The Cure That Truly Haunts
Preface
*For the record I do not own anything of Spirited Away
The wood beneath the soles of my feet was rough and firm, yet it creaked with its' increasing age. I sped forward not minding in the least. The train passing below the bridge also made its' classic whistle, filled with vibrations that transcended to even the likes of my ears. Yet I paid not much notice to it.
I finally reached to the other side of the deep chasm that was consumed by water and train tracks. In a way, I felt that I was in my element but far from my source in the human world – my river. My legs stopped me from running still. I saw that the Bathhouse's employees and even Yubaba herself with her sour and shocked demeanor, all entering the building to go back to sleep, finishing a quiet chaos. They were all exhausted with happiness as they celebrated Chihiro's release (well except the witch).
My friend Chihiro had finally escaped Yubaba's evil contract and returned home to her universe – where she belonged; along with her name, her parents, and with her life. And one day she will forget. She will forget her experiences and the promise that I had made to her. If she had been able to remember, I would have kept to my word. But now she is gone from our world, never to return. I had to remain strong for her, even if she couldn't remember me. However, I had to do the one thing that I told Chihiro not to do – look back.
As I turned the other way glancing at all of the food stands down the road, a figure reached out and grasped my shoulder. A tear slipped out of my eye and landed on the ground as six arms engulfed me in a hug. His fingers were gangly, all sixty of them. They prickled my skin. Kamajii, the boiler man, chuckled a little as I attempted to struggle out of the embrace. His grip was a little tight. Once he let go of me, I stumbled a little. Glaring up at him, I saw that his eyes were full of sadness, yet his sudden laughter contained joy. To say the least I was perplexed.
"Kamajii?" I asked, as another tear shot at the corner of my eye. I didn't understand why I was crying even. Then his strange laughter ceased to becoming a second chuckle. The man's face gazed down upon my own. I had never seen him in this much sunlight before. All I've ever really known was that he would be down in the boiler room working on providing hot water to the guests.
The daylight really made me notice how his face was matured, but hardly any wrinkles plagued his body. What I believed truly developed his age were the eyes behind those dark glasses of his. They were more transparent given that we were not in some dark room at the bottom of the bath house. They held a sort of wisdom. Then he ruffled my straight hair, causing me to smile a bit. But I stared up at him in silence.
Kamajii's deep voice only told me one thing.
"Oh, Haku", his whisper was barely audible, "even though Yubaba's curse is gone from your body and the Golden Seal was returned to her sister, it is the cure for both of the two that will come back to haunt you."
As he walked back to the Bathhouse, no doubt going back to sleep, I shouted to him asking him to wait and explain it to me. I couldn't understand what he had meant. It made me frustrated. My hands balled at my sides as I was trying to keep calm. By that time he already left.
I then sauntered inside as well, having decided to give up on Kamajii's words and chosen to travel to the top floor in the hopes that my contract with Yubaba will too disappear – now that I know my full name.