I Overheard My 18-Year-Old Daughter Talking to Her Dead Father — What I Discovered Broke Me

Susie grew up knowing her father only through stories, photographs, and a few old voicemail recordings I could never bring myself to delete. She was gentle, thoughtful, and far more introspective than most children her age. Sometimes I would catch her staring at his picture on the mantel, her fingers lightly tracing the frame as if it were a doorway to him.

Still, I never imagined what would happen when she turned eighteen.

It was an ordinary evening. The dishes were done, the television murmured in the background, and I was walking past the hallway when I heard Susie’s voice—soft, careful—coming from the landline phone we hardly used anymore.

“Okay, Dad,” she whispered. A pause. “I miss you too.”

I froze.

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