Lurking Evil

Chapter 1

Chihiro Ogino was napping peacefully in her boring lecture and was smiling because she was having a good dream. Her friend, Helen, noticed and began to shake her so she wouldn't be caught napping in class again.

"Chihiro! Wake up!" she whispered loudly in Chihiro's ear. "You don't want extra classes again do you?"

Chihiro bolted up awake and turned to face Helen, "I don't have to attend extra classes do I?"

"Not anymore now that you're finally awake," she said. "You should really listen, you know? We have an upcoming test."

Chihiro just sighed at what Helen said. She hated doing tests because they were just so boring. She did pass them all the time but it was too easy for her. Usually, she would daydream right after completing a test but her teacher would always catch her and make her check through her work which was useless in Chihiro's opinion since she always scored.

'I guess being smart is just too boring for me. I wish I could go back to see my friends…' she thought dreamily.

Her teacher suddenly called Chihiro's name and snapped her out of her reverie, "Chihiro, your test paper."

"Yes, sir" she replied and stood up to retrieve her paper.

"Well done, Chihiro. Full marks," he said, smiling.

"Thank you," was all she said before returning back to her seat.

Helen was pouting as she looked at her test paper and when Chihiro got back, she wasted no time in grabbing Chihiro's test paper and commenting on how Chihiro didn't have to study to achieve excellent grades.

"I'm so jealous of you, Chihiro. What is your secret to doing so well? These tests are a pain to study for…" she groaned.

Chihiro just laughed at Helen, "Well, I usually read the textbooks after class. Paying attention is really not helping. Why not you try it some time?"

"Have you forgotten that I lost my textbook?" Helen said, annoyed.

"Oh, right. Sorry," Chihiro smiled sheepishly. "You can borrow mine if you want. I already read the whole thing twice."

"Really? Thank you so much, Chihiro! You're the best!" Helen exclaimed gleefully.

"No problem."

The final school bell rang which signalled the end of the long school day. Chihiro and Helen were busy packing their school bags and then Helen turned to Chihiro and said, "Would you like to have lunch today, Chi?"

Chihiro turned to her after slinging her bag over her shoulders, "Sorry, Helen. I promised my parents that I would follow them to go shopping today. Maybe next time?"

"That's okay," Helen said and the two girls walked out of the classroom and headed home.

They turned to their separate ways when they reached the main gate of the school and both said their goodbyes and walked home. Chihiro walked as fast as she could, so that Helen would not see where she was going. She had lied to her because she didn't feel like eating with Helen today. The truth was that Chihiro was going to visit the Kohaku River – just like she had done for the past six years. It always reminded her of the memories that she had in the spirit world and she also felt closer to Haku every time she went there.

Helen was also hastily walking; not wanting Chihiro to look back to see where she was actually headed. She removed Chihiro's textbook from her schoolbag and began flipping through the pages.

"Where is that stupid paper that she keeps in here?" Helen mumbled to herself as she flipped through the textbook rapidly. As she flipped through the pages, Helen was thinking about how dumb Chihiro was to forget that she left something precious in her book. Helen had been waiting for so long just to seize the opportunity to get a hold of Chihiro's textbook. She had never liked Chihiro; she only pretended to be her friend because someone from the spirit world had asked her to, just so Helen could retrieve the precious item.

"Aha, found it!" she declared triumphantly as she lifted up the piece of paper. She carefully unwrapped the paper, and inside was a pearly white dragon scale. Helen curiously examined the scale; Chihiro's precious item was a dragon scale?

"Why would Yubaba want something like this?" Helen wondered. As far as Helen was concerned, dragon's scales were a rare find and they were just prized for their beauty. Maybe that was why she wanted one so much… Little did Helen know that it was more than just for beauty's sake.

Chihiro reached the Kohaku River after several minutes of twists and turns around her neighbourhood. She sighed happily as she removed her shoes and socks and then walked to the river and soaked her feet in the cool water.

She sat down on the dry land; feet still in the water and thought about her day in school. She had lent Helen her textbook, passed the test and fell asleep again. The usual routine for Chihiro except for lending her textbook. Chihiro giggled a little; Helen was not going to ace the test by just looking at a textbook. It worked for Chihiro but for a dimwit such as Helen, it would take days…

Chihiro then gasped; her precious scale was still in her book and now, Helen had it! Chihiro was afraid that Helen might have lost it or did something to it. Haku gave her that scale years ago, just before she left for her own world. She got her feet out of the water and hurriedly put on her shoes before taking off for Helen's house.