Chihiro sat down on the banks of the Rei River, knees drawn up to her chest. Softly swirling blue water flowed about five feet down from the steep banks to an indeterminable depth. The black denim bag lay at her feet in the mossy grass. Staring at the river, she pulled an apple from the sack and munched on it thoughtfully. Wrapping her free arm around her drawn knees, she sighed and rested her forehead on her kneecaps.
Maybe he actually isn't coming back…
Her thoughts raced away as she finally admitted that possibility to herself. What if something bad had happened to him? What if Yababa had somehow put him back under her spell? What if the bathhouse was destroyed while he and Lin were still inside? Come to think of that, whatever happened to Lin? Terrible images flashed through her mind. The apple lay forgotten on the grass where it had fallen from her limp hand. Chihiro bit onto her bottom lip with increasing pressure until she tasted blood.
Blood…Memories flashed through her head.
A small girl called Sen, dressed in a bright melon-pink outfit, knelt down beside a bleeding dragon, his head resting in her lap…
The same girl shoving her bloody hand into a giant-sized fat baby's face to make him let go of her…
Herself sitting on the floor of a bloodstained boiler-room, cradling a bleeding Haku in her lap, while Kamaji the Boilerman coaxed him to swallow some water…
Anxiously Chihiro swallowed and closed her eyes, willing the memories away. She clutched her knees to her chest and rocked back and forth, keeping the tears and pain inside. Her fist pressed tight to her mouth to stifle her sobs, she sniffed hard and whimpered. Where are you, Haku? Why aren't you here with me?
Silently Chihiro thought back on their shared adventure only five years ago… had it really been that long? Yes, it must've been, since now she was fifteen years old. If she ever saw Haku again, would he recognize her? Had he already forgotten her? She vividly remembered everything about those precious few days. She remembered the bathhouse and her first job as Yababa's lackey: tending to a particularly smelly guest who turned out to actually be a River Spirit. She had, with the help of the entire bathhouse staff, pulled a bicycle and a whole junkyard's worth of junk from the human world out of him. The River Spirit… Her smile dimmed and she shook her head as the memory of her final farewell to Haku replayed in her head. Small tears dripped down from her eyes to her chin and from there to her hand. She pressed her eyes tightly closed to quell the tears.
Blindly she reached for her satchel, thinking to get a drink of water. Her throat ached from holding the tears inside. Her hand searched the contents of the bag, seeking one of the bottles of water or tea she'd packed. Instead her fingers brushed by an object of unexpected texture. Curious, she opened her eyes and pulled out the small lump. It was round, mostly, and wrapped up in pastel pink wax paper. Intrigued, she peeled back a bit of the paper and peeked inside, then had to close it again and quickly put it away as the tears once more threatened.
Rice cakes. She knew she didn't pack them—her mother must've. Clearly she remembered Haku coaxing her to eat while he held her sobbing body in his arms. He'd given her his own rice cakes.
Taking a deep, shaky breath, Chihiro unfolded her legs and urged her knees to support her weight. She continued her hike upstream, scooping up the bag without breaking stride. Quietly sniffling still, she wiped her eyes and set a determined pace.
I will find you, Haku.
"Haku was a River Spirit himself," she reminded herself aloud, reasoning her logic out once more. "So, even if his river was filled in, perhaps when he returned from the Other World, he'd become spirit of a different river, and I just have to find it." Or perhaps, her conscious pricked, reminding her of her secret thoughts, perhaps he came back a human. A riverside town is as good a place to look as any.
To take her mind off things, she began to sing a soft song to herself beneath her breath. After a short while later her cheerful mood returned and she balanced on the edge of the ravine, arms outstretched for balance. Carefully she placed one foot directly before the other and pretended to be back in her gymnastics class, pacing the thin balance beam. Never did her eyes stray from the ground before her feet, nor did she so much as glance at the gentle rapids below.
Suddenly the grassy plain was gone. In place of it was a thin, rusty and rickety pipe. Chihiro knew it was unstable, unlikely to hold her weight for long enough for her to cross, but she had to cross it. There was no other way. She closed her eyes tightly, gathering her courage, took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and dashed out onto the pipe. Beneath her feet the metal tubing was giving away almost faster than her feet could be placed on it, but she was determined to make it. A sense of urgency filled her, leaving no room at all for fear. She needed to hurry. Haku needed her.
But the pipe was giving way too fast… She wasn't going to make it… She felt herself falling…
Then she saw it—a ladder, bolted into the side of the bathhouse. It seemed sturdy, if uncomfortable. Here goes… She gathered the last of her momentum and launched herself at the ladder, clinging tightly to it. Haku had flown up through the topmost window, and if she didn't hurry up to him, he'd bleed to death before she could reach him. She had to hurry… Pausing only long enough to spit the leaves from her mouth…
Leaves?!
Chihiro blinked rapidly, shook her head, and blinked again, disoriented. Both the bathhouse and pipe were gone, replaced by grassy knolls and a sharp, knife-edge gully. The ladder had vanished. She found herself instead clinging to the top of a tree, swaying precariously. Blushing furiously at her imagination, she quickly scaled back to the ground, thankful that no one was there to witness her actions. She moved back to pace the rim of the crevasse.
As she walked on the edge, she pulled out a folding map of the general area and approximated her location. "Ookay," she said aloud to herself, "there should be a bridge around here somewhere… And by there, a village." Maybe he'll be there…
An unnatural shadow fell over her and a cold misty wind blew her hair forward to frame her face. Something was wrong; she'd checked the weather forecast when she awoke, anticipating the hike, and it was supposed to be a gentle spring day. So why was the wind blowing so cold? And why weren't the trees moving? She looked up at the clear blue sky. The gorgeous aquamarine color reminded her of the sea that had appeared overnight in the Spirit World after only one night of rain. She sighed deeply and took another step, delighted in the splendid color.
A clattering of rocks and dry dirt clogs showered the river below as the rock on which she had just placed her weight shifted and slipped from the bank edge. It clamored down the steep incline and into the water with a loud splash. Chihiro, shifted off balance by the displacement of the stone, stood on the edge of the bank for a moment, tottering precariously, then tumbled head over heels into the deep waters.
Suddenly the deceptively placid-looking waters turned vicious, buffeting her with wave after wave of sheer power, forcing her under. Air escaped her mouth and lungs to be replaced by swirling torrents of water, choking off her breathing.
So this is it, she thought as she felt her vision growing black around the edge. This is how it ends. I'm so sorry, Haku, that I couldn't be here when you came for me… I'm sorry… Haku…
