CHAPTER THREE190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZUwADUwwia
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.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1tdSy7RZgZ
The blue paper clip was gone now.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxhZTtbCrQN
In its place, tucked neatly in the bougainvillea’s twisted stems, was something new.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOByIz4mzoy
A strip of navy-blue school tie fabric, knotted once in the middle. Tied tightly. Left deliberately?190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJnm4HG4hu0
Her breath caught. It hadn’t rained. No wind could have blown it there.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdHQXZb7lc5
She saw it.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkhPFCfbuJ3
She answered.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQqeamlblzb
But who?190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJCNSxMaVg0
Kim hadn’t meant to stay out so late. Again.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR8P8hwhm4v
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.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6dFNbkZtT8
Too quiet.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFHDerHglzY
Suddenly, Footsteps. More than one. Running. Fast—soft, quick, like running feet hitting the red dirt behind the classroom block. Then another.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMiSuNrBLMy
Fast, urgent, cutting through the damp evening like blades.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXXh3zWVAEs
She turned her head sharply.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9TVJdSY1Na
From inside the compound.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0lTle7R1Jm
Closer.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkk9l19twdg
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.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡECdaAoS1TV
They were boys.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡedR4cz6nXC
And they were running away—from the direction of her dormitory.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrvkuIzR7IK
Her mouth went dry. They didn’t see her. Didn’t stop.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi5KOCdof4c
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.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf3OcjQNUB8
Then—voices. Behind them.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEhzHbuS9kb
Kim strained to listen. At first, all she heard was the rustling of leaves. But then came the unmistakable swish of skirts.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi0lCfu8eQe
Three figures stepped into view from the same direction the boys had come.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFKr3ucMeZD
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.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGc3WnikC41
Kim’s blood ran cold. Were they prefects? No.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXktm8CXRaw
No prefect moved like that. With such silence. Such purpose.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa7tcSiiEl9
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.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBQxdiYTrqC
Kim didn’t breathe. The girl in the hood turned suddenly, eyes locking straight toward where Kim crouched in the bush.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLmyqilAGpb
The night seemed to collapse inward.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa1exB5znOv
But they didn’t approach. Didn’t say a word.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsRJjy86d7j
Then they turned and walked away.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAnTBESCyM5
Back into the dark.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXDNpHxKOsH
Kim stayed there for what felt like hours, barely breathing. The wind rustled through the bougainvillea, brushing the tie gently against the stone.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx2kY5evKBg
The wall had cracked. Not broken, but cracked.190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYYGJsUoDmj
Something had changed. And tomorrow, someone would know and she had seen it.
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190Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgyGogA9OH3
