"I'm back." Chihiro announced as she stared into the dark, empty tunnel.
After a few minutes, there was still no reply and Chihiro let out a resigned sigh. She sat by the scary-faced statue and stared at the sky motionlessly.
"I must be crazy." Chihiro thought, "What am I waiting for?" She stood up and faced the tunnel.
"What am I waiting for!" she shouted in exasperation, "Is anyone there? What did I forget? Please, isn't there someone there? Anyone!"
By the time she was done shouting, Chihiro was panting with exertion. But still, there was no reply.
"Forget it." Chihiro sighed. She was tired. She was tired of expecting, tired of waiting and tired of being disappointed again and again. It was a lot to bear. Chihiro grabbed her schoolbag and walked over to her bike to ride it home.
As she approached her bike, she noticed something small move from the corner of her eye. She bent down and squinted her eyes at the little black dot near her bicycle tire that was...jumping? Chihiro rubbed her eyes. She stared harder at the black dot that seemed like it had a life of its own to try and discern what it was. The fuzzy appearance looked strangely familiar...then it hit her.
The black dot looked like a soot ball. And if she stared hard enough, she would be able to make out the pair of eyes on the little ball that began to squeak loudly.
"Gah!" Chihiro uttered in surprise and fell back. The soot ball was jumping around crazily and squeaking, which made it seem strangely...alive? But that would be impossible! Wouldn't it?
The lively soot ball continued its incessant squeaking and suddenly started to jump towards the tunnel to the abandoned amusement park.
"Wait!" Chihiro called out, and before she knew what she was doing, began to give chase to the little soot ball. Chihiro knew that she was probably crazy, and desperate, but at that moment nothing mattered. As she ran after the soot ball, Chihiro felt alive and ridiculously excited. "I'm going back," she thought. But back where, she didn't know, nor did she care.
As Chihiro ran through the tunnel, she felt a surge of nostalgia. Yes, she had entered this tunnel before during her frequent trips to the abandoned amusement park in the past eight years, but it never felt like this. This time was different, and as she approached the end of the tunnel, the excitement in her had risen tremendously.
When she exited the tunnel, Chihiro noticed that there was something different about the place. The abandoned amusement park was the same, as well as the grass fields, but across the dried up riverbank Chihiro could see old, red buildings with beautiful ornaments as decorations.
It was a town. In all of her past trips, Chihiro had never seen the town before.
The soot ball appeared to have been waiting for her at the end of the tunnel and squeaked impatiently before scurrying off towards the new town.
"Ah, wait for me!" Chihiro cried before taking off after the little black ball again. As she was running through the river, a water stream suddenly gushed down from upstream and Chihiro dashed as quickly as she could towards the other side of the riverbank. By the time she reached, the whole river had filled up and the water level was too deep for Chihiro to think about returning home. Yet, she looked away from the river without hesitation and continued to give chase to the soot ball.
The lights the lined the food stands along the streets began to lit up one by one and strangely shaped, translucent spirits began to appear. Many of them waddled around the stands slowly, and some of them even adorned old-fashioned bamboo straw hats. None of these surprised Chihiro. This place was familiar to her. The key to her lost memories must lie within this world, and the soot ball would to lead her to it.
Chihiro ran past the food stands, refusing all invitations by the stand owners to try their food, through a few more empty streets and arrived at a bridge, but the sight of what was beyond it made her stop in her tracks.
The building right across the bridge was a complete wreck. The top of the pagoda building had fallen to the ground and its windows were completely shattered. Green moss threatened to cover the entire building, and debris was littered everywhere. There was absolutely no signs of anyone still living in the building. The dark, foreboding building was in stark contrast to the brightly lit town that surrounded it.
Chihiro stood paralysed as her eyes couldn't leave the wreckage. Flickers of memories of a bustling bathhouse ran through her mind. Upbeat workers were always rushing about, attending to the never-ending stream of customers. Orders would be shouted out and the bathhouse was always noisy with the chattering of the customers and employees alike. The bathhouse had always stood as the brightest building of all in the streets.
What in the world happened?
Author's note: Was supposed to extend this chapter, but I wrote both the prologue at this chapter in one breath so my mental capacity is waning, especially since it's 4am right now (the time when brain juices just do not flow ;-;)