CHAPTER THREE200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPNrssjpOeJ
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.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvkhsOx8w43
The blue paper clip was gone now.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ01R99auqVW
In its place, tucked neatly in the bougainvillea’s twisted stems, was something new.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYGzLEG24Ax
A strip of navy-blue school tie fabric, knotted once in the middle. Tied tightly. Left deliberately?200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqgk0pRSdJ5
Her breath caught. It hadn’t rained. No wind could have blown it there.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCh6s6uHt5w
She saw it.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk1NzrHhZly
She answered.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡopOgesT5Sn
But who?200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4VfX7yagbF
Kim hadn’t meant to stay out so late. Again.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXmjU46Lgrc
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.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI7WvwEG4CQ
Too quiet.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz2lC7DeNQy
Suddenly, Footsteps. More than one. Running. Fast—soft, quick, like running feet hitting the red dirt behind the classroom block. Then another.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmG7EmP23nH
Fast, urgent, cutting through the damp evening like blades.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv4nYpurSNQ
She turned her head sharply.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGasocHyp4U
From inside the compound.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjMGRNl0YYL
Closer.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwNZmjMlm59
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.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjABWWUTTjl
They were boys.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7kYov6cI9F
And they were running away—from the direction of her dormitory.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV3ZDJLjcwj
Her mouth went dry. They didn’t see her. Didn’t stop.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡviPDjf9dJ5
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.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZdhgG5EyXA
Then—voices. Behind them.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE6NVP3JVfg
Kim strained to listen. At first, all she heard was the rustling of leaves. But then came the unmistakable swish of skirts.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu2VjQaQt5N
Three figures stepped into view from the same direction the boys had come.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOexG4cASLy
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.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9z4RUOMF4S
Kim’s blood ran cold. Were they prefects? No.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjUf0wq6Dz9
No prefect moved like that. With such silence. Such purpose.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyohp4Rbbrn
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.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ78LT818wAq
Kim didn’t breathe. The girl in the hood turned suddenly, eyes locking straight toward where Kim crouched in the bush.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOuG274DTA7
The night seemed to collapse inward.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgXr1X7ye2s
But they didn’t approach. Didn’t say a word.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDNtldGPXJf
Then they turned and walked away.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeSHeiitFC0
Back into the dark.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEZ9fAs9Jfy
Kim stayed there for what felt like hours, barely breathing. The wind rustled through the bougainvillea, brushing the tie gently against the stone.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkwpFn2WA7q
The wall had cracked. Not broken, but cracked.200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡagVAw48h6u
Something had changed. And tomorrow, someone would know and she had seen it.
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