Midnight has passed, and in the stillness of these hours, the hauntings are never silent.

This is Real Ghost Stories Online, after midnight.

The first time her mother noticed it, she thought nothing of it.

Her daughter was three years old, and only child, content to entertain herself

for hours at a time. While other children demanded constant attention, she preferred to play alone,

sitting on the upstairs landing where the light fell softly through the stairwell window.

It was there that her mother would sometimes hear her talking.

Long, quiet conversations carried out in a calm, deliberate tone.

At first, it sounded like pretend play.

Children talked to toys.

They talked to invisible companions.

That was normal.

What wasn't normal was how she spoke.

She didn't babble. She didn't invent silly voices.

She spoke as if she were answering questions, pausing, listening, responding thoughtfully.

Her vocabulary was advanced for her age, and the subject she discussed didn't sound like things a three-year-old should know how to articulate. When her mother asked

who she was talking to, the answer came easily. The lady on the landing, that name stuck. As she

grew older, the routine became more defined. She would announce her intention before going

upstairs, as if observing a social courtesy.

I'm going to talk to the lady on the landing now.

She would sit facing the wall and talk quietly, sometimes for long stretches.

When asked what the lady did, she explained that the woman was a teacher who worked there.

...