The Secret of the Ghosts

They are silent. She speaks.
And for the first time,
Anne doesn’t know
if the truth is enough.

“I don’t understand anything anymore,” said Anne. “Are you ghosts or not?”

“Ah, that’s a long story — and not a very interesting one,” said the woman with the purple hair. “Why don’t you tell us something about yourself instead? A real ghost probably has loads of interesting stories to share.”

Reflections on the scene

⸻ ❦ ⸻

– ❦ –

This scene delivers perhaps the most dramatic revelation in the entire first part. The ghosts, who seemed until now like random malevolent figures, are revealed to be Anne’s very own toys. Suddenly, her journey is no longer a whimsical quest but a reckoning—a moral trial cloaked in fantasy.

The emotional impact lies in the simplicity of the truth: that Anne herself is responsible for the ghosts’ suffering. Not a dark wizard, not some distant evil—but her. Laptsev’s role is not to condemn, but to explain. His is the voice of conscience, not judgment. It is a moment when guilt does not come from external accusation but from internal awakening.

Equally powerful is the fact that only one ghost has the courage to forgive. Redemption, it turns out, is not easy to earn. Mercy is rare. The scene ends with the announcement of three great trials, each a test of intellect, bravery, and—most difficult of all—self-sacrifice. The road to forgiveness begins not with a gesture of apology, but through suffering and the willingness to change.

In this moment, the story sheds its skin. The Forest stops being just a place Anne must navigate—it becomes a mirror. One that reflects not who she is, but who she has been. And if she hopes to move forward, it must also reflect who she chooses to become.