CHAPTER THREE196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAwWSblNRnq
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.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDNRsf6YOeK
The blue paper clip was gone now.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH2VXxbEE1R
In its place, tucked neatly in the bougainvillea’s twisted stems, was something new.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEz3Rza09q5
A strip of navy-blue school tie fabric, knotted once in the middle. Tied tightly. Left deliberately?196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6wVHB6fKCE
Her breath caught. It hadn’t rained. No wind could have blown it there.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy8SqEKbTTF
She saw it.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcA6nuhBBSa
She answered.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIoAOgYKGoT
But who?196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmfuZgRrXtw
Kim hadn’t meant to stay out so late. Again.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNR3fJIPDea
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.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8P0Kc7zltS
Too quiet.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlNZDjPfyOq
Suddenly, Footsteps. More than one. Running. Fast—soft, quick, like running feet hitting the red dirt behind the classroom block. Then another.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHGkmaAjHPB
Fast, urgent, cutting through the damp evening like blades.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg8E4nQ3IpY
She turned her head sharply.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3tI4KqLHLE
From inside the compound.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRmDVkGYT2j
Closer.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFlFbk3biMx
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.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgiy02yUZvW
They were boys.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZfDilV6j20
And they were running away—from the direction of her dormitory.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡULCBqd1acp
Her mouth went dry. They didn’t see her. Didn’t stop.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH2fTBNxYO3
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.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx1JmuIfPn5
Then—voices. Behind them.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiqJ6FIC1nO
Kim strained to listen. At first, all she heard was the rustling of leaves. But then came the unmistakable swish of skirts.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNbUN1Qq1ZI
Three figures stepped into view from the same direction the boys had come.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFryKf2XjRV
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.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJLg59JfFO1
Kim’s blood ran cold. Were they prefects? No.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwkVDiQbgKy
No prefect moved like that. With such silence. Such purpose.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDJ8W1PkV6x
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.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzKJ1MchYvY
Kim didn’t breathe. The girl in the hood turned suddenly, eyes locking straight toward where Kim crouched in the bush.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGC3a47YSS1
The night seemed to collapse inward.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHGUnsZxc8x
But they didn’t approach. Didn’t say a word.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAFjHoRXoLw
Then they turned and walked away.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPR20wOThby
Back into the dark.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEg0fxBbVVI
Kim stayed there for what felt like hours, barely breathing. The wind rustled through the bougainvillea, brushing the tie gently against the stone.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0aHv9Tdu8x
The wall had cracked. Not broken, but cracked.196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpqooXy9Rvs
Something had changed. And tomorrow, someone would know and she had seen it.
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196Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsQYo8qXIhJ
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