It was a quiet afternoon, and all you could hear were the birds singing a delightful song and a car or two passing by outside. Through thin curtains, the sunlight shined onto the floor, giving the old man’s gray tabby cat a warm place to sleep. It snored almost silently as it laid curled in a ball. As for the old man, he was sitting comfortably in one of his chairs. He was reading from an old book he had picked off the shelf and enjoyed time and time again.

But when he was just about to flip to the next page, he heard a loud clunk. Startled, the old man jumped a little in his seat. Had something fallen? Getting up from his seat, he went to take a look. In the corner of the room, a large metal globe sat on the carpet floor. Never before has he seen it. He walked over, picked it up and took it back to his seat. As he looked it over, he tried to figure out where it came from. Could it have been his daughters? She’s always forgetting things when she stops by for a visit, thought the old man.

With a shrug, he placed it gently in the chair beside him and continued his book.

After the sun had set and day turned into night, a knock on the door echoed through the small house. The light turned on and the old man walked to the front door.

“Rosalyn?” he said once he had opened the door. “What are you doing here so late?”

“Thought I’d come over for a little bit,” his daughter answered as she gave a smile.

He let her inside and the two sat down. They talked for a while until he remembered the metal globe from that afternoon. He reached over and picked up the globe.

“I found this while I was reading today,” said the old man. “It wouldn’t so happen to be yours, would it?”

She took a long look at it, but shook her head. Asked him where he had found it, he pointed over to the corner and told her that it must have fell from somewhere. The old man started to feel a bit confused. If it isn’t hers, he thought, then how did it end up here? Holding it up, he looked at the reflection. He could see the chairs, the tables, and each book on the shelf. He could see the windows, the pictures on the walls, and himself. Everything was there, except for one thing. His daughter. Quickly, he turned around. She was gone, as if she just vanished. But she was here just a second ago, sitting right beside him. Could she have left? No, he would have heard her open the door. He called his daughter’s name, thinking she had probably just walked into a different room. However, there wasn’t an answer. Confused, he stayed up for just a bit longer until he finally decided to go back to bed.

The next morning soon came and the day played out like a normal day. Just like it was usually, the day was quiet and relaxing. But ever since he woke up, the old man tried to think of how come he didn’t see his daughter’s reflection that night. Shaking his head, as if try and shake off the thought, he sat down and turned on the TV. The screen lit up and the news channel came up. The reporter was talking about a car wreck that happened last night. It said how all but one person died instantly. Only one was still alive, but he was horrible injured. After watching for a minute or two, the man’s eyes widened. The reporter on the TV said the names of who were found in the car wreck, and, sadly, the old man recognized one. His daughter’s name. But how? She was here in this house before the time this car accident had happened. How could something have happened to her when she was here, sitting right in front of him? No, it couldn’t be her. Right?

But no matter how much he hoped it wasn’t true, that was the ghost of his daughter who visited him late that night.