Chapter 1

Chihiro stood at the entrance of the old, abandoned theme park. The tunnel inside was pitch black, even though it was sunny outside. She remembered the day Haku, the river spirit, had told her to not look back until she reached the other side of the tunnel. He said they would see each other again. But she had been looking back for six years now and she hadn't seen him since. And this was the last time she would be able too look back for a long time. Her family was moving again. She was sixteen years old now and in high school. Chihiro had been coming down the hill from her house everyday just to stare at the black tunnel. And everyday, for six years, she had not seen Haku. Not once. She'd stay for an hour or so after school before going home, or come down on the weekends. All she wanted to do was travel through the tunnel. But Haku would not want her to. He didn't want her to get caught up in that mess again.

"Chihiro!" her father called from the car. "We have to go!" She nodded and took a deep breath. It was really time to leave this all behind.

"Goodbye." She sighed and ran back to her parents' car. Chihiro hopped in the back seat.

"I'm surprised you remember this place," her father said to her. "It's been six years since we were here." He, obviously, didn't know that she had been coming here every single day. She shrugged. Her father backed the car out of the long dirt road and they were off, on another adventure. She grabbed her old school bag, with her old high school's emblem embroidered on it. It was filled with her favorite snack. Her mother had made sure that Chihiro had plenty of it for the two hour drive. Pocky. How could she live without it? She opened a box of it and stuck a stick in her mouth. Then, she took out her CD player and started listening to her favorite songs. Her eyelids started to get heavy. She had stayed up all night, packing, very slowly. She was very reluctant to leave. After eating a full box of Pocky, Chihiro finally fell asleep in her seat.

"Sweetie?" Chihiro's mother said. She put her hand on her daughter's knee and shook it. "Chihiro?" The teenager opened her eyes. The sun was bright, so she squinted.

"What?" she asked, not wanting to wake up yet.

"We're at our new house." Chihiro opened her eyes all the way. Already? She sat up in her seat and looked out the front windshield. The house had one-story. It was light-gray with a black tiled roof. It was cute, but she already really missed her old house. The one close to the theme park. She sighed and opened the car door. When she was standing on her feet, right outside the car, she looked down at her watch. It was almost five. The sun would be setting soon, and the spirits back at the old park would be waking up. Kamaji would be lighting the boilers soon, and the bath house would be in business for the day. Suddenly, Chihiro's heart felt heavy, and she felt like she would cry. Before she started getting all teary-eyed, she forced it out of her system. She was going to start new here. She couldn't go to the theme park anymore. She wouldn't let that bother her. Would she be able to live like that? The spirits were her best friends. Of course, she had real friends, but none off them would ever live up to the ones she met at the bath house.

"Come on, honey. Let's get settled in to our new house," her father said. Chihiro reached back into the car and pulled her bag out. She slung it over her shoulder and slowly followed her parents into the house. The house looked better on the outside than it did on the inside. The room that happened to be Chihiro's was ghastly. Her parents promised to paint it the next week. The few boxes that belonged to her would sit in the front room until it was cleaned and painted.

"It's not that bad," her mother said, trying to cheer her daughter up. A little while later, the family left the movers with the boxes and went out to the closest restaurant. Chihiro wasn't very hungry. So, she didn't eat much. The movers were gone by the time they got back to the house. It was only around seven o'clock, so they decided to start unpacking. Chihiro got stuck unpacking the linen and towels, since there was no point in doing her room. Around ten, they decided to go to bed. Chihiro's mother gave her a comforter and set up the couch in the front room for her daughter. When the young girl was lying down, her mother sat on the edge of the couch. "Is anything wrong, honey?"

"No, I'm just kind of sad about leaving my friends behind," she answered. The older woman nodded.

"That's quite understandable. But, I'll tell you what," she said. "Tomorrow, we're going to pick up your uniform at the school and then we'll go pick out a color for your room. Would you like that?" Chihiro gave a slight nod. "Alright, goodnight."

"Goodnight, mom," Chihiro said. Her mother stood up, turned off the light, and left her daughter there, alone. She closed her eyes and went to sleep. The only thing she dreamed about was Haku, and Lin.

Back at the old theme park, the bath house was full of customers. Haku had quit his job as Yubaba's apprentice. He had struck a bargain with the old witch. He would stay and work until he had enough money to leave this place and live on his own. The problem was Yubaba paid her workers poorly. It would take forever to earn enough money. He would fly to see Zeniba every once in a while to see how she was doing. She had warmed up to him after Chihiro had apologized for him. And he liked to visit her. She was kind to him, unlike her twin sister. They talked about Chihiro a lot. Zeniba had told Haku to take care of her, so he watched over her from a distance. He would watch her walk to school in the morning, from the sky. He watched her in the darkness of the tunnel as she stood and stared in, just after school. He knew she couldn't see her. But he wanted her to. It just wasn't possible. She lived in the real world and he was just a spirit. But he knew she missed him and the others, dearly.

Today was different though. He wouldn't be able to watch her from the tunnel. He stood there today as Chihiro said goodbye to him. She said goodbye everyday. But Haku felt that today was a final goodbye. He didn't want that. He was scared that he would never see her again. She was earlier than ever that afternoon. Usually, on the weekends, she would come around three or four o'clock. But, today, she came around one. Haku had been there, though. He waited for her whenever he could. When she stared into the dark tunnel and said her last words, it was as if she knew that he was there, although he knew she didn't. It was as if she was staring right at him.

"Haku?"

Haku was pulled out of his thoughts by a familiar voice. He looked up and next to him. Lin stood there, looking at him. She was holding a small wooden tub with cleaning materials in it. She was probably going to go clean one of the tubs.

"What is it, Lin?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said. "I was just wondering what you were standing in the middle of the hallway for." He shrugged.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "Let's just get back to work." Lin nodded and went off in her own direction. Haku watched her, then went off on his own.