained to listen. At first, all she heard was the rustling of leaves. But then came the unmistakable swish of skirts.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqp84irymeh
Three figures stepped into view from the same direction the boys had come.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu5xrq48cT2
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.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvpgfkgLNRQ
Kim’s blood ran cold. Were they prefects? No.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkSoqTgl7UK
No prefect moved like that. With such silence. Such purpose.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmTFGpTJ3hj
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.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPAEcpJuGP
Kim didn’t breathe. The girl in the hood turned suddenly, eyes locking straight toward where Kim crouched in the bush.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzemANpabv6
The night seemed to collapse inward.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGTx0VCkizv
But they didn’t approach. Didn’t say a word.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY7pBSL5OYm
Then they turned and walked away.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcz9UBNfVES
Back into the dark.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ90aI40Tn2a
Kim stayed there for what felt like hours, barely breathing. The wind rustled through the bougainvillea, brushing the tie gently against the stone.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnCJbYCdjDJ
The wall had cracked. Not broken, but cracked.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrVK14wT5fr
Something had changed. And tomorrow, someone would know and she had seen it.
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229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeqDOak7Z2V
