Spirited away 2

Chapter Three:

Twelve years of trying, and twelve consecutive years of disappointment. Chihiro had become so used to being let down that she had no longer expected to find what she longed for. She didn't expect to find anything but the same scene at the end of the tunnel; nothing but the usual empty field. She looked around unamused at what looked to be an abandoned amusement park in the center of the field; the actual change of scenery had not set in until she blinked and rubbed her eyes thinking she was just tired. She rubbed them once and when she opened her eyes the park was still right in front of her making her eyes widen.

Chihiro couldn't believe what she was seeing; she almost rubbed her eyes again while looking around surprised. For years she had dreamed of returning, and for years she had been let down. Looking down at her arm she pinched the soft flesh of her wrist and winced in pain; she couldn't believe that she was really there.

"Am I-" she whispered rubbing her now pink wrist slowly. "Is this?-" she considered pinching herself again but when she rubbed over her tender wrist she decided against that idea and instead rubbed it harder. "Could this be?-"

For some reason, the truth of the situation couldn't set in. A small part of her knew what she was seeing was real, but she had gotten her hopes up one too many times for her to blindly believe what was in front of her own eyes. Her heart and mind had hardened after being disappointed for so long; that fact alone made it extremely difficult for her to really feel the wonders of her situation.

Feeling a small breeze rustle the leaves around her feet she blinked and stopped her mindless rubbing. Her whole arm was now bright red from where she had been fidgeting. A small leaf flew up by her face catching her off guard for a moment and that's when the wheels started turning in her mind.

"I'm.-" she paused covering her mouth since she had just screamed. Glancing around quickly realizing there was no one there to judge her a loud happy laugh left her mouth and a wide smile covered her lips. "I'm really back!" she almost wanted to jump for joy until the actual meaning of what she said began to sink in.

"I'm back." she whispered to herself while looking down at her hands she held out. Tears began streaming down her face and she quickly covered her mouth to muffle any sounds she would have made. An overwhelming amount of emotions filled her senses; the most prominent one being joy. She couldn't believe it; she had finally made it back. She was home, she was back to the one place she had been trying to get to for twelve years. Chihiro felt amazing, everything was just as she remembered it. Looking over everything she squinted slightly to get a better look but she couldn't really see much through her tears.

Just wanting to get a closer look, she began making her way in the direction she remembered the bathhouse being in. After a few steps something happened that she didn't quite understand; she was suddenly ankle deep in mud. Looking behind her she noted that the dry spot she was standing on seconds ago was now wet and muddy. Chihiro felt her face scrunch up in confusion before she began sinking deeper in the mud; no, it wasn't mud it was muddy water and it was getting deeper.

"The water! Oh no!" she cried beginning to struggle to get through the rising water faster.

Memories of what happened twelve years ago came flooding back to her. When she had tried to get away before, this field had been completely submerged, completely blocking the only way to the spirit gate. By the looks of things, Chihiro thought as she continued to struggle, it was happening again.

Trying to move faster she screamed when she started slow down; the water only got deeper. Looking back she watched as the water pouring out of the frog statue that guarded the shore on the opposite side got faster. Thinking fast she began running through the water, jogging really since it was already up to her waist, then she began to slow as the water grew higher covering her chest, then she slowed altogether as it came to her chin. Now she was swimming the best she could while kicking one foot against the ground to push herself forward faster.