CHAPTER THREE47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjOuEdm1Tlh
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.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaya0LMEWOt
The blue paper clip was gone now.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡinBDxEICSw
In its place, tucked neatly in the bougainvillea’s twisted stems, was something new.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsGO1VfeAOi
A strip of navy-blue school tie fabric, knotted once in the middle. Tied tightly. Left deliberately?47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKaMP4ti2Zt
Her breath caught. It hadn’t rained. No wind could have blown it there.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmHUjuGkDH1
She saw it.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIS7pzjn0Gz
She answered.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEd0KwiVGP9
But who?47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQac0hwEc1C
Kim hadn’t meant to stay out so late. Again.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZBLglExY4l
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.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV1i12ifAQS
Too quiet.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3HZWUpGsGF
Suddenly, Footsteps. More than one. Running. Fast—soft, quick, like running feet hitting the red dirt behind the classroom block. Then another.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtxx2rsKqrZ
Fast, urgent, cutting through the damp evening like blades.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzxy7UicieN
She turned her head sharply.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcHhZlRJb5O
From inside the compound.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGSckcrXvEv
Closer.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE4fj5wilxK
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.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtLBeqcYQuX
They were boys.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS9C86GGrcU
And they were running away—from the direction of her dormitory.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzw18K59NO2
Her mouth went dry. They didn’t see her. Didn’t stop.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE9P2l4G7p4
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.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiSA6Jo8kHf
Then—voices. Behind them.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYreRd3937L
Kim strained to listen. At first, all she heard was the rustling of leaves. But then came the unmistakable swish of skirts.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVsNeRpjWnJ
Three figures stepped into view from the same direction the boys had come.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ONe9tTc7m
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.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoTqV1XpShA
Kim’s blood ran cold. Were they prefects? No.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJqVD4DKuWw
No prefect moved like that. With such silence. Such purpose.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfE4s5CjR5t
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.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW9z1oA5rzX
Kim didn’t breathe. The girl in the hood turned suddenly, eyes locking straight toward where Kim crouched in the bush.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZdsQA6kpcL
The night seemed to collapse inward.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡga7GDZ74rU
But they didn’t approach. Didn’t say a word.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7sRmqzESug
Then they turned and walked away.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡggIxqu8zUD
Back into the dark.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPM6yU5l6lt
Kim stayed there for what felt like hours, barely breathing. The wind rustled through the bougainvillea, brushing the tie gently against the stone.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIy3D3NQ4hA
The wall had cracked. Not broken, but cracked.47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVheVA9IvxM
Something had changed. And tomorrow, someone would know and she had seen it.
47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvJCRiIo4b6
47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM0Tswjjr2Z
