CHAPTER THREE29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG9e6aTdmc7
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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ68B4LkoHCX
The blue paper clip was gone now.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6pxCAqz8LX
In its place, tucked neatly in the bougainvillea’s twisted stems, was something new.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWM5BuWHZhl
A strip of navy-blue school tie fabric, knotted once in the middle. Tied tightly. Left deliberately?29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCkNhioF5Cx
Her breath caught. It hadn’t rained. No wind could have blown it there.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrbxelpD0iw
She saw it.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi34zfFzLGr
She answered.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSG7md7KzD2
But who?29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqhGIhkM9nP
Kim hadn’t meant to stay out so late. Again.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbOpfM8UmZc
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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZmWvIpIZw7
Too quiet.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvZS6uuFsyy
Suddenly, Footsteps. More than one. Running. Fast—soft, quick, like running feet hitting the red dirt behind the classroom block. Then another.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJxiz7T8dcl
Fast, urgent, cutting through the damp evening like blades.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxYHLMAxX9v
She turned her head sharply.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCsuheHPxvu
From inside the compound.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbpCn9CgYei
Closer.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSVMSNcVlVj
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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS8Vvzqru34
They were boys.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2KX4DbzaE3
And they were running away—from the direction of her dormitory.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6aeXmozPdb
Her mouth went dry. They didn’t see her. Didn’t stop.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvooSxUCFGa
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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhNDouDpscJ
Then—voices. Behind them.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlyA9ISPn4w
Kim strained to listen. At first, all she heard was the rustling of leaves. But then came the unmistakable swish of skirts.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF7AOquL0Ty
Three figures stepped into view from the same direction the boys had come.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrsRisn39QG
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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKQP52tCTj2
Kim’s blood ran cold. Were they prefects? No.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4EtxtNfOvk
No prefect moved like that. With such silence. Such purpose.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK6MbyO45AX
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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPv4q1PboI9
Kim didn’t breathe. The girl in the hood turned suddenly, eyes locking straight toward where Kim crouched in the bush.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeQNb23DfHe
The night seemed to collapse inward.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBOMqlkDywU
But they didn’t approach. Didn’t say a word.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡocAWIsd7pM
Then they turned and walked away.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1dzpsr0WGi
Back into the dark.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZYNEpSuaFa
Kim stayed there for what felt like hours, barely breathing. The wind rustled through the bougainvillea, brushing the tie gently against the stone.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9j3anMOoP6
The wall had cracked. Not broken, but cracked.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH54IAjzEeI
Something had changed. And tomorrow, someone would know and she had seen it.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1HPqN2qfl9
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4W2ak2zI0x
and then Add to home screen.