My daughter’s new preschool handed out “All About Me” sheets for the kids to fill with help from home. I smiled as we wrote about her favorite food and toy. But when I flipped the page and saw what she’d already scribbled under “Who do you live with?” my stomach clenched.

In big, uneven letters, she’d written: “Mommy, Daddy, and Emily.”

The thing is—there’s no Daddy in our house. And Emily? I have no idea who Emily is.

I stared at the paper, heart pounding. My daughter, Chloe, was only four, so I figured maybe it was her imagination. She’d recently discovered invisible friends, and every now and then she’d mention things like “Emily said I shouldn’t eat broccoli” or “Emily told me to wear my rain boots.” I thought it was cute.

But “Daddy”?

That one stung.

Chloe had never met her father. He’d left when I was three months pregnant. No calls. No support. Nothing. I’d told her he was “away” and promised to explain more when she was older. I didn’t expect her to make up a version of him now.

That night, after her bath, I asked her about it casually.

“Hey, sweetie, who’s Emily?”

She was brushing her hair with that distracted toddler energy, then stopped and looked at me with her big brown eyes. “Emily lives with us.”

I blinked. “Where?”

“She sleeps under the bed. But sometimes she crawls up to sit with me. She doesn’t like the lights.”

Okay. So definitely imaginary.

“And Daddy?” I asked carefully.

“He visits sometimes,” she said, then dropped her voice to a whisper. “But only when you’re asleep.”

A chill crawled up my spine. I know how kids’ minds work. I really do. But something about the way she said it—the hush in her voice, the seriousness in her face—sent a prickle of fear through me.

I let it go for the night, convincing myself it was just her brain blending stories and pretend.

But over the next few days, weird things started happening.

Toys moved from where I left them. The kitchen light would flicker for no reason. I heard soft thuds upstairs when I was alone downstairs. Once, I came into Chloe’s room and found all her stuffed animals in a perfect circle on the floor. She was asleep, the room cold even though it was a warm night.

I told myself it was nothing. I was just tired.

Until Friday night.

I was dozing off on the couch when I heard whispering through the baby monitor. I sat up. Chloe talks in her sleep sometimes, so I didn’t panic.

But then I heard another voice. Lower. Not hers.

I bolted upstairs, heart thudding. I opened the door, flipped the light on.

She was sound asleep, tucked under the covers. Alone.

I checked under the bed, in the closet, behind the curtains. Nothing.

That night, I barely slept.

The next morning, I made pancakes and sat her down at the table.

“Chloe,” I said, “does Emily say nice things to you?”

She nodded, chewing.

“And Daddy? What does he do when he visits?”

She shrugged. “He sings sometimes. And he says sorry a lot.”

That threw me. “He says sorry? For what?”

She tilted her head. “I dunno. He cries too. But Emily tells him to be quiet.”

I stared at her, stunned.

I didn’t want to scare her or feed into her imagination too much, so I changed the subject. But something about that stuck with me. A dad who cries. A girl who lives under the bed.

By Sunday, I was so on edge I decided to do something I never thought I would—I called a medium.

Yeah, I know how that sounds. But I was desperate. I found a woman named Diane who had good reviews and didn’t seem too out-there. She came over Monday evening after Chloe went to bed.

She walked through the house, pausing in the hallway and again in Chloe’s room. She didn’t do anything dramatic—no candles, no chants. Just stood quietly, eyes closed, like she was listening.

Finally, she turned to me and said, “There’s a lot of sadness in this room.”

I didn’t say anything.

“There’s a man who’s been here. He regrets something deeply. He’s tied to the child.”

I felt my knees go weak. “Chloe’s dad?”

She nodded. “I think he passed. Did you hear anything about him?”

I shook my head. I hadn’t heard a word since he left. No mutual friends, no family contact.

“And the girl?” I asked. “Emily?”

Diane frowned. “She’s not related. She’s…angry. Lonely. A spirit that attached herself to Chloe. She sees Chloe as someone to talk to.”

I started crying. The weight of it all—the loneliness, the confusion, the fear—just hit me all at once.

Diane touched my shoulder. “She’s not evil. Just lost. But she doesn’t belong here.”

She offered to cleanse the space, and I agreed. She did some sort of clearing ritual, using sage and murmured words. When she was done, she told me to talk to Chloe. To tell her it was okay to let go of Emily. That she didn’t need her.

So the next morning, I sat on the floor of Chloe’s room while she played with blocks.

I said gently, “You know, Chloe, it’s okay if Emily doesn’t stay here anymore. Sometimes friends come and go.”

She looked up at me, sad. “But she said she has nowhere else.”

I didn’t know what to say. So I just hugged her.

That night, I dreamed of a little girl with long dark hair standing in the rain. She looked up at me, eyes full of tears, and whispered, “Thank you.”

When I woke up, the room felt lighter. Warmer.

Over the next week, Chloe stopped mentioning Emily. She slept better. The lights stopped flickering. No more strange noises.

But something else happened, too.

I got a letter in the mail. It was from a law office in Texas. Chloe’s father had died in a car accident six months ago. Somehow, in his final weeks, he’d reached out to a lawyer and left behind a handwritten letter for his “unborn child,” expressing regret, shame, and a desire to make amends, even just through a small trust fund he set up.

I held that letter in my hands and cried for what felt like hours.

Maybe… just maybe… his spirit had come to visit. Maybe he’d finally found a way to say sorry.

I told Chloe that her daddy loved her, even if he couldn’t be with us. I didn’t give her the full story yet, but enough to bring a soft smile to her face.

She said, “I think he came to say goodbye.”

I believe her.

We planted a tree in our backyard that weekend. Chloe picked a little cherry blossom, because she said “it looks like something Emily would like.” I didn’t argue.

Sometimes I sit under it with a cup of tea and think about all of it. The strangeness. The grief. The healing.

I don’t know what’s real and what isn’t. But I know that something changed in this house. In me. In Chloe.

And I believe—deep down—that love tries to find its way back, even after death.

If you’re holding on to guilt, or grief, or even an unanswered question, I hope this story reminds you that closure can come in the most unexpected ways. And sometimes, the heart hears what the ears cannot.

Thanks for reading. If this touched you, please like and share—it might help someone else feel a little less alone.