CHAPTER THREE605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoJ8TklYVWv
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.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxdLIgoJlJH
The blue paper clip was gone now.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0VYfhSVZ84
In its place, tucked neatly in the bougainvillea’s twisted stems, was something new.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBvNwtc3a0M
A strip of navy-blue school tie fabric, knotted once in the middle. Tied tightly. Left deliberately?605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvV0iGutwhV
Her breath caught. It hadn’t rained. No wind could have blown it there.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI6qU8KxNTB
She saw it.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXKXzv0t7aG
She answered.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoiAV40FnQ9
But who?605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQfuXhM54HF
Kim hadn’t meant to stay out so late. Again.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGNfN5UjYJX
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.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRR83yD2pkZ
Too quiet.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKbvl2DHhNr
Suddenly, Footsteps. More than one. Running. Fast—soft, quick, like running feet hitting the red dirt behind the classroom block. Then another.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpgK5OL10Qc
Fast, urgent, cutting through the damp evening like blades.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyqxQ72hmL5
She turned her head sharply.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdc12dasqVD
From inside the compound.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIBJBTtJiGK
Closer.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbwuFBGtNzl
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.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK6OLBcmEUX
They were boys.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5b0Q86fSP4
And they were running away—from the direction of her dormitory.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYAamMCQ5OO
Her mouth went dry. They didn’t see her. Didn’t stop.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdaBkLSJ2rw
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.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkcBi6bRzat
Then—voices. Behind them.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmirnMHEAHX
Kim strained to listen. At first, all she heard was the rustling of leaves. But then came the unmistakable swish of skirts.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxtwItmsYAN
Three figures stepped into view from the same direction the boys had come.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpnCjqHNVPK
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.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQcRp7K3Ju3
Kim’s blood ran cold. Were they prefects? No.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLGHUEV2Dp9
No prefect moved like that. With such silence. Such purpose.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNIDpqCHebg
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.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFh84qNtNnx
Kim didn’t breathe. The girl in the hood turned suddenly, eyes locking straight toward where Kim crouched in the bush.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG2tQLf6Nle
The night seemed to collapse inward.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOjIDP1qcm6
But they didn’t approach. Didn’t say a word.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcSJqxgu0xz
Then they turned and walked away.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzAMC0i8kfX
Back into the dark.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoXXAigVi4y
Kim stayed there for what felt like hours, barely breathing. The wind rustled through the bougainvillea, brushing the tie gently against the stone.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw7RVo9IkpX
The wall had cracked. Not broken, but cracked.605Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡARGRNMGKBf
Something had changed. And tomorrow, someone would know and she had seen it.
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and then Add to home screen.