Chapter 3: 12/01/2011

CHAPTER 3: I'M HOME

Disclaimer: Great, now you have reminded me that I own none of spirited away or its characters! Now you must suffer and see me cry!-wah!

Introduction notes: Hello readers!

I am so sorry this took me so long! Just had a tiny writers block and spent a good portion of history class typing this up, and then finished at 2:30 a.m. today. Whoopee! That's how much I love you guys! Also, added some vocabulary terms just incase, if you want me o add anymore just tell me. Anyway more in the authors note at the bottom.

~SF Geronimo

Vocabulary Words:

Euphoria~ a feeling of intense excitement and happiness.

Felicity~ Intense Happiness

Ricochet~ a shot or hit that rebounds one or more times off a surface.

Previously~

"What the-" I sputtered, managing to shakily stand up and turn around. I drew a short breath and brought my hands up to my mouth. Because there, standing at the top of the hill that shadowed the river, and me was the black horse.

"Oh My Spirits!"

(Chihiro POV)

It was undoubtedly the horse from my dreams, and this horse was that boy, and that boy was a spirit! I imagined a light bulb suddenly flickering on above my head, like in the American cartoons. Spirits came from the spirit world and didn't leave for the human world unless a powerful spirit sent them, or they were a powerful spirit. He could be my ticket home, my ride back to the spirit world.

"Hey! Umm. Hello?" I called out to him, the horse stopped eating the grass and looked up at me lazily, making me wonder if I really did just have a normal horse on my hands. I slowly began walking closer, treating him like I did the wild mustangs I had helped train in America one time. He watched me casually, his warm eyes were definitely the same as that funny young man I had seen last night. Come to think of it, his mane and body color were exactly the same as his hair too.

"Can you take me to the spirit world?" I yelled, still nervously approaching him. I could hear my heart thumping in my ears, the blood raced around my body high on the promise of returning home. He just stood there, munching on his green weeds blatantly ignoring me. I felt more blood rush to my head carrying anger along with it, I didn't care. Spirit or no spirit I was getting home, somehow.

"HEY! Did you hear me, I said can you take me to the spirit world!" I shouted at him, and that seemed to do the trick. He stopped eating, his ears pricked forward and I saw him throw his head up and down in what I assumed to be a nod.

"Hey, Wait up!" He shied away, charging into a place where he blended quiet well. Now, I don't know if I was just downright crazy or what but the next thing I knew I was chasing a shadow horse into the forest.

"Oh no, wait a minute. This is the forbidden forest, if I stay in here ill never come out alive!" I whispered to myself suddenly skidding to a halt on the slippery leaves that coated the forest floor. I looked behind me at the path I had just run, it was closing up! The light from where the tree line broke was rapidly disappearing and I was trapped, a victim of the forest.

"Help! Please, Someone! Anyone! Help me!" I screamed at the top of my lungs to anyone who might answer, my heart suddenly started beating like crazy pumping fear throughout my body. I was alone, in a creepy forest, and there wasn't a bit of daylight to help guide me-

"Wait a second. What is that?" I looked ahead of me at the ground that was beginning to glow just barely, one had to look very hard to see the light it gave off but with the absence of the sun it was easier.

"What the-" I swiveled around quickly, panic shooting through me painfully once again. I heard a twig snap, followed by the sound of crunching leaves underfoot, I figured that I was being followed. Probably by some demon monster that hadn't eaten since the last innocent unsuspecting human had wandered in here. I couldn't move, I was frozen in place with fear and terror of what could possibly jump out of the darkness.

"Run" a voice called out of nowhere.

"What?" I answered, snapping out of my state of shock.

"You heard me! I said Run!" I came back to my senses, turning around and bolting off down the faintly lit path. I didn't know where it was going, but I had a hunch it was taking me home. As I raced down the narrow forest path, I could smell among the stench of rotting wood and decaying leaves the scent of spearmint that lingered ever so sweetly in the air. It was slightly comforting and energizing compared to everything else here that resembled damp, fungus-infested wood. I couldn't hear anything that might have been pursuing me above the sound of me slipping and sliding on the leaves, I just kept on running. I just kept on telling myself that soon I would be home, soon I would be with the spirits.

