Chapter 19

Ashley parked her bike in a compound surrounded by a low fence.

She got the spare key from under the mat and unlocked the door.

"I'm home," she said to the empty house and laughed. She remembered her small sister would still be at school and her uncle would have gone to get some fertilizers from a distant shop.

She walked with great effort and entered her room.

She sank on the bed and grabbed a picture frame that was on her bedside table.

A man with lush curly blond hair was clothed in a black suit but he kept his tie over an eye like a one-eyed pirate and he had on a goofy look as the girl he tickled in his arms had her eyes closed and her mouth wide open in childish laughter.

They were both seated on a picnic blanket beside a small stream and a woman with long black hair had her arms thrown around the man in a loving gesture.

Ashley smi