-Catgirl-of-Bavaria- : Behold! the first of several chapters written in the throes of insomnia! I'm rather proud of them, actually, I guess I really am a creature of the darkness Seriously, I had insomnia when I wrote this a coupleof weeks agodue to a heat spell and my dad being out of town. mutters to self Cursed Global Warming….ahem
So, apparently I write well when I'm sleep deprived, but I can't draw…. Huh. Go figure.
Anyway! Enough of my ramblings, back to the story! XD
Chapter 7 – Pathways to LockedMemories
Exasperated pants left Chihiro as she neared the bottom of the hill, fumbling her way in the dark. She had already fallen down once, and a dark grass stain on both knees of her pants was evidence of her inherent clumsiness.
Swinging her lantern around blindly, she slowed her pace to brace herself for the change of terrain, as she neared the flat ground. She hadn't lit her lantern yet, as she saw fine enough with the light from the full moon. Once she was completely on the flat, she paused, listening, looking for anything, taking in the surroundings and letting her memory take her back six years.
She ended up halfway between the large tree littered with shrines and the overgrown entrance to the forest. Chihiro remembered at this point her father was driving straight into the forest after they saw the shrines and noted that they may have taken the wrong turn. Her father had decided to plow on, convinced that the trail was a shortcut to their new home.
She nervously glanced around, looking for any midnight wanderers or witnesses to her madness.
'That's what they'd call me. Mad.' She thought to herself as she twisted the dial on her lantern, coaxing the bulb to grow brighter.
She held up the now glowing light to see better the edge of the forest. She saw now, in her dim light, the exact spot that the boy had been standing earlier.
She felt her palms go warm and sweaty just thinking about that boy.
"Completely mad. That's what they'd call me…" she muttered to herself, thinking how absurd this would be to someone else, had they been watching her and reading her feelings.
She slowly approached the opening, lantern held far in front of her. She heard the near silent strain of every blade of grass that bent beneath her feet; every snap of a twig started her. Finally she stood there. The exact same place her hallucination stood just hours ago. She was at the entrance to the dark forest, and now all there was to do was go in…or turn back.
Chihiro gulped, whatever it was that she knew about herself, she knew that she was a coward. Sure, she knew she had found bravery in herself that she never knew existed when she was in the spirit world, but in the human world…She always felt awkward and out of place. She couldn't even be outgoing in school. It was probably her cowardice, she believed, that prevented her from going back to the spirit world all these past years.
She thought about the boy again… the boy who, in her memory was growing more and more faceless everyday. Staring down at the leaves and twigs scattered on the ground, she regretted to think that one day he'd be completely gone. This boy who meant so much to her. That she was certain she loved.
"It ain't gonna happen." She boldly whispered to the leaves. "I'm not letting him slip away anymore." She lifted her head just slightly to look through the little gap in the shrubbery.
More determined than ever, Chihiro knelt down and crawled straight through it. She reached the other side, with scratches up and down her arms from all of the unfriendly branches, and held up her lantern to light the way.
The forest, she found, had grown significantly. The canopy reminded her of a cavernous European cathedral made of trees. She then turned her glance to the path ahead. The light of her lamp only reached so far, before the path was dark with small patches of moonlight. It was positively beautiful and picturesque in every way.
She began her march into the wood, remembering being thrown around in the backseat as the scenery raced by. Her father had gone faster and faster, and the bumps in the cobblestone path had shown her no mercy.
Thinking of how fast her father was going, she figured that it was probably more than a bit longer by foot than by car. She started at a hasty jog, then transitioned into an all out sprint. Running further and further into the woods.
"Whaa—" She exclaimed, as she felt her foot tug at a root, sending her to the ground. Chihiros lantern escaped her, and she pulled herself into a seat, rubbing her sore and bloody knees.
"Ow…." She cursed at the protests that her knees were giving her. Opening her eyes, she saw a vague shadow just behind some bushes next to her on the edge of the road.
The moonlight glinted on the shadow, giving it a mischievous little grin. Chihiro gasped and sidled several feet backward, wondering what was gazing at her. A creature? A person?
"A spirit?" She squeaked, unbelieving. She fumbled for her lantern and held it up with a shaking hand. The shivering light rested on a moss covered stone, carved in such a way to look like a small, grimacing woman in roughly the shape of an egg. Chihiro stopped shaking and got to her feet. Peering with the light over the shrubs, she got a closer look.
"I remember this!" She gasped, recalling seeing this exact figure six years ago as her father sped by it. "I must be close!" She said, not helping but to smile.
She pelted off in the direction she was headed, running, running, ignoring her fatigue and gasps for air until she came to the end.
She slowed her pace as she saw another statue of the same little egg-shaped woman, smiling at her, as if to congratulate her on her journey. It was just sitting there, in the middle of the pathway, at the edge of her lanterns light. She walked, slowly, catching her breathe at the same time. She knew it was here. The gateway to the spirit world. She bathed the little smiling woman in even more light the closer she got.
Chihiro sensed it. Just beyond the edge of her lamp she sensed the immense structure. Looking up, she found it even bathed beautifully in moonlight. She slowly stepped forward, not daring to breathe, and her light gradually fell on the large red walls that were covered in vines and surrounded an arching tunnel, full of pitch black darkness. She felt her heart quicken as she held her lantern above her head, as if in some hope that she'd see all the way to the other side.
The silence was deafening as she stood there, lighting only the very entrance of the tunnel, leaving the rest as dark as it had been without light. The breeze tugged at her ankles, and her memories seemed to echo through the dark hole.
"The wind's pulling us in…" Her ten year old voice seemed to echo through the endless tunnel.
"Let's go in. Just a quick look." Her fathers voice followed.
"I'm not going! It gives me the creeps!" Her voice again.
"Don't be such a scaredy-cat, Chihiro."
There she stood once more, staring into the pitch darkness, as if she was watching the day being relived in front of her. The wind gave a quiet howl as it blew through the tunnel, and Chihiro still stood there. Transfixed, and not knowing what to do next.
She wanted to go through the barrier, to go find that boy, but she knew at night the spirit world on the other side was completely different. She knew what she'd find immediately on the other side of the tunnel during the day; a small room that almost looked like a church with several park benches, with a door that led to the huge sloping field of green grass that spread all the way to the grey stone steps.
During the night, however, she knew that the field was transformed into a huge river, and she didn't know what lay on this side of it. Even then, the last time she had been in the spirit city at night, it had caused quite a commotion because she was human. The only way she was able to escape punishment was asking Yubaba for a job, she remembered. That was also the boys doing, saving her from being turned into a pig alongside her parents.
She knew she couldn't go forward, but she didn't want to leave just yet. She found, off to the side of the trail, a large stone to have a seat on. She set down her lantern and twisted the dial to make the light dimmer, to conserve its battery power for the journey back to her house.
Staring at the looming building, she tried to coax the boys face and his name back into her memory. But even up to the time that her watch told her that it was three o'clock, she hadn't had any luck.
Eyes full of tears, Chihiro trudged back through the forest and up the hill as rain began to pelt her head and the deep blue sky to the east painted itself lighter.
-Catgirl-of-Bavaria- : No, she hasn't gone in yet, gomen! I'm leading up to it, I swear! Ah, but finally, a long chapter in my story. sighs happily Oh! By the way, thank you everyone for your reviews, they are much appreciated!
More products of my heat-stricken insomnia to come! happy flails!