I had been running for almost two hours, or it was more like just dragging my aching body along by now. I didn't know where the will to move was coming from by now, my legs had gone almost completely numb and whatever feeling was left sent burning daggers through my body. My aching muscles cried out in fatigue, despite five years of constant conditioning for world equestrian championships and such this still pushed me to my breaking point.

"Oh no, great! Now I'm seeing things." I said, my voice was slightly raspy and dry from dehydration. I smacked my parched mouth, relishing the small amounts of saliva that came and wetted my tongue for a moment. My eyes were fixed on a growing light peeking through the trees that caused my path to lose its neon touch. I looked closer, my fuzzy vision slowly but surely focusing itself and adjusting to the new level of light.

"Wait a minute, the sun? It's the Sun!" I cried ecstatically feeling new reserves of energy flowing back through my body again, fueled by the radiant sun that burned through my doubt. My body picked itself back up again, relieving my exhausted legs of their grueling work, my whole pace quickened a little and the space between the ever-growing light and me shortened.

"Almost there, just a little farther." I whispered, gritting my teeth as I stumbled out of the life-sapping forest and into the blinding light. I rubbed my eyes, trying to sooth them of the burning sensation from the sun but only succeeded in agitating them even more. So I felt around until I found something cool, and leaned against it burying my head in my hands until my eyes had soothed themselves of their irritation.

"Wait! That stupid path took me here?" I said, my voice was riddled with anger as I looked up at the plaster building. What could have been an easy twenty-minute walk had become one of those "short (LONG) cuts"

"Grr! What on earth was that for? All it did was waste the daylight!" I yelled, releasing my anger on the nearest stone and kicking it forcefully into the darkness that filled the mouth of the red plaster building.

"That was probably just some normal loose ho-"

"Crack" the pebble gave a large sigh as it ricocheted of the mouth of the buildings tunnel, splitting into multiple pieces that all went their separate ways spinning out into the darkness. But the pebble wasn't what caught my attention, it was something dark and foggy that spooked at the pebble when it hit the wall. Something, or someone was hiding in the tunnel of the ancient red amusement park entryway.

"Hello? Hello-" I said tentatively, slinking up toward the entrance of the tunnel. As soon as I reached its mouth, I saw the shadow spin around again in a blur of black fog, and hide itself further in the shadows. But as it ran away, I heard the oh-so familiar sound of a horses feet swiftly pounding on cobblestone.

"The building, it's moaning." I mumbled to myself, not realizing the full effect of my own words. And before I had time to register, the wind began to pull vigorously yet playfully at my shirt while pushing me from behind. Actually succeeding in making me stumble forward a few steps into the dark, moaning hole.

"And, the wind. It's pulling me in." A total sense of Déjà vu washed over me, remembering that extraordinary day five and a half years ago, the day that changed my life forever.

(Flashback)

(flashback ends)

"I don't know, what if there is nothing there? I don't think I can take my heart being broken one more time." I whispered to myself, and it was true. What if I went to the other side, and the spirit world was still gone? Could I really take heartbreak one more time? My heart could only be put back together so many times until it stayed broken for good, and if disappointment causes it to burst this time, I fear it might've been the last. The building moaned again, this time so strongly that it caused the ground underneath me to tremble ever so slightly. The wind backed me up, sending another aggressive gust of wind barreling down the tunnel, almost knocking me flat on my face.

"It's all the same, the same as back then." I mumbled, a new wave of hope filled me up inside. One that lifted my spirits and urged me on, not knowing what's on the other side yet to go. Not knowing if my wish will come true, to go, and not knowing if he would be there waiting for me, to go.

"Alright, watch out spirit world. I'm coming home." I felt a small smile tugging at the corners of my mouth, and I let it come forward. I walked forward, my strides growing longer and faster with every step I took into the almost impassable darkness of the tunnel. Before I knew it I was at a full-blown run, dodging the various pillars that were strewn throughout the building. True, I was scared just like last time. And like last time I was also holding onto something, but it was not my mothers arm between my in-escapable grip. No, now I found I was holding onto something inside of me, it was Haku's promise I held onto for comfort, I held it with a grip that I promised now I would never let go of.

"I'm home." I whispered, my body and mind were stunned with pure bliss and disbelief at the same time. After five and a half years of waiting, of pain, of suffering and misery, I was finally home, right where I belonged.

