CHAPTER THREE166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3x3jyzOhMe
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.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnvuqvEO3Pq
The blue paper clip was gone now.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMIvUqKCyf5
In its place, tucked neatly in the bougainvillea’s twisted stems, was something new.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCEBpUzaoRo
A strip of navy-blue school tie fabric, knotted once in the middle. Tied tightly. Left deliberately?166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv8OKnypvCF
Her breath caught. It hadn’t rained. No wind could have blown it there.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMkOEOqNszf
She saw it.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIL1AYnmgim
She answered.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAEKVrkv83P
But who?166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4vUT14NTHC
Kim hadn’t meant to stay out so late. Again.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1YELd3ujlU
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.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ30VEgKvHQp
Too quiet.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9kXxPKtNLP
Suddenly, Footsteps. More than one. Running. Fast—soft, quick, like running feet hitting the red dirt behind the classroom block. Then another.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2tAmTsomW1
Fast, urgent, cutting through the damp evening like blades.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3MCND08EWx
She turned her head sharply.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbuAn8rdI0h
From inside the compound.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvV0KduTwO6
Closer.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB0xHzp7BmJ
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.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm9OnC8IrTQ
They were boys.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD8O82YzC0i
And they were running away—from the direction of her dormitory.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuCkZ1OF8eI
Her mouth went dry. They didn’t see her. Didn’t stop.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLCXhI3gDVb
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.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKFtmJKrgfU
Then—voices. Behind them.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvXc4XKJ4MG
Kim strained to listen. At first, all she heard was the rustling of leaves. But then came the unmistakable swish of skirts.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUod6deYDWj
Three figures stepped into view from the same direction the boys had come.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDmJPR2xHgd
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.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0Q48V0FSo
Kim’s blood ran cold. Were they prefects? No.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf7pOveD8PG
No prefect moved like that. With such silence. Such purpose.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡajgi9FRCzB
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.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPTy9PrUlag
Kim didn’t breathe. The girl in the hood turned suddenly, eyes locking straight toward where Kim crouched in the bush.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgDI2XzZIY2
The night seemed to collapse inward.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSP8FhVxVRP
But they didn’t approach. Didn’t say a word.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm20XfGaRDD
Then they turned and walked away.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi9BXEH9L09
Back into the dark.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMEsc5zXQQh
Kim stayed there for what felt like hours, barely breathing. The wind rustled through the bougainvillea, brushing the tie gently against the stone.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtyGg6XNQNB
The wall had cracked. Not broken, but cracked.166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ0VTzqc7Wl
Something had changed. And tomorrow, someone would know and she had seen it.
166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe0VGaag95D
166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP0VDOM4LV6
and then Add to home screen.