Unkind Mankind
Disclaimer: I do not own Spirited Away.
Chapter 3 - Confusion
Flying as fast as he could, the pearlescent dragon sped towards where he last remembered his river to be.
'I'm almost there. Hang on, Chihiro. I'm coming for you.'
~o~o~O~o~o~
I slowly sit up, repeatedly blinking to try ridding myself of the bleariness that creeps into my peripheral vision. A sweaty hand comes up to my head, pushing away some of the strands of hair that was previously plastered to my face.
I shakily get to my feet, trying to balance myself as I feel as though my mind isn't completely here; that I am but a viewer, watching and observing, but not hearing anything. Specks of black cloud the edges of my vision, and my body feels numb. I can't breathe, and I start to panic a little. Although as desperate gasps for air turn into a regular rhythm of breathing once more, I start to calm myself.
I lean against something, not entirely sure of my surroundings yet, attempting to hold my unstable body steady. Slowly my vision returns to normal, and I can hear again, though my legs are still a little shaky.
Feeling I can walk again, I push off of the object I was leaning against and try to walk a few paces. My legs are shaking, but I can manage. A dull pain is seeping throughout my body, but the pain isn't enough that I can't walk.
I take in my surroundings. I seem to be in a forest of a sort.
In the distance I hear sobbing; loud, uncontrollable sobbing. Curious, I tread towards the sounds.
After a few minutes, I reach a clearing. Pushing some tree branches aside, I get a clearer view of the source of the wailing.
I gasp. I know these people. They're from my protesting group. Over to the side I could see a woman on her knees crying and wailing uncontrollably from what it seems. She must be the source of all the noise. I recognise her caramel blonde hair.
"Hatori!" I call out to her, wanting to know how to comfort my friend. To my disdain, she doesn't respond, but I push the thought aside and decide she couldn't hear me. I walk closer and closer to her, until I'm merely a few feet away. A small sad smile crosses my face.
"Hatori, are you okay?" I repeat. Although, she still doesn't seem to hear me. My face falls at this discovery. Again, panic fills me. Why can't she hear me?
'Mum and dad!' I think. 'Maybe they can hear me!' And so, I run. I run back to the little blue house that my parents still live in. It's not very far away from what I can remember. My legs ache, but I push myself forward. I have to figure out what happened.
As I run, a strange thought pops up in my head.
'Why don't I feel tired? I've been running for about ten minutes now! Sure, my body aches for some reason, but I don't understand why I don't feel tired.' I try to dwell deeper into the subject. 'And somehow, I feel… lighter.' I shake my head, trying to forget about it and just concentrate on getting to my old home.
Two years ago, when I was nineteen, I decided to move out. The pain from knowing the Spirit World was so close made my heart ache. I had to get away from it all. So, I rented my very own apartment. That's where I met Hatori.
We were nothing but roommates at first, but then we started to get to know each other. I'm glad we met, I was so lonely. After I moved in, my parents and I got very distant from each other, but I still phoned them sometimes to talk about the minor issues I had, like the fact that the state of the environment was clearly bothering me.
That's when Hatori and I decided to make a protesting group, and start to clean up the rivers and the general environment. We put up flyers around town, and eventually got the necessary amount of people we needed and set off.
After about half an hour of pondering my thoughts and memories, I notice I'm coming close to my destination. Walking up the driveway, I wipe my sweaty palms on my jeans and walk up to the front door.
We hadn't seen each other in years, so I can only hope that things won't be too awkward.
My shaking hand knocks twice on the white wooden door, noticing the slight chipping of the paint. I step back a small step as the door opens, suddenly very nervous. My mother, Yuuko, stood at the door, a confused expression on her face as she seemingly looks past me, not aware of my presence.
"Mum?" Confused, I wave a hand in front of her face, but retract it as she starts closing the door with a sigh.
"Damn kids." I hear before the door closes in front of my face. Tears well up in my eyes, I don't understand what's happening. Why can't anyone hear me? Why can't they see me? I sit down on one of the few steps at the front door, pulling my knees close to my body. I rest my head in my arms on top of my knees and let the tears flow. Just like when I was ten.
"What's happening to me…?" I manage to choke out, before breaking down into tears.
~o~o~O~o~o~
Reaching his river, the dragon returns to his home at the Kohaku River. The dragon transforms into a young man once more, before walking into his river. Now knee deep in the cool water, Haku closes his eyes. Concentrating, the man starts to melt and turn into the water from which he was currently standing in.
"Chihiro…" He whispered as he slowly disappeared into the water.
~o~o~O~o~o~
A/N: What do you think will happen next? Is Chihiro still alive? Tell me what you think with a review! Also, sorry for the short chapter ^^"
Also, thanks to those who reviewed since I last updated. Those people were:
WhiteTiger246, blackrain1205 and Heartz4Jesus!
Thanks guys! I'll try to update every Friday if I can. (Australian time)