My Daughter Had Passed Away… But Her Contact Number Called Me at 3 A.M

was me. Whoever had owned the phone before her—or perhaps an old sync error—had linked her “Dad” contact to the number that now belonged to her, which had previously been Helen’s.

It wasn’t a message from the beyond. It was a coincidence. A cruel, ordinary, painfully explainable coincidence that had ripped open a wound I had been trying, and failing,continue reading …