Chapter 1: Dreams
"Don't be afraid, I just want to help you…"
"Once you've met someone, you never really forget them. It just takes a while for your memories to return… "
"You did it Chihiro! I remember…"
"Now go and don't look back…"
Chihiro woke up. Her alarm had not gone off yet since it was just five in the morning.
"Huh, it's that dream again."
Chihiro once more dreamt of this far-off place, filled with these strange creatures; frogmen, old women with gigantic heads, all kinds of crazy spirits and of course, a dragon, but her dreams were always hazy, she could never really remember them all. She was just like everyone else. Her dreams always made her feel like she was looking through a thick fog, where flashes of images raced before her eyes, but there was always this one moment when everything was so clear; it felt as if it was not a dream anymore. These were the times when she dreamt of this boy, an inexplicably handsome boy with beautiful green eyes. She always dreamt of holding the unknown boy's hand as they ran across a somehow familiar town. She could not really tell what was around her; all she could see was the road ahead of her and the boy. He was saying something about her parents being on the other side of a river; she could never understand what he was saying. He always stopped at the boundary of the town, near a gigantic stone frog, just before a flight of stone stairs. She was telling the boy that she could walk across now, but the boy stated that he could not go any farther. "Just go back the way you came, you'll be fine," he said, "But you have to promise not to look back, not until you've passed through the tunnel." She asked what would happen to him. He said, "Don't worry I'm gonna go back and have a talk with Yubaba. I'll tell her I'm going quit being her apprentice and I'll return to my world. I'm fine now I've got my name back." She asked him if they would meet again, he promised that they would. He promised. He said all of this with a smile on his face. His smile, she felt like he was hiding something behind it. They said there silent goodbyes and Chihiro began to run down the stairs. She could never forget that part of her dreams, when they said their goodbyes. There was something strange with the way he held her hand before she left. He held onto it as if they would never see each other again; he hesitated, but he did let her go. She ran giddily down the stairs and once she reached the last one, she wakes up. This happens every time she dreams of this certain world.
Chihiro was always frustrated with her dreams. She had this gnawing feeling that she knew the boy from somewhere. She wondered if she somehow knew his name. Maybe, he was a childhood friend or acquaintance she long forgot. Maybe, he was just someone she imagined. The boy was an enigma to her. However, she always wondered what she was talking about in her dreams. Why would the hills turn into a river? What did the boy mean by "I'm fine now that I've got my name back"? Who was Yubaba anyway? Why could she not look back? Eventually, Chihiro would dismiss those thoughts and say that the only reason he seems familiar is that she had dreamt about him countless times before, and the things they talked about were just nonsense her subconscious thought up. However, deep inside, Chihiro knew she is not imaginative enough to dream up that whole world.
Chihiro had to get out of bed eventually. Another mundane Monday has begun for Chihiro.