CHAPTER THREE34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkEThc4lOMG
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.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt3319GWdNx
The blue paper clip was gone now.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡULKnLNFBvl
In its place, tucked neatly in the bougainvillea’s twisted stems, was something new.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLtna1is9bc
A strip of navy-blue school tie fabric, knotted once in the middle. Tied tightly. Left deliberately?34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1x4Wguh93q
Her breath caught. It hadn’t rained. No wind could have blown it there.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJDEYnu7fiZ
She saw it.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzoFe3RIRpk
She answered.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRQid3xhP47
But who?34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNTPfdyQIOF
Kim hadn’t meant to stay out so late. Again.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJExWG5iXRv
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.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY4jUtN5oVk
Too quiet.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYh71LDKoK4
Suddenly, Footsteps. More than one. Running. Fast—soft, quick, like running feet hitting the red dirt behind the classroom block. Then another.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQesYjqowCu
Fast, urgent, cutting through the damp evening like blades.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG5zsiFjmMd
She turned her head sharply.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLtHjKEFCGp
From inside the compound.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡchzTOcN5ME
Closer.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZEIVHiSwLt
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.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡirfY73Czjz
They were boys.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoLIQVIJts0
And they were running away—from the direction of her dormitory.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ51EFazFaH
Her mouth went dry. They didn’t see her. Didn’t stop.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcakM9OZpOx
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.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSTacZLe6RF
Then—voices. Behind them.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdU5E0Y1rAU
Kim strained to listen. At first, all she heard was the rustling of leaves. But then came the unmistakable swish of skirts.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg76HXkVlwW
Three figures stepped into view from the same direction the boys had come.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVHZaigOeNy
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.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH79VIiZy2T
Kim’s blood ran cold. Were they prefects? No.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu99jdvoRy2
No prefect moved like that. With such silence. Such purpose.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZJLRbeYJMG
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.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh9UBTWu3QS
Kim didn’t breathe. The girl in the hood turned suddenly, eyes locking straight toward where Kim crouched in the bush.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcEgUL4EhqX
The night seemed to collapse inward.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXyrP9yzQXg
But they didn’t approach. Didn’t say a word.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFET6aycdwF
Then they turned and walked away.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxdZntSkjiY
Back into the dark.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡokY9KmtO4e
Kim stayed there for what felt like hours, barely breathing. The wind rustled through the bougainvillea, brushing the tie gently against the stone.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnxoU3guuMC
The wall had cracked. Not broken, but cracked.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoip74LJ8sF
Something had changed. And tomorrow, someone would know and she had seen it.
34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeYsLOT8qYp
34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkhFCro5IW0
and then Add to home screen.