Spirited Away: The Wait [ORIGINAL]

A Premonition

     Chihiro woke up to a quiet morning. No squeaking soot balls, no sizzling hot flames from the furnace, just an empty space with a snoring Kamaji at the other end of the room. Peeling the sheets off of her, Chihiro was delighted to find that she hadn’t perspired that much in her sleep.

     The woman stood up, wondering what she could do in the day. The bathhouse workers always slept in the mornings and early afternoons since they worked all night. Not wanting to idle around in the boiler room by herself and subsequently die of extreme boredom, Chihiro decided to break some rules Haku had set for her.

     Chihiro crept towards the door, careful not to make too much noise. The creaking floorboards didn’t really help in that respect, but at thankfully Kamaji was in too deep a slumber to notice. She thought she saw some puny black heads appear from their holes before disappearing again.

     She felt an odd thrill as her hand found its way to the cool metal of the doorknob and stepped outside. A gust of cold wind greeted her in the face, immediately cooling her down from the humid atmosphere in the boiler room. Grinning, she closed the door carefully behind her and skipped over to where the flimsy excuse for a metal railing was. She didn’t dare venture too far out for fear of falling over the edge and to her demise though.

     The sky was a deep expanse of blue; there were no clouds, and it looked as if there was a blue blanket covering the entire area, stretching infinitely. Without the smoke erupting from the structures in front of the boiler room, the view of the Spirit Realm from up there was absolutely breathtaking.

     Brown and red leaves were scattered across the plains that lay far beyond the bathhouse, and more leaves flew off the balding trees with the breeze, making it look as if it was snowing in the fall. It was a quiet morning, and Chihiro looked around. Surely there wouldn’t be anyone around to catch her, right?

     A rush of adrenaline coursed through her body as she approached the towering staircase. “Easy does it…” she muttered, placing her hands firmly on the wall before meekly taking a step on the first creaking board.

     It seemed to hold fine, so she proceeded to the next one slowly. She went on at a snail’s pace, since she had all the time in the world to explore the place. The woman eventually managed to get to the top in one piece, and traveled along the same route that she had entered by. Before long, she could see the entrance of the bathhouse and made her way over.

     Her lips twitched into a smile that grew as she neared the bridge. It looked the same even after all these years. Her fingers glided over the smooth, cold metal, recalling the time when she had first met Haku.

     That man had been such a worrywart even ten years ago. Though it was a vague memory, she could still remember the way he’d been frowning at her the moment he laid his eyes on her.

     Chihiro inhaled deeply, relishing in the clean, fresh air. If only Haku were here now… She really shouldn’t have thought about things so much. If Haku was fine with it, then she should trust that he would be. “When are you coming back?” she murmured to herself absentmindedly, wishing that he’d just pop up randomly behind her.

     Just then, she felt an unusually gust of wind on her back. Her heart skipped a beat. Did he really come? She turned around, spirits lifted in the hopes of seeing her dragon, but she was let down when she saw nary the shadow of a person.

     “What was that?” she asked.

     As if in answer to her question, the wind tugged on her clothes more, and soon, what the woman had at first thought to be nothing more than her imagination, became a strong force that she couldn’t fight. She was being pulled in towards the bathhouse, and the woman began to panic. What was this?