Ennis opened the crematory box. At the bottom lay a half-empty plastic bag held closed by a green paper covered wire tie.
Its contents could have been dusty gravel, or shattered chalk, but it wasn’t. This broken rubble was all that remained of Jack Twist. Gone were the warm arms, the laughing eyes, the sweet smile, the steady heartbeat, against which their two hearts had beat as one.
Ennis lifted the bag, it felt light. Wylie took the container, Ennis unfastened the wire tie. The top of the bag fell open. Once scattered, Jack’s ashes would be gone forever.
Before Ennis could stop it, before he could shut it out, all the lost hopes, abandoned dreams, unanswered questions engulfed him. Without you, Jack Twist, what do I do? I’m nothing, I’m nowhere, you’re the only one ever understood, ain’t nobody else.
Feeling lost, abandoned, he closed his eyes, clutched the bag to his chest, trying to soothe the hollow ache, wanting more than anything to hold Jack in his arms just one last time.
Wylie laid a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t have to... Jack would understand.”
“No. I promised.”
The mountains that had once protected them, stood silent, indifferent, as far beyond his reach as Jack’s dreams, the canyon looked as desolate and empty as his life. He thought of things that might have been, things that now would never be. He took a deep breath.
“Goodbye, old friend. I sure do miss you.”
He stretched trembling arms full length, slowly upended the bag and a small cloud of ash and crushed bone that had once been Jack Twist dropped toward the rocks and scrub below.
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Sorry, no prompts, no word limit. This needed doing all of a piece.