Author's Note:

July 2013 edit: edited the first chapter, less grammar mistakes and overall tried to make it sound less awkward... hopefully.

I had another chapter written somewhere but I think it got deleted. :/ I want to try continuing this now that i have more time :)

All days are nights to see till I see thee,
And nights bright days when dreams do show thee to me.
-William Shakespeare, "Sonnet XLIII"

A light, incessant noise was what eventually woke up 16 year old Chihiro Ogino one early Sunday evening at her grandparent's house. She awoke gradually from her nap, blinking at the light that shone through her window from the setting sun. Shielding her eyes, she peered around the room to seek out the source of the tapping noise, but to no avail. With a peeved sigh, she peeled the quilt away and shuffled down the hallway to the kitchen.

Chihiro was staying for a week at her grandmother's house while her parents were away on vacation. Despite insisting that she was perfectly capable of living on her own for a few days, they insisted right back that she visit her grandparents. She knew the real reason for them not letting her stay home alone, however. She still cringed inwardly at the memory of her parent's reaction when they came home early the one night she decided to throw a party; the situation made for some rather... interesting conversations afterwards.

"Hey Granny," she chirped, sitting down on one of the stools at the breakfast bar. The minute she rested her head on the counter top, her younger cousins rushed into the kitchen, toppling over each other and yelling out at once.

"Granny! What's for dinner?"

"Toru, we're supposed to have LEFTOVERS today!"

"PANCAKES!"

So much for that nap. Chihiro rubbed her temples and felt a headache coming on. "Is everything alright, Chihiro?" Her grandmother asked. "You look awfully tired from having just taken a nap."

"I was up late reading last night, so I didn't really get that much sleep today," Chihiro replied a bit sheepishly. It was partially true; half the night she had spent over her friends house, and after she sneaked back into the house, she read a little bit more until she finally fell asleep.

"And from visiting your friends?" Her grandmother asked innocently. Chihiro leaned up and froze for a second, but relaxed when she saw her grandmother's impish smile. She knew her secret was safe.

She smiled mischievously while stretching her arms. "It was Hana's birthday. I couldn't let her down."

"Hmm," was her grandmother's final reply before turning her attention back to cooking.

She glanced out the window of the kitchen absentmindedly and gazed at the river that ran alongside their cottage and separated it from her neighbor Hana's house. Technically, the house was on another road, but since their backyards were practically connected via bridge, Chihiro considered them neighbors.

When she was younger, she had always gone fishing in this river with her grandfather. Despite the quick current, they always managed to catch plenty of fish. She had often gone swimming in it as well with her cousins, but she lost interest after visiting the spirit world. A lot of things had changed after that.

She kind of missed fishing with her dad and grandfather, but only because it was the only time she was able to spend with them. She felt as if she lost a connection with both her parents ever since they moved into their new house when she was 10. Although her relationship with her mother had always been somewhat strained, she was always closer to her father. Now...

"Pancakes are ready!" Chihiro snapped back to reality, thanks to the prospect of her grandmother's locally famous and mouthwatering fried chicken rice.

"Grand-muh! You were supposed to make chocolate chip pancakes!" Toru pouted. Despite the complaint, he still happily dug his fork into the heap of chicken rice that was set before him.

That was another thing she missed. The naivety of childhood and the ability to be content with whatever happened. She sighed and began picking at her dinner. She was a bit hungry when she woke up from her nap, but for some reason she had lost her appetite.

After dinner, Chihiro changed into an old pair of comfortable blue shorts and an old camp shirt that still had the faded signatures of all her old beloved camp friends. Hana was the only friend she still kept in touch with from camp, but this was only because she happened to live next to her grandmom's cottage. She had either lost the numbers of all her old friends, or they had lived too far to be visited.

She decided to go outside and follow the river to see where it ended. It was something she had always wanted to do when she was younger, but never had the chance to since she rarely visited her grandmother.

She walked back into the kitchen and was about to head out the back door when her grandmother gave her a surprised look. "Are you going to Hana's?" She asked. Chihiro shook her head.

"I'm just... going for a walk. I'll be back soon, Granny. Promise."

She bounded out the door and began following the river past Hana's house until she reached a vast, open field. She paused to take a break and dip her legs into the cool river water. The river still moved quickly, its water brushing past her legs. She felt as if tiny fish were rubbing against her legs, and as she leaned closer to the water and looked in, she could see that there were indeed some fish.

Suddenly, she received a flashback to when she had dropped her shoe in the Kohaku river. As much as she tried to block the memory, she couldn't. Before she knew it, memories from the spirit world all came flooding back to her.

Her vision began to blur as she gazed absentmindedly at her reflection in the water. It was too painful to think about all the friends she had left there. Despite being scared and completely lonely at first, she terribly missed the spirits she met and her experiences by the end. And as stubborn as she is to admit even to herself, she missed Kohaku most of all. Goddammit.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out the purple elastic Zeniba had given her. It was the only piece of evidence she managed to cling to all these years that the entire experience hadn't been a dream. She hadn't worn it since, afraid that she was going to break it, and in return somehow break her connection to the spirit world. As foolish as it sounded, she still hoped that this would somehow help her visit the spirit world just one more time.

With a wipe of her eyes and a sigh, she stood up and slipped her shoes back on. She continued to walk alongside the river, allowing herself to immerse in daydreams about the spirit world.

The clearing ended and gave way to a small forest, so she stopped to adjust her ponytail and survey the area. As far as she could see, there was only a small wooden cottage on the other side of the river and another open field past this small forest. The place itself seemed to be abandoned- overgrown grass and random weeds grew from cracks in it and the windows were broken and dusty.

Just as she was going to stretch the hair tie over her ponytail, it snapped and broke. She mumbled a curse under her breath and reluctantly pulled the purple elastic out of her pocket. A silly thought came to her mind, and she shook her head at herself for even thinking it in the first place. She carefully stretched the tie to pull her hair back, and felt pleased when it held her hair in place without breaking.

In that moment, she suddenly noticed a trail from where she was standing towards the forest and open field that she could have sworn had not been there just a few minutes ago. She hesitated before continuing into the forest. At first, the trail was faded and hardly noticeable, with sticks and tree roots and branches in the way; however, it eventually became more prominent and widened into a normal sized path.

Gazing up to see how tall the trees went, she noticed building tops in the distance behind the trunks. "How did these get here?" She muttered. She glanced all around her in surprise, and became aware of the buildings that seemed to suddenly materialize out of nowhere.

She also noticed that it had become much darker since the sun had almost set by now and realized that she completely lost track of time.

"This isn't happening," she murmured faintly.

She had somehow stumbled upon yet another abandoned ghost town.