CHAPTER THREE606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXbH82cmZLi
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.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvm8yzQfhYP
The blue paper clip was gone now.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiKKvuz5eV2
In its place, tucked neatly in the bougainvillea’s twisted stems, was something new.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrU4UI1P6Yx
A strip of navy-blue school tie fabric, knotted once in the middle. Tied tightly. Left deliberately?606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEdbOeH5qp1
Her breath caught. It hadn’t rained. No wind could have blown it there.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIDfPQfLnFZ
She saw it.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWZm3VRK22B
She answered.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwp7zTm6LFn
But who?606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbCUh3xmx36
Kim hadn’t meant to stay out so late. Again.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Hp3uxr69j
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.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwZUhKON1Ab
Too quiet.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCuCft3RW1A
Suddenly, Footsteps. More than one. Running. Fast—soft, quick, like running feet hitting the red dirt behind the classroom block. Then another.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR6OJaqn2vk
Fast, urgent, cutting through the damp evening like blades.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhJJRtmxRev
She turned her head sharply.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjIZ16QytXz
From inside the compound.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT30f3rHPxw
Closer.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPoqUqVa6CA
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.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2kzVCw8Zlm
They were boys.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMub2dXI7T8
And they were running away—from the direction of her dormitory.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFneaiZTrqH
Her mouth went dry. They didn’t see her. Didn’t stop.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpSQiboVYxD
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.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfomf5hEHmk
Then—voices. Behind them.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSdXlkuMmnp
Kim strained to listen. At first, all she heard was the rustling of leaves. But then came the unmistakable swish of skirts.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXQJVOdQUB2
Three figures stepped into view from the same direction the boys had come.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxO03If15Ko
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.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsgpHNXtvFG
Kim’s blood ran cold. Were they prefects? No.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtdJTM2DeCX
No prefect moved like that. With such silence. Such purpose.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9OyTu35Dbu
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.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGr1rZTMZC7
Kim didn’t breathe. The girl in the hood turned suddenly, eyes locking straight toward where Kim crouched in the bush.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOVcShlCDfd
The night seemed to collapse inward.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiG0DnBTn8M
But they didn’t approach. Didn’t say a word.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhWIyB49YKG
Then they turned and walked away.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRJYxqJkcTt
Back into the dark.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRAtx67dqQo
Kim stayed there for what felt like hours, barely breathing. The wind rustled through the bougainvillea, brushing the tie gently against the stone.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQcR964JWWU
The wall had cracked. Not broken, but cracked.606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxQxPh7s0sS
Something had changed. And tomorrow, someone would know and she had seen it.
606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT9jcBDHgeC
606Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcoczaW6028
and then Add to home screen.