Upamanyu Biswas
After getting stranded in the middle of a forest, four people do whatever it takes to ensure their survival in ‘The Watchers.‘ As the days and weeks start slipping by, the group becomes accustomed to each other’s presence while also being subjected to cryptic and mysterious discoveries left by their tormentors. One such event is the girl in the pink dress who invades Mina’s sight every time she goes out during daylight. The girl repeatedly makes its presence known to her, eliciting a sense of eerieness to the exchange as Mina watches her from afar. The truth behind this girl is rooted in the past of the central character, whose life is complicated far beyond the predicament she is subjected to by the Watchers. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Mina’s Twin Sister Haunts Her Through The Forest’s Hallucinations
Upon venturing out of the Coop a few times on her own, Mina is told by Madeline that the forest of the Watchers is known to induce hallucinations in those who stay for too long. This leads to several inhabitants losing their minds the longer they remain locked in their purgatory inside the cabin. For different people, these hallucinations can take various shapes and forms. In the case of Mina, she visualizes her twin sister, Lucy, with whom she has an estranged relationship that haunts her throughout the woods. The combination of the forest’s supernatural elements and the unspoken past bubbling underneath the protagonist’s quiet exterior results in her day treks being mysteriously assaulted by visions of her sister.
While eerie in their appearances, the protagonist keeps those visions of her sister entirely locked within herself. She doesn’t share her thoughts or feelings with her companions. However, Madeline figures out what is going through her mind and explains the intricacies of the forest’s peculiar capabilities, knowing full well about them because of how long she has lived there and her true nature. Just as the Watchers stalk the humans in their glass cabin, fascinated by their behavior and appearance, the visions inflicted by the forest are an intrusion on the mind. However, the reason Lucy, her twin sister, continues to haunt her in that forest reflects a more profound trauma that the protagonist had to live through.
Mina Was Responsible for Her Mother’s Death and Her Sister’s Facial Scar
Mina’s estrangement with her twin sister, Lucy, is rooted in an accident in her childhood. During a car ride with their mother, Mina is disobedient and unwilling to conform to the orders given to her. As a result of her daughter’s errant behavior, Mina’s mother loses concentration and crashes into another car, leading to her death. Her sister, Lucy, is facially scarred in the process but remains unharmed. The events surrounding this car crash are internalized by Mina, who lives with guilt and remorse for her actions, which creates a distance between her and Lucy. The two don’t talk anymore, and consequently, the protagonist adopts a self-loathing streak, wearing wigs to disguise herself in clubs and bars and a general disconnect with her real self.
During her first encounter with the child version of Lucy in the forest, Mina hears the words – “Why did you do that?” This is a callback to her sister’s exact words right after their mother was killed in the accident. Just like the Watchers torment her psyche by night, the vision of a young Lucy tortures her by day as she forages in the mythical forest. They keep a close watch over their subjects, instilling a sense of morbid dread and intrusion that leaves them even more vulnerable than usual. While harmless in the physical sense, the girl in the pink dress represents the worst fears harbored by Mina. She has been running away from her past all her life, but all her deepest, darkest secrets come spilling out in the Watchers’ forest.
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