CHAPTER THREE199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ96wqVP03mo
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.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDLMp6SP5Fz
The blue paper clip was gone now.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq0yaW4Lo3J
In its place, tucked neatly in the bougainvillea’s twisted stems, was something new.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9mq2OCEGOk
A strip of navy-blue school tie fabric, knotted once in the middle. Tied tightly. Left deliberately?199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa4sDJCKfzW
Her breath caught. It hadn’t rained. No wind could have blown it there.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxzetvK24ZZ
She saw it.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGkO6HF0QLr
She answered.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ5L8yjxKSb
But who?199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiZUsxFrwBl
Kim hadn’t meant to stay out so late. Again.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi7NhzEJgxC
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.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdRS8xSvhvI
Too quiet.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqKcaDE8v0Z
Suddenly, Footsteps. More than one. Running. Fast—soft, quick, like running feet hitting the red dirt behind the classroom block. Then another.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ26VNZcRQ6t
Fast, urgent, cutting through the damp evening like blades.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkQkPR2ghxP
She turned her head sharply.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHdCcNl6H7x
From inside the compound.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO7OIIkHyY0
Closer.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWnL2pyrMKt
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.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgI9zoVMgWy
They were boys.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsqxWqkUrG8
And they were running away—from the direction of her dormitory.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYd62Q8xrtj
Her mouth went dry. They didn’t see her. Didn’t stop.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPYxhqEoYOp
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.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDirXJw9jrU
Then—voices. Behind them.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN3N1QT8PQx
Kim strained to listen. At first, all she heard was the rustling of leaves. But then came the unmistakable swish of skirts.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsQEsj39qV8
Three figures stepped into view from the same direction the boys had come.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9AI0iYbbkM
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.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrqru4RKvJT
Kim’s blood ran cold. Were they prefects? No.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzkOjTjGivK
No prefect moved like that. With such silence. Such purpose.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAe6B9m7IAU
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.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEklxuLkpra
Kim didn’t breathe. The girl in the hood turned suddenly, eyes locking straight toward where Kim crouched in the bush.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH26I4jzx94
The night seemed to collapse inward.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3YlofYCwCr
But they didn’t approach. Didn’t say a word.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6zEyIhry7P
Then they turned and walked away.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjccRX7BHwf
Back into the dark.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡASxgOJ2ypY
Kim stayed there for what felt like hours, barely breathing. The wind rustled through the bougainvillea, brushing the tie gently against the stone.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtWev9DcHzQ
The wall had cracked. Not broken, but cracked.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjdy3kNOZLy
Something had changed. And tomorrow, someone would know and she had seen it.
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and then Add to home screen.