CHAPTER THREE37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡktJbB8Vi4g
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.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBPi7qEgKvh
The blue paper clip was gone now.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbCnOnklsPi
In its place, tucked neatly in the bougainvillea’s twisted stems, was something new.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq0FZVDP485
A strip of navy-blue school tie fabric, knotted once in the middle. Tied tightly. Left deliberately?37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzz5tWkT4Z9
Her breath caught. It hadn’t rained. No wind could have blown it there.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLwQXO8YOEK
She saw it.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZmg4pMntQ
She answered.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv3XeoSDlqQ
But who?37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd2kNoNTdDO
Kim hadn’t meant to stay out so late. Again.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPQVyoR5wNX
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.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAWF8qB48JV
Too quiet.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa0YkuZADFQ
Suddenly, Footsteps. More than one. Running. Fast—soft, quick, like running feet hitting the red dirt behind the classroom block. Then another.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIsr01K5T7o
Fast, urgent, cutting through the damp evening like blades.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjj1Geg8jOk
She turned her head sharply.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1zZrRx0u1u
From inside the compound.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZG2mWK1WN8
Closer.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnnijNoe9Kt
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.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXikKtb20LI
They were boys.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJLtMaNC9JW
And they were running away—from the direction of her dormitory.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEHYVIsa2oq
Her mouth went dry. They didn’t see her. Didn’t stop.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0HJZKnzO7k
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.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr0eDik2NGF
Then—voices. Behind them.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYAerXawyB3
Kim strained to listen. At first, all she heard was the rustling of leaves. But then came the unmistakable swish of skirts.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNjXYDM3vGa
Three figures stepped into view from the same direction the boys had come.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkeexckoNm2
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.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjcioAKWxb0
Kim’s blood ran cold. Were they prefects? No.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnRBbbbjC5H
No prefect moved like that. With such silence. Such purpose.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3WaaGrnB2P
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.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWwEfzY7h2N
Kim didn’t breathe. The girl in the hood turned suddenly, eyes locking straight toward where Kim crouched in the bush.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt3oNN4fQkd
The night seemed to collapse inward.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfMdbpgUBXI
But they didn’t approach. Didn’t say a word.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTmRRFymgZA
Then they turned and walked away.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIkKht32qU0
Back into the dark.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHS5M4sCzsj
Kim stayed there for what felt like hours, barely breathing. The wind rustled through the bougainvillea, brushing the tie gently against the stone.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg6yWqFnszw
The wall had cracked. Not broken, but cracked.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMjJyxeiZ7y
Something had changed. And tomorrow, someone would know and she had seen it.
37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1v58M07YZw
37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ71LCETlg2A
and then Add to home screen.