Ashley's POV:

Five years later...

Mum stayed true to her word for a while, sending me money for the house expenses and for daily necessities. The money stopped coming after the first few months though (which I totally expected), probably needing to support her own immediate family instead and I was left on my own to find a solution. I cut down on many expenses, working two jobs and with only one person living in the house; I could afford to pay for three sessions of night school a week for a while. The money I made though still wasn't enough to support all the expenses of the house and my night school, so I eventually sold the house to Uncle Pete and Aunt Peggy, who gave me money enough to get a small two room apartment a few bus stops from where I work at the edge of the small town and night school for the rest of my senior year. The rest of my studies were really online courses and I graduated with a GED. I didn't stay in contact with many of Dad's relatives other than Uncle Pete and Aunt Peggy. I'm feeling lucky though. And you're probably wondering why Dad didn't give me any money post-mortem. Well, that was put aside for me until my 21st birthday, three years too late to help me pay for school.

And now here I am, pretty relaxed and working a double shift at the Coffee Lab Cafe. About 20 minutes to 10:00 PM until my shift ends and I get to go back to my empty apartment when it starts snowing.

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Author's Note: an extremely short chapter. It's more of an intro to the chapter. Please keep reading!