CHAPTER THREE192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLDVGMgROH4
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.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlzK1iLzLAw
The blue paper clip was gone now.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJNJMLGKddz
In its place, tucked neatly in the bougainvillea’s twisted stems, was something new.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaEhChNoVGJ
A strip of navy-blue school tie fabric, knotted once in the middle. Tied tightly. Left deliberately?192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7df6e6OcgC
Her breath caught. It hadn’t rained. No wind could have blown it there.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqdeaiPiU6J
She saw it.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2n75Hk2lL9
She answered.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP3hlzfAwqd
But who?192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhykqIB87qj
Kim hadn’t meant to stay out so late. Again.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1tw6XAO1r3
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.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiEWzUtoGap
Too quiet.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcFasNL9JUd
Suddenly, Footsteps. More than one. Running. Fast—soft, quick, like running feet hitting the red dirt behind the classroom block. Then another.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRCc41UaaQZ
Fast, urgent, cutting through the damp evening like blades.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZYpRc1btTs
She turned her head sharply.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYoRwlOtxpr
From inside the compound.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSbfKge0Q32
Closer.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3tXtAutvnq
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.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRiiIKtditz
They were boys.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBRVXBjxbsX
And they were running away—from the direction of her dormitory.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0S8WlQnnOD
Her mouth went dry. They didn’t see her. Didn’t stop.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyuXX8oOqCn
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.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeCU8GU0pXF
Then—voices. Behind them.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsMX4w1IzwA
Kim strained to listen. At first, all she heard was the rustling of leaves. But then came the unmistakable swish of skirts.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhHkt9244ra
Three figures stepped into view from the same direction the boys had come.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyb60iD7OZS
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.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiK6b89EuPy
Kim’s blood ran cold. Were they prefects? No.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvAFzLwmqH1
No prefect moved like that. With such silence. Such purpose.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgaXU5pIAGV
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.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsrmnQCel1K
Kim didn’t breathe. The girl in the hood turned suddenly, eyes locking straight toward where Kim crouched in the bush.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUDmTNpZhDh
The night seemed to collapse inward.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4vw11onRzT
But they didn’t approach. Didn’t say a word.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpKsJ0tRE0G
Then they turned and walked away.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ83CoEjpHVL
Back into the dark.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXQzBuJGrJe
Kim stayed there for what felt like hours, barely breathing. The wind rustled through the bougainvillea, brushing the tie gently against the stone.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM4LnGicFJM
The wall had cracked. Not broken, but cracked.192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlAWYzbY7FB
Something had changed. And tomorrow, someone would know and she had seen it.
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192Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuayHVlyCfM
