CHAPTER THREE18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOnGF0cCNo1
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf1YNCNj2kp
The blue paper clip was gone now.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd2hWQTQ9q7
In its place, tucked neatly in the bougainvillea’s twisted stems, was something new.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPiH4T144p3
A strip of navy-blue school tie fabric, knotted once in the middle. Tied tightly. Left deliberately?18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKrcrlp6u7b
Her breath caught. It hadn’t rained. No wind could have blown it there.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNO3vcDk3Uz
She saw it.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnc9Adbdt2z
She answered.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyZdIHPNf6M
But who?18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA5SRsSalwg
Kim hadn’t meant to stay out so late. Again.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCbtSJbzPLy
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE09JUKXRf8
Too quiet.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM7kqt7hBB3
Suddenly, Footsteps. More than one. Running. Fast—soft, quick, like running feet hitting the red dirt behind the classroom block. Then another.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe6NqcJuYvD
Fast, urgent, cutting through the damp evening like blades.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHyyzSwT8rL
She turned her head sharply.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡncmN099f3l
From inside the compound.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7WfvuJuWmn
Closer.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4GzHQplTf7
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoDgsFcbM5c
They were boys.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcQ1d5fRj1t
And they were running away—from the direction of her dormitory.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUv9pmLVTEA
Her mouth went dry. They didn’t see her. Didn’t stop.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvijmCx5k5h
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgx5Yo0yjtb
Then—voices. Behind them.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZdoAGke9Yf
Kim strained to listen. At first, all she heard was the rustling of leaves. But then came the unmistakable swish of skirts.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2AJnYVCLXa
Three figures stepped into view from the same direction the boys had come.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUffebXFOQE
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKVUxlgvf8e
Kim’s blood ran cold. Were they prefects? No.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡANhugDb2CN
No prefect moved like that. With such silence. Such purpose.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvthGDzWscP
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNNpZhIun3Z
Kim didn’t breathe. The girl in the hood turned suddenly, eyes locking straight toward where Kim crouched in the bush.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNEvPuVBEa4
The night seemed to collapse inward.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyB1mXZhZhC
But they didn’t approach. Didn’t say a word.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMMwWmnsoQE
Then they turned and walked away.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbm4hX8VXsT
Back into the dark.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrjjhQzRVES
Kim stayed there for what felt like hours, barely breathing. The wind rustled through the bougainvillea, brushing the tie gently against the stone.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0uz2Hhn08Q
The wall had cracked. Not broken, but cracked.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ0XJXPUdRY
Something had changed. And tomorrow, someone would know and she had seen it.
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18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtKTkL0ehFp
