It was one of those peaceful, quiet afternoons that make you feel at ease, surrounded by the calm of the open field and the gentle rustling of leaves. I leaned against the truck, enjoying the warmth of the sun and the solitude, and thought about sharing a small moment of my day with my husband. The truck looked picture-perfect against the trees, so I snapped a quick photo and sent it off without a second thought.
The reply came back almost instantly, and it wasn’t what I had anticipated.
“Who’s that in the reflection?”
I frowned, reading his words again, unsure of what he meant. I hadn’t seen anyone. “What reflection?” I typed back, a slight unease building.
“The rear window. There’s someone there,” he replied, his tone suddenly more serious.
Heart pounding, I opened the photo and zoomed in, focusing on the rear window’s reflection. At first, I assumed it was just a glare, maybe a trick of the light or a shadow from the trees. But as I studied it more closely, my stomach twisted. There was, indeed, a figure—a faint outline of a person standing just behind me. The more I looked, the more familiar the shape became. A man in a hat, his face obscured by the brim’s shadow.
My breath caught. It looked just like the hat my ex-boyfriend used to wear, one he was rarely seen without.
A chill ran through me. I had been alone, hadn’t I? I hadn’t noticed anyone when I took the picture, and the field was empty, just me and the truck. But there he was, unmistakably standing close enough to be caught in the window’s reflection. How was this even possible?
I tried to calm my husband with a hasty reply. “It’s probably just a shadow or something from the background. I was definitely alone.” But even I felt the uncertainty in my words.
His response came back with unwavering suspicion. “That doesn’t look like a shadow. It looks like him.”
My stomach churned. I knew exactly who he meant, and it didn’t seem real. It was as if my past had come creeping into that quiet afternoon, catching me off guard in a way I couldn’t quite rationalize. Could my ex somehow have been nearby, without me noticing? Or was it just a terrible trick of timing that happened to look exactly like him?
I stared at the photo, scrutinizing the figure in the reflection. The way he stood, the hat—it all felt too familiar. No matter how hard I tried to convince myself otherwise, the unease wouldn’t subside. What if it really was him, somehow lingering on the edge of my present?
I called my husband, my voice shaking, trying to explain, to tell him it had to be a weird coincidence. But the doubt was palpable, filling the silence on the other end of the line. When he finally spoke, his tone was distant, guarded. “I don’t know,” he said slowly. “That reflection… it doesn’t feel like a coincidence.”
After the call ended, I sat there, staring down at the picture that now seemed to hold far more than just a snapshot of my day. That faint outline of a man in the background was like a shadow, dredging up something from the past I’d thought was over and done with.
In the days that followed, everything between us felt off, like a shift we both felt but couldn’t quite fix. The image of that figure in the reflection hung over us, an uncomfortable reminder of my past and a mystery I couldn’t answer. I tried to assure him it was nothing, that I had been alone, but the trust between us felt shaken, as though something essential had been altered by that tiny, barely visible reflection.
What was meant to be a simple picture, a small shared moment, had suddenly changed everything, casting a shadow neither of us could escape. And in that small, haunting detail, we found ourselves questioning what should have been unquestionable.
Things That Clog Your Pores And Cause Acne
Acne is a skin problem that affects about 90% of people during their life. There are many reasons why acne appears.
However, some things we might never have thought would cause acne actually do, and we might not even know it.
Viral Strange has collected 7 things that can cause pore-clogging and acne appearance.
Pores: We’ve all got these tiny openings in our skin for releasing sweat and oil, but for some people, they can be more temperamental than others. Or, rather, clogged pores happen more often to some of us than others. Clogged pores happen when oil doesn’t or can’t flow through them as it should, explains board-certified dermatologist Geeta Yadav, MD. “Typically, this is caused by the overproduction of oil that then becomes trapped by dead cells that haven’t properly shed from the lining of the pore. Makeup, dirt, and/or comedogenic ingredients can also block the pore, and prevent that flow of oil through it,” she says.
Comedogenic is essentially a word for pore-clogging, and while these types of ingredients aren’t the sole cause of acne and breakouts—there are several factors—they certainly won’t help the situation. “Pore-clogging ingredients make it much more likely that pimples will form,” says board-certified dermatologist Rachel Nazarian, MD. “In someone who has naturally oily skin or who harbors the bacteria that causes acne, using these ingredients is like adding gas to the fire. It’s a dangerous combination that can exacerbate acne and cause consistent breakouts.”
Coconut Oil
All three dermatologists we spoke with called out coconut oil as a common offender. “While it has a variety of health benefits, it’s highly comedogenic, especially when applied on the the face,” Palm explains. “Because it isn’t easily absorbed [into] the skin, it can trap bacteria and dead skin cells, making it detrimental for those who are acne-prone.”
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