Josh Hallow turned to Holly Sundale and smiled. It was hard to believe they had done what they had, but it had felt right even when it should have been wrong. They were not even together anymore, so how was sleeping together the right thing? He didn't know what it meant, hadn't asked, but he knew he wanted it to mean more than a one time thing. He missed her, dearly, and wanted to be back in her life and to have her in his. Maybe it was just wishful thinking to assume she was going to forgive and forget.
   She returned his gaze and said: "I missed you," she said.
   He knew. She wanted what he did, and nothing could stop him from going for it. "I miss you too."
   "I like your new tattoos."
   "Thanks. I got them not long after we split, as a sort of reminder of us. Sort of, compensation for the art we would never have shared. I hope we can now, though."
   She was about to reply when a noise filled the air. It felt like the ground were splitting open and the air being sucked into the pits of the earth. The sky was falling, and Holly was at least grateful she got to spend the last few seconds of her life with Josh.
  Yet the sky never fell. She get up and looked out of the window. The house shook, plates smashing and objects falling.
   "What the hell is that?" Josh asked as he joined her.
   "Oh God, is that really what I think it is?" she asked, astounded.



   Dawn Sundale gasped. She covered her mouth as she took in the scene. As she had run, she had dreaded the sight she would surely have to witness. The scene was more than devastating. She couldn't breath, the heat in the air creeping into her lungs and sucking out the life. Her eyes watered from the smoke that washed over her. She coughed, spluttered, and it hurt watch this.
   Andy White came over to her. He was panting. They both were. Something had gone wrong, horrifically wrong, and nothing would be the same again. It was clear as the smoke in front of her.



   The plane protruded from the Snowstep house. Part of the fuel tanks lay on the ground, sending up fire and warming the metal carcass that lay dying in the very garden Dawn had drank coffee with Sophie countless times.
   Andy stood, frozen to the spot. Dawn was absently walking forward, not realizing she was heading towards an unstable wreckage. Only one thought crossed her mind, and it was her friends inside. Yet she was in a dream, not able to feel or think. She was numb, her body shaking. Terror filled her veins and replaced her blood. Her heart pounded as if it were trying to remind her to live
   How could this have happened? Their small town destroyed by something as tragic as this. She couldn't bring herself to think of the people she might lose. It was too much, it hurt too badly.
   Her daze of shock was smashed open by a scream from inside the house.



   "Sophie, get back," Noah Snowstep screamed as he pulled his wife from the opening that once had been their living room door.
   She was shaking so badly. He held her, blood from her face soaking his shirt. Everything felt like suspended animation. Nothing felt real.
   "Come on, we need to get out of here."
   Sophie looked up at him, shaking her head. "No. Steve is here somewhere. I have to find him."



   Dawn rushed to the door, jumping over parts of the plane. Her only thought was to find her friends, her safety wasn't in the equation. The house seemed to shimmer in the fires glow.
   She pulled open the door and rushed inside. Sophie and Noah were standing in the hallway, dazed. Dawn grabbed them and rushed outside. "MOVE!"
   Sophie pulled away. "NO! Steve is in there."
   Dawn placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'll go and get him."
   "No, he's my son. I'm going back in," Sophie said as she rushed inside.
   Noah turned to go after her, but Dawn stopped him. "Go to the street. I'll get her and Steve. Andy White is down there. Please, just go."
   Noah glanced at the house, but before he had time to answer, Dawn was gone.



   "Dawn," Andy called out.
   There was no answer. He was worried she had hurt herself in that house. The thought was too much to handle. The whole thing was just too much to handle.
   He rushed up the steps and onto the patio, that was half gone under the plane. He felt as if the world was ending. Fire blasted into the nights air. The smell of smoke and death was overpowering.



   Sophie Snowstep rushed outside. Her heart was pounding in her chest. It felt like her ribs would explode. All she could think about was her son, her only child. She gazed around the patio, looking for him.
   There. On the ground lay Steve. His face was bloody and scratched. He looked so pale. Sophie uttered a sound she didn't know was possible. It was pain. She uttered pain.
   She rushed over to Steve and held him. He stirred. She watched as his eyes, her eyes, fluttered open and he came to.
   "What happened?" he asked, his voice croaky.
   Sophie smiled as she kissed his face. "Come on, we've got to get out of here."
   Before Steve could ask why, she was pulled his towards the front door.