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 it happened, she was certain she had simply forgotten what day it was.

Her father had been gone for nearly three years by then.

The worst of the grief had passed,

replaced by the quieter sadness that settles into everyday life

after enough time has gone by.

She still thought about him often.

Certain songs reminded her of him.

So did old pickup trucks, black coffee, and baseball games

on summer evenings. The sharp pain of losing him had faded, but the habits of remembering remained.

That was why she wasn't particularly alarmed when she heard the familiar sound of his truck

pulling into the driveway. She was sitting in the living room

reading when she heard the engine outside. The sound immediately caught her attention because it

was so familiar. Her father had driven the same truck for almost 20 years, and she knew the

sound of it as well as she knew her own voice. Before she even realized what she was doing,

she found herself glancing toward the front window.

For a brief moment, nothing about the situation felt unusual.

Then reality caught up with her.

Her father had died three years earlier.

The realization arrived so suddenly that she actually laughed at herself.

...