The cork blasted into the air, and drink bubbled from the top. Sebastian took a long glug, then sighed in pleasure. Rory frowned, then remembered Sebastian’s words when they were inside the prison. The last thing Hamish would hear before his world comes crushing down, would be a pop.

“And a big bang…”

Rory knocked his head back into the house at the sound of the first firework. They went off like no display Rory had ever seen, hundreds of fireworks exploding into the sky. He thought of the barrels Sebastian had got his friend to store, the powders, the chemicals, and glanced back up at the sky. The big bang wasn’t a bomb, but fireworks.

The sky lit up with sparkles of red, green and gold. The bright colors lit up the darkness, and Hamish looked in dismay at the sky, then back at Sebastian. His gaze drifted, and he found Rory against the farmhouse.

Rory couldn’t hear what words were growled his way, but Hamish’s face folded with angry lines, and his lips pulled back with his furious words. He marched at Rory, but Sebastian side-stepped in front of him. Morris took the bottle from Sebastian, then turned back to the fireworks.

Sebastian and Hamish exchanged snarls, and angry expressions, and the strobe-lighting effect of the fireworks would’ve been amusing had Rory not been so physically, and mentally exhausted.

Hamish walked away, throwing Rory one final glare before getting in his car. Sebastian watched him go, gave him a patronizing wave before jogging over to Rory.

“You okay?” Sebastian whispered into his ear.

Rory shook his head, and Sebastian pulled him into a hug. He wasn’t okay, he was far from it, but with Sebastian holding him, and him clinging back, he thought maybe, one day, he would be.

Epilogue

Rory sat long enough for the damp to seep through his pants. His knees were drawn up to his chest, and his eyes were fixed on his sister’s name. The granite headstone had speckles of gold, and when it caught the sun, it sparkled.

He’d filled the pots at the base of the headstone with daffodils, and the yellow brightened up the graveyard. Even during the coldest spells of winter, he made sure there was some color by Erica.

Six months had passed since the service and it was nothing but a blur in his mind, but he tried not to dwell. Sebastian had got him through it, and afterwards he was left with a hollowness he didn’t know how to fill. Sometimes it felt so overwhelming he thought he wouldn’t get through another day, but Sebastian stepped in, held him together until he was ready to take on the next one.

Rory sensed Sebastian before he saw him, and when he got closer, he looked over his shoulder.

“Officer down, does he request back up?”