"I didn't leave you..."
As a Moments page, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
- Cole's tent is filled with religious statues and figurines he's taken from churches. He hides in his tent and prays for them to protect him from all the ghosts he sees, but it never seems to be enough.
- "You were never second."
- Cole tells his mother he sees ghosts, but she, of course, doesn't believe him. That is...until Cole reveals a truth that she didn't know: Cole's grandmother actually watched her perform a ballet performance that she didn't think she went to (due to an argument) and was very moved by it. Also, Cole says her mother told him about a question she asked her in her funeral, and the answer was "Every day". As Cole reveals this, his mother begins to realize the truth, which leads to him tearfully asking his already crying mother what the question was. Breaking down, she says: "Do I make...her proud?".
- The video Cole gives to Kyra's father at her wake. It's of Kyra putting on a puppet show by herself in her room. And then, because she didn't turn the camera off, it records her mom coming in with her lunch... and then pouring a cap full of floor cleaner into her food, stirring it around, and then telling Kyra she hates when Kyra complains about it tasting weird, insinuating this has been going on for a while! Just her father's realization of seeing one of his daughter's last moments leading directly to his wife deliberately poisoning her."You were keeping her sick."
- In the same scene, Kyra's mom tells Kyra that she cannot play outside later, as she will get sick again, like every other afternoon.
- Also, if you look closely, everyone behind him is watching.
- One of the women discussing the situation, off-handedly mentions the little sister is getting ill too. Looks like the mom was going two for two, which means her dead big sister protected her from beyond the grave.
- A more subtle example: right before Cole and Malcolm enter the wake, they notice a woman who is so horribly devastated by Kyra's loss- she cries so much that she becomes physically ill. Her husband asks another man for some water. The fact that the loss is that hard in her is just horribly depressing.
- "Is Kyra coming back?" Just hearing that question from a sweet, innocent little girl is heartbreaking. Even moreso when Cole has to tell her that no, she'll never see her big sister again (at least in this lifetime).
- Cole's teacher screaming at him to be quiet and calling him a freak after the child repeatedly calls him a "stuttering Stanley."
- In a deleted scene, Cole using his toy soldiers to recreate what are clearly real stories of the ghosts he's seen, including the families they left behind. Malcolm asks Cole about two of his soldier toys and why they are under a piece of tissue paper. Cole proceeds to tell him that one has a baby girl who was born but he never got to see her, the other never got to make it home to take care of his wife who has a brain aneurysm. Cole's voice even start cracking at the end from trying not to cry.
- Shyamalan even says he hated to cut the scene because of how effective Osment was in it.
- In another deleted scene, Cole comes across Mr. Marshall, who is waiting of his wife to return from food shopping. Using what little knowledge he has of German, implied to have been learned from the man's wife, Cole asks for a drink. When inside the Mr. Marshall's house, he rearranges the living room and finds the diaries the wife had hidden, giving the man closure. When Malcolm goes back to visit him, the man is more lively and has visitors over at his house.
- The revelation that Malcolm was dead all along. More or less the fact that Malcolm all this time thought his wife was having an affair when all that was really happening was that she was trying to move on from his death. And now she can, because "Everything will be different in the morning".
- Cole knew all along, which was why he didn't trust Malcolm at first. By the time of their last meeting, he's trying not to cry when telling Malcolm exactly what he needs to do to move on from the real world: talk to his wife while she's sleeping. Cole does it, just the same, because he realizes his purpose now, even if it means losing one of the "nice" ghosts who helped him.
- The line that reveals it: "Why did you leave me?"
- Cole knew all along, which was why he didn't trust Malcolm at first. By the time of their last meeting, he's trying not to cry when telling Malcolm exactly what he needs to do to move on from the real world: talk to his wife while she's sleeping. Cole does it, just the same, because he realizes his purpose now, even if it means losing one of the "nice" ghosts who helped him.
- The tragedy of Cole's situation: He sees dead people and is constantly approached by them. Most of the ghosts aren't meaning him any harm and simply want him to help them get closure and peace, but problem is Cole is just a kid. All Cole can see are those who are supposed to be dead pleading with him and scaring him, it's no wonder he's such a shy and broken wreck! The worst part too is he can't tell anybody since he knows he will be labeled as either crazy or lying. Or worse.
- Cole's mother has it bad, since she knows Cole is hiding something from her, but doesn't know what to do. Being that she's a single mother raising a son doesn't help matters either.