"I'm home, I'm home! OH MY GOD! I'M FINALY HOME!" I screamed with pure excitement, my whole being was high off of happiness, off of the weight now lifted and gone.

"Everything is here! I can see it all!" I looked out over the little spirit town in front of me that would soon be waking up. It filled my heart with contentment and the urge to just go crazy with the euphoria of returning home. And that is just what it did.

"I can't believe it! I'm finally home!" I squealed, frolicking around in the sea of grass that reached up to my knees. I was giddy with excitement as I cavorted about, acting like the young child I never was. It felt so good, my joy radiated from my heart and it made the air thick with felicity encouraging my playful antics. I was acting like a young foal, who had just discovered they had legs and now could be found frisking about in the pasture not caring if a soul saw them do it.

"I'm home! I'm home! Whoa-" I felt myself stumble over the edge of the hill that overlooked the spirit town, but I just went with it. I rolled down the slope with pure bliss, everything was right in the world, everything was perfect- or almost.

"Hey? What gives?" Suddenly my oh-so perfect world was trashed once again. My rolling adventures had ended quite abruptly in a sticky patch of black mud, catching me in its bubbling clutches.

"What on earth is a giant patch of mud doing in the middle of- Oh no!" I realized I had forgotten a minor detail-the river. The very same river that separated the two worlds at night and proved to be my downfall the last time I was here. It thwarted me in my path of escape on my first night here, preventing this whole ordeal form happening in the first place.

"Oh no you don't!" I said, a bit delusional now with the desire to reach the bathhouse before some other inevitable thing happened.

"Don't you think for a moment that you're going to stop me again! No way no how! I'm going to get across you somehow!" I screamed, pointing a slender finger at the inky black water. My first thought was the boat, but I didn't want to encounter any other spirits than the ones that already knew me so that was out of the question. And there was only one other option, one other particularly stupid option.

"I'm going to have to swim across aren't I?" I quickly stripped off my thin jacket, figuring if I ever made it I could easily just come back for it later. I carefully removed my paddock boots, gingerly setting them along with the jacket high enough up the bank so they wouldn't get flooded.

"Oh well, here goes nothing." I said, my voice wavered with anxiety and uncertainty again. But there was no turning back now, no I had come to far just to give up. And with that I dove into the murky water, piercing its surface in a streamline fashion.

"Oh crap!" I sputtered, gasping for air but finding that none would come. The water must have been in the negatives because my body immediately went into shock upon impact, combine that with my conveniently timed return of the fatigue I had experienced earlier and you get the perfect mix for trouble. I tried to tread water, but my legs or my lungs wouldn't listen to me, and my fat-free body didn't help the floating. Leaving me struggling and helpless once again.

"C'mon Chihiro! You can do – AHH!" Something attacked me from under the water, grabbing my ankle and yanking me below the surface. I panicked, thrashing about and fighting whatever held me in its prison, but that only resulted in its sharp grip tightening. I looked up toward the surface, the last rays of light were quickly disappearing along with the bubbles that held the air stolen from my lungs that now cried out for oxygen. I immediately started to remember how everyone here basically wanted me dead, and apparently not much had changed.

"Helppp Meeeeeeee!" I called out, hoping some kind water creature might come to my aid. But all I saw was the widening blackness that enveloped my vision as my lungs burned and stung with the lack of air. I let go of whatever miniscule amounts of oxygen that was lingering inside of me, I wasn't going to need it anymore. I passed out, but just as my vision blacked out completely I saw something swimming at amazing speed heading straight for me. Whatever it was it was huge, and it had four legs and maybe a tail. I lost control of my vision, completely going dark along with my brain. Everything became shrouded in a thick fog of confusion, I didn't know what was going on, where I was, and what had just happened to me. I would have bet I was dead, but I could hear a voice still calling to me.

"Chihiro! Your fine now, its alright! We'll be up top in no time at all."

"Just slide onto my back, that's it. Don't worry, I got you Chihiro."

"your safe now, little sis."

Author's Note:

Muahawhaw! Aren't I evil? I promised myself no cliffhangers in the first five chapters but I crossed my fingers, this was just to good to resist! Anyway will be posting the next chapter as soon as I get MINIMUM TWO MORE REVIEWS!

Until next time

~SF Geronimo