A/N: Thank you all so much for reviewing, following, and favoriting this story! I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see people paying attention to my writing. I hope I don't disappoint with this chapter!

Chihiro sighed and shot her mirror a resentful look. Over the course of an hour, she'd moved from her bed to her desk and back. Now, she was sitting at her desk with her fingers drumming against the wood of her work space and her feet kicking up and down furiously.

Why wouldn't he just leave her alone?

The boy was still living in her mirror, staring at her with that sad look in his eyes. He never moved from his spot, just watched her from where he stood.

She thought that if she communicated with him, she'd be able to get him to stop pestering her. But no matter what Chihiro did, the ghost just didn't understand. She'd tried everything she could think of.

She tried to talk to him. He said nothing. She wrote a letter. He still said nothing. She made hand gestures. Nothing.

And the silence was suffocating.

Maybe she really was going crazy...? Chihiro closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, her fingers pressing soothing circles into her skin. She could feel a migraine coming on. Wasn't seeing things other people couldn't a sign of schizophrenia or something?

Chihiro sighed. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately. When it seemed like her headache had abated, Chihiro hesitantly opened her eyes and willed for the ghost-thing to be gone.

He was still there.

Disappointment washed through her and she could only stare back at him in silence. But after a moment of staring into the mirror which no longer reflected her own image, Chihiro got up from her seat and walked over to the boy.

She pressed her forehead against the glass and let out a sigh, her breath clouding a small area of the ghost's chest. Ghost, illusion, she didn't care any more. She just wanted him gone.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Her voice was tired with a tinge of misery mixed in. It was like she'd just aged a decade; her whole being was exhausted from putting up with these...these delusions. She looked the boy dead in the eyes and pressed a hand against the mirror. "Did I do something to you in a past life? Is that why you're haunting me?!"

Chihiro sucked in a breath suddenly – but not because she wanted to rant at the ghost-boy some more. No, something was wrong.

Slowly, her eyes dropped from his sparkling emerald green eyes (was that joy she saw...?) and took in the sight of her hand – no, her lack of a hand – pressed against the mirror. Her brain struggled to comprehend what she was seeing – her hand had somehow passed through the mirror. This was impossible! But she could see and feel his cold hand entwining with her warm one.

Chihiro gasped. Could delusions be so real?

She tried to jerk her hand back but the boy's grip was like stone. He was unmovable. Then, the hand that held hers started to pull her in.

Chihiro eyes widened in horror and she let out a loud cry when it wasn't just her hand trapped in the mirror any more. No, her wrist had been pulled in, and now the rest of her arm was being sucked into this death trap!

She frantically tried to get away, but his hands kept dragging her closer and closer into the already too close mirror. Chihiro dug her heels into the wooden floor and twisted her body away, trying to get him to lose his grip, but nothing slowed his movements.

"Let go of me!"

She wasn't sure, but out of the corner of her eyes, she thought she saw a small smile playing on his lips. Then, his hand tightened even more around hers and he jerked their entwined hands to his body, bringing her crashing forward.

"No–!"

Chihiro instinctively closed her eyes, expecting to slam into glass, but when no such impact came, she slowly, hesitantly opened her eyes.

An expanse of darkness was what greeted her.

There was absolutely nothing – wait...

Chihiro squinted into the distance. It was faint, but she could see light trickling through the darkness...something like...an exit?

She sat back on her haunches. Well, it didn't matter to her. She was just trying to get back...

Like a switch had been flipped, Chihiro remembered the ghost-boy who'd brought her here and furiously looked around, her eyes darting about quickly in search of that frightening boy.

He was nowhere in sight, but...

That ghost.

Chihiro shivered and rubbed her hands against her forearms. Though the hand that caught her was gone, she could still feel the chill of that icy hand around her.

She shook her head, trying to erase the fear from her mind, and looked behind her, wanting to go back home, but only found emptiness stretching forth for miles. Her heart sunk in her chest.

Her bedroom was gone, and with it, her ticket back home.

What was she going to do? She couldn't go back now!

Suddenly, Chihiro remembered the twinkling of light in the distance. Her head snapped to that direction and she eyed the exit cautiously, then looked away and considered her options. She could wait here in the darkness for that ghost-boy to return and show her the way back (Chihiro snorted. Like that was gonna happen.) or...

She pursed her lips and eyed her possible salvation. It wasn't like she really had a choice.

Without another thought, Chihiro scrambled to her feet and shot forth to the exit.