The Other World

Chapter 10 - Separation Anxiety

Chapter 10: Separation Anxiety

Time disappeared. Slow consciousness pooled at the surface and seeped down into fissures and crevices, deeper and deeper, caressing the rocky walls as it went, brushing the smoothened stone and penetrating the small cracks in the rocky face. And then the spring settled, the consciousness of its new master having spread through every corner. And it was calm. there was no longer a boundary between Haku and the spring. They were one, with no edges. The spring had a soul again.

Deep in the earth, where water met fire, Haku awoke. He felt a touch on his skin, one that he recognized. It was her. He rose through the channels within the layers of bedrock beneath the swamp, wearing smooth the tunnels as he did. He hit the surface and formed a body for himself to greet his visitor, the one he knew. She was sitting on his banks, and as he rose into the air she turned toward him. Her eyes met his and he thought he saw a hint of a smile before they snapped shut.

The dragon collapsed into nothing and around Chihiro's feet the human Haku rose up from the surface of the spring and caught her before her body could hit the water. The spring clung to him, unwilling to let him go so soon after adoption. He took the time to comfort it before firmly shooing the water from Chihiro's clothes and hair, as well as his own. He held her and breathed in her scent until she fell asleep, marveling at such senses as sight and smell, of which the spring knew nothing. He lifted her up, and carried her back to the house.

---

Chihiro dreamt of blood dripping down her sides. Stop! Why are you doing this? Your family needs you. Your daughter is waiting for you to come home. No! Go home, damn it, live! She pleaded with him helplessly. It was no use. The scent of death permeated the forest. Blood stained the earth. He had been a happy child once, had played where his body now lay. She vomited as she cried, sick to her stomach from grief and horror.

Chihiro curled up in the bed, wrapping the blankets tighter around herself. Her heart felt torn to pieces. It's only a bad dream, she told herself. A nightmare. But this thought wasn't as reassuring as it used to be. For all she knew, it had really happened, and the curse had made her forget. She opened her eyes. She was in Haku's room, in Haku's bed, she thought. She pushed herself up, sitting against the carved headboard, and looked around. The lamps on the bedside tables were dimly lit. Haku was sitting in the armchair in the corner, marking the page in the book he was reading. He looked up at her.

"I'm so sorry," he said. "Are you alright?"

"What happened?" Chihiro asked. "I was just taking a walk by the spring, and there was nothing in the water, and then..."

"Please don't force yourself to remember," Haku stood up as she grimaced.

Chihiro ignored him. "You came out of the spring. You were a dragon." The image of the great white serpent rising from the pool had already begun to blur in her mind but she held onto the newfound knowledge fiercely. It was all real. The myths were real. The boy standing in front of her was a dragon.

"Yes," Haku said. "I triggered the spell. I should have been more careful. We had hoped my dragon form would be different enough that you wouldn't recognize it, the way my human form is."

"That's not likely," Chihiro said, turning to face Haku. Her legs dangled off the side of the bed.

"No, I suppose not," Haku said.

"But I think... you did look different," Chihiro said. She could not picture the dragon anymore, but she remembered clearly the feeling that something had changed. "I've seen you as a dragon? Before?"

Haku shook his head. "Fighting the spell will just hurt you. It's not worth it."

"It's worth it to me," Chihiro snapped. "These memories, they're inside of me somewhere, and unless I find them, I can't be sure I was ever this girl that you Zeniba and everyone claim that you know."