CHAPTER THREE25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIP1gfKchSH
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.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAlTRXgNJFJ
The blue paper clip was gone now.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8mw41rESk6
In its place, tucked neatly in the bougainvillea’s twisted stems, was something new.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyhCBUq2Ny9
A strip of navy-blue school tie fabric, knotted once in the middle. Tied tightly. Left deliberately?25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6UWx73Z1g2
Her breath caught. It hadn’t rained. No wind could have blown it there.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTurjU9mNPs
She saw it.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMso41eEAEA
She answered.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH3V49Xe8I6
But who?25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGpUG8A8P86
Kim hadn’t meant to stay out so late. Again.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrNLqV9AT7C
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.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx5Ca5sWWG2
Too quiet.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN7E7iiR4Hn
Suddenly, Footsteps. More than one. Running. Fast—soft, quick, like running feet hitting the red dirt behind the classroom block. Then another.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWFbhqshgmK
Fast, urgent, cutting through the damp evening like blades.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvf0rLsvuGp
She turned her head sharply.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmbbuO10oxY
From inside the compound.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJwsSRnBOR2
Closer.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5i6K5R0pt6
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.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFwxIxTKHBY
They were boys.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLym3hnhQZm
And they were running away—from the direction of her dormitory.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1z4zRlaOGQ
Her mouth went dry. They didn’t see her. Didn’t stop.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYwqeyHBQS6
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.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡstt4DWT2Ot
Then—voices. Behind them.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTWEZtJtviB
Kim strained to listen. At first, all she heard was the rustling of leaves. But then came the unmistakable swish of skirts.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqOcZk4G7xd
Three figures stepped into view from the same direction the boys had come.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKbMkKxzinC
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.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Efs7oMQg7
Kim’s blood ran cold. Were they prefects? No.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx8uPWV3y4v
No prefect moved like that. With such silence. Such purpose.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYWOnqQIPwD
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.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOAzxsf8nB3
Kim didn’t breathe. The girl in the hood turned suddenly, eyes locking straight toward where Kim crouched in the bush.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNqwCaBTovW
The night seemed to collapse inward.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoXOGn5jtj6
But they didn’t approach. Didn’t say a word.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKzMr8JjFGR
Then they turned and walked away.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ21fVnkgX2m
Back into the dark.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxmNwosraPz
Kim stayed there for what felt like hours, barely breathing. The wind rustled through the bougainvillea, brushing the tie gently against the stone.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhuzHR9rLum
The wall had cracked. Not broken, but cracked.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRZXxt6XZyE
Something had changed. And tomorrow, someone would know and she had seen it.
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25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbDL3VCfTZf
