Disclaimer: not mine.

Chapter One

18-year old Chihiro sat in the back seat of her parents' car as they drove to their new home. She read once again the good bye note that had accompanied her first ever bouquet of flowers.

"Chihiro. Chihiro! We're almost there!" her dad said softly from the driver's seat.

She just lowered her flowers to look briefly at the window. She soon returned her gaze to the ceiling of the car.

"This really is in the middle of nowhere. I'm going to have to go to the next town to shop," her mom commented in astonishment.

"We'll just have to learn to like it," her dad said resolutely, if somewhat insistently.

"Look, Chihiro! There's your new school. Look's great, doesn't it?" her father commented, peering over the steering wheel at the upper secondary school that would house her final year of schooling before university.

"It doesn't look so bad," her mom said, trying to comfort her.

Chihiro looked out the window for a few seconds and grimaced before laying down on the back seat.

"It's gonna stink," Chihiro commented miserably. "I liked my old school."

Just then, Chihiro noticed that her flowers were wilting. She bolted upright and exclaimed, "Mom! My flowers are dying!"

"I told you not to smother them like that," her mom said dismissively. "We'll put them in water when we get to our new home."

"I finally get a bouquet and it's a good bye present," she said sadly. "That's depressing."

"Daddy bought you a rose for your birthday. Don't you remember?" her mom said.

"Yes. One rose isn't a bouquet," Chihiro said, still depressed.

"Hold onto your card. I'm opening a window," her mom said, handing her card back to her. "And quit whinning. It's fun to move to a new place. It's an adventure," she said, trying to be enthusiastic. It did not convince the 18 year old.

Chihiro's dad took a turn off. However, the road soon changed from smooth concrete to a dirt road with two tire tracks and a strip of grass running between. He slowed down and looked around, hoping they were n the right place. "Wait, did I take the wrong turn?" he said speculatively. "This can't be right!"

"Look! There's our house!" her mom said, peering out the window to a blue roofed house up a large hill.

"Huh?" her dad asked, looking as well.

"It's that blue one on the end," her mom said, still enthusiastic.

"Oh, you're right. I must have missed the turn off. This road should get us there," he said, peering forward now.

Once more, Chihiro looked out the window, though this time something else caught her attention. There were tiny, stone houses built all over off the side of the road. Most were not more than five inches high.

"Honey, don't take a short cut. You always get us lost," her mom said, exasperated.

Chihiro looked more closely.

"Trust me. It's gonna work," her dad said. He was oh so sure of himself.

"What are those little houses?" Chihiro asked, leaning forward in her seat.

"They're shrines. Some people think little spirits live there," her mom said knowledgeably.

"Dad, I think we're lost," Chihiro said, looking forward at the trees on either side of the road. They were driving through a forest now.

"We're fine. I've got four wheel drive!" he said, quite sure of himself.

Just then, the car hit something and jolted. Chihiro cried out as she almost lost her balance.

"Sit down, please, Sweetie," her mom said as the car began to accelerate, whipping through the trees.

The road changed once again to an old, stone road. The car very nearly vibrated as the tires ran over the stone, and then into the crack between the stones, and repeated. Chihiro lost her balance on this part. She was thrown back into the seat, where she clutched her bouquet and looked straight forward, afraid they would crash.

As they continued to drive, Chihiro spotted a stone statue out the window, set a little ways back into the forest. She looked out the back window to continue studying it before it went out of view.

The car went faster and faster as they began to go down a hill. They whipped past a few low hanging branches with her dad looking seriously at the road. Her mom was frightened as well, now. "Honey, honey! Slow down! You're gonna kill us!" she insisted. If she was catholic, she would be crossing herself.

Chihiro looked nervously forward. Soon the trees parted. Ahead, there was a stone archway through a wall and a statue directly in front of the opening. If they did not start braking now, they would hit it.

"What's that?" her dad exclaimed, pressing the gas pedal. They came to a stop right in front of the statue.

Her dad stuck his head out the window to look at the arch. The two women kept their heads in the car but peered forward with equal curiosity. They looked up and saw a row of windows, followed by two layers of what seemed to be an ancient roof.

Her dad got out of the car, still looking up at the structure. "What's this old building?" her mom asked.

"It looks like an entrance," he said, walking over to it.

"Honey, get back in the car! We're going to be late!" her mom said, only now sticking her head out the window.

Chihiro carefully got out of the car, but laid her bouquet down on the seat before following.

"Chihiro!" her mom said in an..angry? tone of voice. "Oh, for heaven's sake!"

"This building's not old. It's fake," her dad said as Chihiro walked over and laid a hand on his arm. "These stones are just made of plaster."

Her dad continued to look through the arch, while Chihiro noticed that the wind blew through the arch, almost as though it was beckoning them to enter. "The wind's pulling us in," she commented.

