They were the picture of innocence. Richard, Mark and Jason.
Three beautiful boys with cheeky smiles and twinkling eyes, giggling as their photograph was taken.
They were no different from other children, said their uncle, Francis Quinn. They could be good and they could misbehave too. But there was no harm in them. They didn't know anything about the Orange Order or Drumcree.
They had helped gather wood for the Eleventh night bonfire like all the other youngsters in the estate. They weren't aware of the politics, it was just a bit of fun.
They came from a mixed background - their mother was a Catholic, their father a Protestant - but religion meant nothing to them. "They weren't Catholic or Protestant," said Mr Quinn. "They were just children."
Neighbours gathered outside the Quinns' burned-out home on the Carnany Estate yesterday struggled to absorb what had happened.
Nobody said much, they just stared at the blackened doors and windows in disbelief.
"What is there to say?" said one woman. "We're just numb, totally numb."
A petrol bomb was thrown into the small terrace house at 4.30 a.m. as the family slept. The fire spread quickly. Somehow, Christine Quinn and her partner Raymond Craig managed to escape.
Then they realised their children were still inside. Christine stood screaming on the street. Raymond tried to get back in but the flames were too ferocious.
Another woman twice attempted to enter the house but failed. She heard the eldest boy, Richard (10), crying for help.
"I couldn't see anything except flames and smoke. "I shouted to Richard and he said he was crouching in the corner of the bedroom. He was trying so hard to be brave." Another neighbour yelled at the boy to try and get down but he said he couldn't find the stairs. Seconds later, the stairs erupted in flames. Fire crews arrived within minutes and battled their way through the blaze, but it was too late.
"It was an awful sight as they carried the bodies out on to the street," said a woman. "The children were so badly burnt you couldn't tell them apart."
There have been dozens of atrocities in the North over the years, but even the most hardened and cynical observers, RUC officers and politicians were deeply affected by these deaths.
The red-white-and-blue bunting and Union Jacks bedecking the Carnany Estate looked brutally out of place. A neighbour pointed to where the children used to play.
"How will I ever look out my window at that spot again? How will I manage to pass that house every day for the rest of my life?" Her heart went out to the children's mother. "That wee girl has lost everything - her home, her possessions and her children.
"She will have to stand by three coffins on Tuesday. I don't know how anybody could cope with that."
People from Ballymoney and far beyond laid flowers outside the Quinns' home last night. A card on one bunch read: "A price too great to pay for a 15-minute walk." Another said: "Three innocent children - murdered by the enemies of us all."