At the strike of ten, Apple, who had fallen asleep in the corner while crying, had been awoken by laughter coming from somewhere in her room.
"Mm, you the next ghost?" asked Apple as she looked up at the ghost through blurry eyes.
"I am the Ghost of Christmas Present, and I'm here to show you what is happening with others tonight," said the spirit as Apple's eyes cleared.
"Surprised you did not take the form of Briar," said Apple as she stood from her spot on the floor and looked at a copy of Ashlynn who was wearing a green and gold robe.
"Briar is one of the people we will see tonight, so I didn't want to confuse you," said the spirit before the area turned to a snow-covered cabin in the forest that the two were standing outside of.
"Whose house is this?" asked Apple.
"Why don't you go and have a look?" asked the spirit while motioning to a window lit by candle light. When Apple reached it, she was shocked to see Cerise eating with her family.
"Professor Badwolf and Ramona are Cerise's family?" asked Apple as she watched them getting along. Since Cerise was at home, she did not have to wear her hood so the sight of her ears made this fact sit in even harder.
"That's right, but they aren't here alone," said the spirit. Cedar then came into the room from another.
"Why is Cedar here?" asked Apple as the wooden girl sat down next to Cerise.
"She and Cerise have been dating for some time now and she is staying with them for the holidays," said the spirit while Cerise leaned over and kissed Cedar on the cheek.
"The two have not told anyone outside their families and Raven about their relationship since she knows, all in order to keep Cerise's secret just that," she said.
"They even had Raven hex the wooden girl so that her curse would actually keep shut about it, even though it causes her pain every so often which she says is worth it if she gets to be with the one she loves," said the spirit.
"She has to suffer from something like that because of people like me, all of my talk about destiny and here Cerise is, a person who was born against it," said Apple with a mixture of realization, shock, and horror.
"And now for our next stop," said the spirit as the scene changed again.
