Deteriorating Hearts

08 || Unpleasurable Remembrances

// for Melina who made the fab cover in the multimedia section //

Please keep an open mind when reading about the characters of Juniper and Dimitri. They are quite complex and are definitely not what they seem on sight. This chapter is slightly emotional and you get more exposed to Juniper's real character - the one that she is so hellbent on hiding.

The reason I love writing this is because this novel deals with a heavy topic; how do flaws exactly affect your life.

E N J O Y !
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CHAPTER EIGHT
Unpleasurable Remembrances

Juniper Stuaff and Dimitri Remirez froze yet again for the second time that night. Panic swelled from the depths of their chests until Dimitri's panic toned down and he returned back to reality. "June, stop standing there like a statue. Run!"

Dimitri didn't realise that he had shouted until Juniper looked at him with an even heightened panic look. Oh God, why did the universe have to be against them at that moment?

"Dimitri?" came Mr Obereen's voice from upstairs. "Is that you?" He sounded angry. There were numerous nights when Mr Obereen found his daughter spending the night with Dimitri in her bedroom. He didn't exactly despise Dimitri but he didn't like the boy much either. He certainly did look down upon the relationship that his daughter and Dimitri shared.

"Fuck," Dimitri cursed under his breath before he grabbed Juniper's hand and yanked her out the door. Together they ran across the lawn, past Mr Obereen's 4X4 and safely across the road with Juniper stumbling after.

They got into Dimitri's car and hurriedly he slid the key into the ignition but when he turned on it the car would not start up. "Shit. Not now," he cried as he kept at his attempts to revive the car back from the dead.

Mr Obereen had appeared on his lawn, a cricket bat in his right hand and his dark, chubby face was burning red with anger. Mrs Obereen arrived shortly after her husband and unlike her husband, she didn't appear to be angry but scared. Maybe she thought that they were being robbed and that Dimitri and Juniper were the robbers. It didn't help Juniper's and Dimitri's case since they were the ones who were in ski masks and, indeed, resembled robbers perfectly.

That thought was thrown out Dimitri's head when his car roared back to life. "Yes!" he exclaimed, victory evident in his voice as the car had finally started.

"Go, go, go!" Juniper pumped as a means for urging him to drive faster.

Once they were three blocks away from the Obereen household Juniper and Dimitri calmed down. They had both taken off their ski masks. Juniper relaxed and sunk back into her seat. She closed her eyes and a little smile played at her lips. She couldn't believe she just broke into someone's house and got away with it. That night went better than expected, she had thought and she began to hum. What she didn't know was that she got her hopes up too high only to have them crushed after her fair share of happiness.

"That tune," Dimitri said, "I've heard it before."

"The Hanging Tree," Juniper replied as she opened her eyes and beamed up at Dimitri. "So, Dimmy, it's pretty late but I know this amazing place that serve coffee and it's open 24/7 so how ab-hey! Where are you going?"

In the middle of Juniper's speech he took an abrupt turn making Juniper stumble over her words.

"I went along with this crazy plan of yours because you were certain that revenge is justice. And I guess I'm accepting that now. But it's not fair on behalf of vengeance if revenge is only taken on the half part of it," Dimitri said, determination lacing his voice.