.: .The Stolen Name.: .

CHAPTER ONE--'I WANT TO GO BACK'

By: Cecile Li

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She hadn't been there for 7 years.  She knew she would be tempted to stay with Haku. Sometimes she would go up to the gate and walk through the dark tunnel, but nothing more.

Chihiro hugged her legs to her chest.  Every so often she would wonder what had happened in the past 5 years.  Had Haku returned to his river yet?  What happened to Yubaba and her baby?

But more importantly, had anyone captured Haku's heart yet?

When she was there, Haku seemed to have no interest in no girl, except for her.

But it was 7 years later.

Who knows what happened?  She could know, she could find out.  What was holding her back?

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It was winter.

Chihiro loved winter.

Sometimes, in her sad states, she would wonder if there was a winter in the spirit world.  Then she would laugh bitterly.  Would it have made a difference?

Before, she wondered why she liked winter so much.  She had realized there was a coldness inside her, an icy distantness that would not go away, something she would feel in her heart forever, until she returned to the spirit world; to meet her Haku.  She could feel it pulsing against her heart, plunging her into a remote darkness even she couldn't bring light to.

In winter, when all was cold, she could not feel it as much as before.  It gladdened her to not feel the pain, yet it guilted her to not feel the pain.

So she suffered every day.

She stood directly in front of the huge gaping tunnel.  It seemed to come for her, swallowing her.

Chihiro put her bare hand out in the sky.  Frosty snow, fell onto it.  It should have melted.

The tiny, invisible patterns of the snowflakes remained.

Chihiro stiffened.  What happened?!

Suddenly, the words Haku had said to her, 7 years ago seemed to come back and haunt her.

If you do not eat something from the spirit world, you will slowly disappear.

Where was she?!

Chihiro looked at her surroundings.

Scary statue.

Check.

Temple.

Check.

Old grassy road.

Check.

I'm in the real world, but why am I disappearing?

Chihiro started panicking. I have to get to the spirit world ...and fast!

She ran.