🖤 The Filter Didn’t Lie

A Short Story by Si Lackie

What if your favorite filter… wasn’t just fixing your face?

Lena didn’t believe in ghosts.
She believed in ring lights, filters, and followers.
And today? She hit 1 million.

To celebrate, she went live—just her, an iced coffee, and her signature #SoftGlow filter.

The comments poured in:

“Queen.”
“That lip color is 🔥.”
“Wait… who’s behind you?”

Lena laughed. “Nice try,” she said, flipping the camera to show her empty apartment.

But the comments kept coming:

“She’s still there.”
“Girl. Turn. Off. The. Filter.” Slightly annoyed, Lena tapped the filter off.

The screen flickered.

And there—barely visible—was a woman.
Pale. Hollow-eyed. Watching.

She blinked.
Gone.
Filter back on.

“WHAT WAS THAT?!”
“Do it again!!”

By the next morning, #FilterGhost was trending.
Lena went from influencer to internet legend overnight.
Sponsorships. Memes. Merch.

She leaned in hard—midnight livestreams, spooky collabs, even “haunted makeup tutorials.”

But the ghost kept returning.
First in the background.
Then whispering.
Then pointing.

And always—always—behind her.

The Reveal

Lena finally broke character.
One night, she went live without any filter.

No ghost. No haunting. Just her.

“I made it up,” she whispered to her followers.
“There’s nothing there. There never was.”

But the comments didn’t stop.

“You’re lying.”
“We see her.”
“She’s STILL there.”

Lena froze.
She looked at the screen.

And there she was—her own filtered self.
Smiling. Whispering.
Pointing from behind.

The real Lena was already gone.

Replaced by the filtered version.
The one everyone followed.
The one everyone believed in.

The ghost wasn’t in the filter…
The filter was the ghost.