Chihiro sat up in her bed. This was the fifth night in a row that she woke up because of a dream. It was exactly the same as the other four nights. She saw herself standing in front of the spirits' bathhouse, and everyone who worked there was welcoming her back in. The only problem was that her friend Haku wasn't there. He was away on a journey and would never return. The sadness is what wakes her up. She looked over at her clock. 3:15 AM.
"I have to go back to sleep," Chihiro told herself. She rested her head back on her pillow. "Haku, I miss you."
When she woke back up, Chihiro stepped out of bed and put her clothes on. She decided to take a walk before breakfast. She stepped out into her backyard and looked down a hill. She could see the road leading the forest that led to the spirits' bathhouse. Then, out of the forest, a little rabbit appeared. It hopped up the hill and rested its head on her foot.
"Hey, what are you doing?" she said, shocked. The rabbit bit down on the bottom of her pants and tugged on them. Then it let go and ran down the hill towards the forest. Absentmindedly, Chihiro followed, and soon found herself standing outside of the building that was the entrance to the park with the bathhouse. She entered. The tunnel leading into the building was dark, just as she had remembered from a year ago. Soon she was through the building and in the large field with a river cutting through it. She knew that the river was the border between the spirit and human worlds, and that as soon as she crossed it, she had to get back across before sunset. She watched the little rabbit run ahead and cross the river. She followed it.
When she crossed the river, Chihiro stood in the middle of the street that led to the bathhouse. Delicious aromas could be smelled from the restaurants on either side of her, but she knew that if she ate from them, she would be punished. The rabbit hopped over to a restaurant and jumped up onto a chair. It stared at Chihiro until she sat down beside it. The rabbit then hopped onto the counter with the food and pushed some onto Chihiro's plate.
"I can't eat this. I'll be turned into a pig," the girl said. The rabbit stared at her with a stern look. "I cant!" The rabbit jumped up and hit her in the face. "Fine! Fine! Look!" Chihiro picked up some food and ate it. It was delicious, and she had to eat more. She was hungry.
After she finished eating, the rabbit led Chihiro up the street. They reached the bathhouse and crossed the bridge to its entrance. When they stepped inside, the rabbit vanished and was replaced with a beautiful young woman with long, black hair.
"RIN!" Chihiro shouted, jumped up and hugging her friend. "You're a rabbit spirit?"
"More like a hardworking animal spirit, but that's not important. How are you, kid?"
"I'm great! But what's wrong? Why did you bring me here? How did you get out of the spirit world in the first place?" Chihiro remembered that Yubaba kept all her workers in the bathhouse, and they could never leave.
"Follow me," Rin said, walking to an elevator. They stepped inside, and the elevator rose up. "I have a lot to tell you. After you left, Haku dealt with Yubaba. The old woman is now living with her sister, and that means that the bathhouse is under new ownership."
"Haku?" Chihiro asked.
"Right. He's now the owner of the bathhouse. His first order of business was to give us all our names back, which is how I got out of here. However, he's the reason why I brought you here. Haku has so much to deal with now, and the bathhouse is in jeopardy of closing and we need to keep it open. Chihiro, we need your help to keep this place open. Without it, we have nowhere to go! Think of Haku. He's the spirit of the Kohaku River, which is now covered by apartments. He'll just disappear." The elevator stopped and the door opened, bringing them to a hallway outside of Yubaba's office. "We need you to run the bathhouse until Haku gets back. He's gone into the human world to try and get his river running again. Apparently there's a small crack behind one of the apartments and he's trying to rebuild it from that. It won't work, but that's all he thinks about. Please help us!"
"But what about my parents?" Chihiro asked. "They'll know I'm gone. And when will Haku be back? How will any of this work?! I don't know how to run a bathhouse!"
"But you can if you try!" Rin said. "Please, we need you. I'll give you some time to think." She left the room. Chihiro sat in a chair and thought. She thought long and hard and lost track of time. At one point she looked out the window and saw the sun. Hours had passed, and it was close to being completely set.
"Oh no!" The girl ran out of the room and into the elevator. She darted out of the bathhouse and down the street. When she got to the river, she saw what she had feared. The sun had already set, and the river was now a vast ocean. Chihiro was stuck in the spirit world.