Spirited Away Fanfiction

by Tashhhh!

This is kind of a twisted interpretation of the last scene in Spirited Away.

Chapter 6 - Chihiro

Two years and three months ago, Chihiro parted with Kohaku and ran across the empty river bed. She looked up in surprise as she heard her mom's voice, and was so relieved to see both her parents across the field in front of her, waving with completely human arms.

"Mom, Dad!" she exclaimed. "You shouldn't run off like that, honey," Yuuko said softly. "You could get in big trouble," Akio half-joked.

"Are you guys sure you're alright?"

"Let's go! I don't want to miss the movers." said Yuuko. Chihiro realized they must not remember being pigs, just as they hadn't remembered being human as pigs.

Then something weird happened. An odd foreboding registered in Chihiro's mind. She wanted nothing more than to follow her parents through the tunnel, but there was something amiss. She tried to shake it off, but the feeling only heightened as she stared at the dark tunnel, which seemed almost too welcoming, like she was being baited somehow. Chihiro suddenly felt like running back to Kohaku right now would be a very good idea. But she had no logical basis for this premonition, and she trusted him with all her heart, so she caught herself before she turned around, and went for it.

The parents went back to their car, daughter following in tow. The adults sat down in the front seats. Chihiro was standing in front of the hood of the car, which looked just the way they left it. Now that Chihiro was finally on the other side, having obeyed Kohaku's words, she looked back at the archway.

She screamed more loudly than she had ever screamed in her entire life. The little statue was gone... along with the stone tunnel, the forest, and the rest of the world! It was as if the entire world about 3 feet in front of where Chihiro was standing, and everything past that line of longitude had fallen out of existence. There was nothing to see but endless blue sky. If she had dared to walk a little closer and look to the side, she would have seen the wall of severed terrain extending all the way up the earth, and trees falling into the abyss.

Chihiro's hands were shaking, and her feet were glued in place. She screamed again and forced herself to move, bolting back to the car, which was already running and turned around, waiting for her to get in it. She jumped into the back seat, and yelled at her parents.

"Oh my god, did you guys see that? What the hell is going on?" the car was already driving back down the dirt road. Chihiro was panicking, but her parents were as calm as ever.

"What are you going on about now?" her mom asked with an irritated tone, as if Chihiro had just complained about her flower bouquet again. "Um... panicking? Am I going crazy? Did you guys not see that giant pit back there? You must have seen it in the rearview mirror, or do you not use that anymore?"

"You cut out that strong language this instant, Chihiro!" said Chihiro's dad. "Sit down, buckle up and be quiet" he said coldly.

Chihiro gasped and stopped yelling at them, but inside she was freaking out even more. Chihiro looked out the rear window again, and was trying to see the cliff again, but suddenly the car jerked and she tumbled across the seat, bumping her head on the window.

"Oww.." she groaned. "What did I tell her," her dad muttered under his breath. Chihiro almost felt like crying, at this point, but then she noticed another anomaly. Although she had spent a few weeks in the Spirit World, she remembered the part before about the blue house they were moving to being just up the hill from the wrong turn they had taken (the house which was probably teetering on the edge of the world, if it hadn't fallen off all together).

However, they were passing cross street after cross street, now entering a highway, continuing down a winding eastbound road, with no sign of going back up there. Chihiro was still upset by her parents unusually cold demeanor, but asked anyway.

"Um," she cleared her throat. Neither adult answered. She tried again, less subtly. "Where are we going?" she demanded, clearly and not whiny.

The woman looked at her, and then looked back ahead, not responding.

Chihiro was angry now. "Hey, I asked a question here! The blue house was just up the hill on the next cross street from the one we accidentally turned on, remember?"

Her mom sighed as if she wanted to say something, but was trying her best to ignore the girl.

"Where are we going? Answer me!" Chihiro asked, starting to panic again. "This isn't funny you guys! I know I was a little whiny before, but this is really freaking me out! Please tell me what's going on!"

"CHIHIRO!" the father boomed, startling her again. "Just... please just go to sleep or something. I'm sorry. I'll explain when we get there." Chihiro was out of emotional juice, and exhausted, she gave in and lay down, crying until she fell asleep. Before she fell asleep, Kohaku's face flashed in her mind, and she thought about how he had tried so hard to help her and how nice it would be if he would catch up with their car and grab her out of the window.

Chihiro's eyelids flickered open. The natural light was dimmer when Chihiro woke up in the evening. She turned her neck to either side, then up and down, attempting to stretch out the soreness that had developed while sleeping across the backseat. Her parents were still happily ignoring her. They didn't seem to notice or care when she woke up. She thought of trying again, but didn't know what to say. She scootched over to the other side of the car, kneeled on the seat, and stared out the window. They were driving on some winding mountain highway. The side of the highway was railed for safety, and the view was pretty neat. Chihiro occupied herself with studying the shapes of the shadows cast by the setting sun and the various buildings, trees, and hills in the valley below.

Chihiro felt her eyelids start to droop again, when she looked up suddenly at the jerk of the vehicle. She gasped in horror. Her father had fallen asleep at the wheel! She yelled, and tried to lean forward to grab the wheel, but it was too late and the car barreled straight ahead, off the road at a section that had no rail. Chihiro screamed as the car tumbled down the steep mountain side.

At the foot of the mountain, a car lay on its side, the ceiling and the exposed side caved in, broken glass everywhere. In the back seat, Chihiro struggled in vain to keep breathing through her crushed lungs as her blood ran in streams down the polyester seats. Her heart finally slowed to a stop.

Chihiro felt the pain in her body fade, and when she came to, she was standing once again at in front of the car, the rest of the world missing behind her. But she paid the abyss no mind, and quietly got into the car and buckled her seat belt. The car crash was the best way to go. She could never live past sunset, and if she died earlier, she would just be stuck with the feeling of dying in whatever way it was for several hours until the world reset itself again. Of course she had tried to evade her fate and escape this strange hell. She had tried everything she could think of, over and over again, thousands of times. She had kept hoping for Kohaku to rescue her long after she had given up on herself. But eventually she stopped.

oh noez, infinite loop of pain

This is a fan-based work of the movie Spirited Away. Not affiliated with Studio Ghibli, or used for any commercial purpose.