"What is it?" her mom said, finally out of the car. She, too, peered through the arch.

"Come on. Let's go in. I wanna see what's on the other side," her dad said.

Curiosity killed the cat, and I have a bad feeling about this place. "I'm not going," Chihiro said resolutely. "That place scares me."

"Don't be such a scaredy cat, Chihiro," her dad said, looking down at her small 5' frame. "Let's just take a look," he said.

"The movers'll get to our house before we do," her mom said.

"It's alright. They've got the keys. They can start without us," her dad said, trying to convince her.

"Alright, just a quick look," her mother said, acquiescing.

"Forget it. I'm not going," Chihiro said insistently, racing back to the car.

Her parents just looked back at her. "Come on, you guys! Let's get out of here!"

"Come on, honey. It'll be fun," her dad insisted.

"I am not going," Chihiro insisted. However, the statue once again caught her eye. It was made of old stone and covered in green moss. The face carved into it was thoroughly disconcerting.

Her parents walked into the archway. However, her mom paused for a little bit to look at Chihiro and say, "Chihiro, just wait in the car, then." And she walked.

Despite her misgivings about the tunnel, the teenager had even more fear of the statue. So she ran after them.

Her dad waited for a little bit for them to catch up. When they fell in step beside him, he said, "Everybody watch your step."

Chihiro would dearly have loved to hold on to something now, but she took a deep breath and resolutely walked forward through the dark hallway.

Finally, the hallway opened into a deserted room. Neat rows of pillars ran all the way throughout the room, and high up on each pillar was a set of eight lights all the way around it. There were a few benches scattered through the room, and dead leaves filled the corners. The walls were old and cracked, just like the wall had been. High up on one of the walls was a depression that allowed light to shine into the room from a small, round, stained glass window. On the other side of the large room, there was another archway. Daylight shone through this one, promising no more creepy tunnels.

"What is this place?" Chihiro asked.

Neither of her parents answered. However, her mom cupped her hand around her ear and said, "Do you hear that?"

Chihiro listened harder and heard the faint sound of a train running along a set of tracks.

"We must be near a train station," Chihiro observed.

"Come on. Let's go check it out," her dad said, walking forward into the room. Her mom followed her dad, so Chihiro followed her.

Outside, there were rolling hills of grass with random boulders strewn sparsely about. All of the stones were carved similarly to the ones she had seen early. Up ahead, there were two paths, each leading to old buildings made of wood.

"What are those buildings?" Chihiro asked.

"I knew it! It's an abandoned theme park. See? They built them everywhere in the early 90s. Then the economy went bad, and they all went bankrupt. This must be one of them," her dad said. Once again, he was oh so sure of himself. He began to walk down the little path.

"Where are you going?" Chihiro demanded. "You said just a quick look! Can we go back now?" She stayed in place while her parents followed the path.

Suddenly, the wind gusted again, from within the building. It was pushing her along the same path, almost as though she was supposed to go that way. It was almost moaning...It must have been the wind. Obligingly, Chihiro ran after her parents, who were quickly mounting one of the hills.

"Oh, what a beautiful place! We should have brought our lunch! Then, we could've had a picnic!" her mom said happily.

At the top of the hill, there was a dry riverbed made of large stones. On the other side was a set of stone steps leading up to somewhere.

"Look. They were planning to put a river here," her dad said. Chihiro wasn't convinced. He began to sniff the air and said, "Do you smell that?" He sounded eager. Probably food.

"Something smells delicious," he said. Yep. Food.

"Yeah, and I'm starving," her mom agreed.

"Maybe this theme park's still in business," her dad suggested. Let's see. No signs, no people, no parking lot. Nope. Abandoned.

"Let's go," he said. I think not.

"Chihiro, hurry it up," her mom said. Chihiro hurriedly hopped from stone to stone across the riverbed. As she looked down to keep her footing, she noticed that there was a fair amount of water between the stones. Not good.

She raced up the steps to the cluster of buildings-town?- ahead. Her parents were already walking amongst the buildings. At the top of the steps, there was another statue, this one of a frog.

Chihiro followed her parents along the main path through the buildings. At the top of another set of steps, her dad had stopped again to smell his way to the food. "Over there," he said, leading them in a new direction. Chihiro and her mom followed quickly.

They walked into the middle of a new street, where her dad continued to smell his way around, once more directing them toward the undoubtedly delectable source of the olfactory stimulus.

Only then did Chihiro notice that all of the buildings along this street seemed to be eateries of some type. "How strange. They're all restaurants," her mom commented.

"Where are the people?" Chihiro pointed out.

"There it is!" her dad said, running over to the food. "Hey! I found it!" he yelled, waving them over to the food.

