The Hidden Toxin ✔(#6 in the Our Side of The Dice Series)

Chapter 21: Mrs. Yekaterina.

The songs for this chapter are:

Talk 2 me - Montell Fish

Just me - Old Man Saxon
                           —•••—
The Russian's night air was chilly and crisp with a fresh flow of victory as Ebun sat on the bench by the backyard of Hostel Pavlov. She was wearing her favorite navy blue hoodie and black head warmer and excitedly munching on a pack of raw Cheetos.

There was a collection of wood logs hosting hot, wild flames of fire. Ebun watched the fire consume some crumpled clothes and a certain white face cap. As the fire seeped into each piece of clothing, crushing each fabric into feathery ashes of nothingness, Ebun dug her arms further into the pocket of her hoodie, giggling.

Soon, she felt someone's presence. A shadow rested lazily under the ornate lighting of a tall lamp by the hostel's building. She looked up. It was Viktoriya. She was wearing a red sweatshirt with a funny inscription that Ebun couldn't understand. Viktoriya looked like she had a lot on her mind and needed some air. Ebun could tell simply from the way her red hair was packed in a messy bun (which was so not Viktoriya's style) and the new freckles that invaded her smooth white cheeks.

"What are you doing out here, by a burning fire?" Viktoriya asked Ebun.

"Just chilling, keeping myself warm and fuzzy, you know, " Ebun chuckled as she raised a brow. "What about you? What are you doing out here? You're an indoor girl."

"Duh. I come out to the backyard for fresh air very often, " Viktoriya rolled her eyes jocosely as she sat next to Ebun on the bench. Then her eyes moved to the fire and saw something black burning, getting swallowed by the fire in a ferocious manner. She squinted her eyes to take a closer look so she could decipher what the blackish thing was.

"Whose clothes are those?" she asked.

Ebun turned to her, throwed a piece of Cheetos in her mouth and munched it loudly. She wished she could give Viktoriya a chance to take a guess, but she knew there was no way Viktoriya would get it right. Also, there was no way Ebun could do that. These were the postgraduate's clothes.

"Take these. Make sure you burn each piece of clothing into ashes," She recalled Sean's command as he handed the clothes to her after the body of the man had dissolved.

"They are mine. Don't worry, though. There was no way I could wear those clothes any longer. They were all filthy rags, you know. It's entertaining watching my clothes burn, haha, " Ebun lied.

Why the hell am I talking so much? She's going to sense that I'm nervous. Okay wait. Why am I nervous right now?

"Oh, " she let out a small, confused laugh. It showed in the incessant blinking of her eyes and the uncomfortable pouting of her lips that she was having a hard time believing Ebun. "Anyway, how far have you gone with the case of the post-graduate man?" she tried to look comfortable as she changed the subject. The glow from the fire highlighted the bold features of her freckled face.

Then Ebun realized why she was a nervous wreck. She wished she could tell Viktoriya head-on that the post-graduate man, the man who'd hurt her was dead and dissolved in a pool of acid. Those were his clothes burning in the fire but Viktoriya had never really been in support of Ebun killing the man from the beginning.

She could still remember the first conversation they had in Viktoriya's room:

"...You want the pedophile dead wherever he is right now. I can bet that."

"That's not true. I have part of the blame in the story, and I resent myself for it every day."

Although Viktoriya's might have changed her mind, she might have wanted the postgraduate man dead, telling from the way Ebun was eager to get to the root of the matter. That had probably motivated Viktoriya to be in full support of the whole movement. She'd helped Ebun with the facial descriptions of the man, making it easier for her to find him. All of those actions made Ebun feel like Viktoriya wouldn't mind knowing that her rapist was dead.