Chihiro and her mom walked over rather than running. Her dad peeked out from the restaurant and said, "Hey, you gotta see this!"

"Ah! Look at this!" her mom said upon seeing the huge platters of stacked food just waiting to be eaten. But there was no one around.

"Hello in there!" her dad called, "Does anybody work here?"

"Come in, Chihiro. It looks delicious," her mom prodded.

"No way," she said, shaking her head and backing away from it.

"Anybody?" her dad continued to call. There was no answer.

"Don't worry, honey. We can pay the bill when they get back," her mom said, picking up what looked to be a roasted bird.

"Hey! That looks great!" her dad said enthusiastically, walking over to grab some food.

Both of them began to dig into the food, their behaviour astoundingly similar to pigs. Chihiro's bad feeling only got worse at this.

"I wonder what this is called," her mom said in between mouthfuls. "Chihiro, you have to taste this!"

"No. We need to go now," Chihiro insisted.

"Don't worry. You've got daddy here. He's got credit cards and cash," her dad insisted, picking up an astoundingly large amount of food onto two plates.

"Chihiro, you have to try this. It's so tender," her mom insisted.

"No," Chihiro said forcefully.

Her parents spared no more breath to talk to her. They merely ate, and ate, and ate.

"Come one. We need to go now!" Chihiro tried one more time. They wouldn't listen.

Chihiro walked back out to the street and looked around. She noticed that at the end of the street, there was yet another stone staircase. Her curiosity was sparked at this, so she climbed it to look around.

Looking to her right, Chihiro saw a large, long bridge leading to a huge bathhouse with a smoking smokestack. "That's weird," Chihiro commented under her breath. She began to walk toward the bathhouse. Soon, she was on the bridge.

She looked a little more at the bathhouse with its red walls, and large sets of windows, and roof many stories in the air. She walked over to the edge of the bridge. There was a red, wooden railing about three feet high on the bridge. Chihiro put one foot up on it and leaned against it. She looked over the edge at the large drop below.

Far, far below her, the train came out of a tunnel through the ground before disappearing again. She looked up at the bathhouse again and saw a boy about her age looking at her in shock. He wore blue pants and a white tunic.

The boy gasped and took a few steps toward her. He blinked a few times, as though he could hardly believe his eyes. "You shouldn't be here. Get out of here! Now!" the boy said angrily.

"What?" Chihiro questioned, stepping away from the railing.

"It's almost night. Leave before it gets dark!" he said forcefully and urgently. Even as he spoke, the sky darkened, casting large shadows over the whole of the place. Lamps began to light at the bathhouse and elsewhere.

"They're lighting the lamps. Get out of here! You've gotta get across the river! Go! I'll distract them!" he said, putting an arm around her shoulders to push her towards the way she had come.

She began to run while the boy stayed behind. He stood in the middle of the bridge and blew white petals from his hand. Very distracting indeed.

Chihiro did not stop. For some reason, he thought it urgent that she get away, so she would. She ran straight back to her parents, who appeared to still be gorging themselves. However, something didn't seem right with them. They were far too sloppy, and far too large. "Mom! Dad! Come on! We need to leave now!" she yelled.

Her dad looked up. He was a pig! What? How did that happen?

Her mom looked up soon after, and she suffered from the same malady. What was she to do now? Her parents were pigs, for heaven's sake!

Chihiro did the only thing she could: she ran.

All around on the streets, there were shadowy figures peering at her, wondering what a human was doing there. She didn't care. She just ran back to the entrance.

Finally, she reached the river, but she ran straight into water. Literally the second she ran into it, it was hip deep. Alarmed, Chihiro hurriedly climbed back out and peered across the water.

On the other side of what appeared to be a lake now, there were still the same buildings. However, they were all lit up with lights and open for business. At the shore of the lake, a large steam boat was all lit up and coming over to her side of the lake.

"I'm dreaming!" Chihiro exclaimed, putting her hands over her eyes. "I need to wake up now!" She fell to her knees, hoping that this was all but a dream and that she would wake up to a nice, normal life.

She peeked up at the boat to see the ramp being lowered. It was more than half way across the lake and almost ready to dock on the stairs near where she knelt.

She hid her face again and whispered, "Go away. It's just a dream! Disappear."

She looked down at her hands, and was quite alarmed to see that she was, in fact, disappearing! She looked quickly down at the rest of her and saw the same phenomenon occurring. She could see right through herself. "I'm transparent!" she exclaimed, rubbing her hands together.

The next thing she knew, the boat had docked. What appeared to be floating faces made of paper began to disembark. As they- stepped?- onto the steps, a long, red cloak appeared on each of them. They were spirits. Spirits of other sorts began to get off as well. That just made Chihiro panic.

She ran away from the boat to the back of one of the buildings. There, she huddled into herself, hoping desperately that this was nothing but a dream.