Spirited Away

Chapter 9: Secrets and Shadows

Previously:

With a new spring in my step I departed Yu-Baaba’s tower through the servant’s door in the floor and hurried to the Yuna sleeping quarters, passing yawning spirits who were preparing for closing time, with only Chihiro on my mind.

Chapter 9: Secrets and Shadows

*Chihiro’s/Sen’s POV*

I couldn’t sleep. I felt as if I had taken a flight across the world, and the time zones were completely switched and now I was expected to sleep in daylight. I had been up all night, so sleep should have come quickly. However, my parents were swines trapped in a barn somewhere and I was a new servant in the bathhouse, and I had never been so terrified in my entire life.

I was too busy sniffling in the comfort of my poufy sleeping bag to notice the soft footsteps, impossibly quiet on the creaky wooden floor, until I felt a light pressure on my shoulder and warm breath which tickled my ear as it whispered: “Meet me at the bridge, I’ll show you where your parents are.”

I gasped and sat up, my long brown hair whipping past my shoulders as I turned around, searching, but the owner of the voice was already gone. But I knew who he was, and I knew I couldn’t trust him.

***

I couldn’t tell who the real traitors were: my feet or my heart. Either way, I was reluctantly carried to the bridge, my feet hurrying to get there, my heart pounding at the thought of Haku. No, it couldn’t be because of him, it had to be the fact that I’d get to see where my parents were. Obviously that was the real reason. Sure, the teenage boy was intriguing and mysterious, but mixing with his kind was a dangerous idea. He wasn’t human, so what was I thinking?

What is he? My heart wondered.

Sneaking out of the castle was easier than I expected. The room was now full of sleeping Yuna, so I dressed in my new uniform quietly and headed out the door. From there I retraced my steps down the hallways, down several flights of stairs, and past a sleeping Kamajii in the boiler room without meeting a soul. My shoes and socks were poking out from one of the mouse holes; it looked like the Soots had been using them for makeshift beds. I dumped some sleeping Soots out, slipped the shoes and socks on, and stepped out into the cool air of the platform on the side of the building.

The journey up the rickety stairs were easier going up than the alternative but I still refrained from glancing down until I was on firm ground once again.

The red bridge in front of the bathhouse was occupied, but it wasn’t Haku who stood on its wooden planks.

It was the same shadow creature which I had passed on my way into the bathhouse: the one which was seven feet tall at least, adorned with a white painted mask which was permanently smiling. Maybe it was a guardian of the bridge. Maybe it murdered small children at nighttime when the children misbehaved. Either way I wasn’t eager to pass it, but I sucked in a deep breath and marched in a straight line, my gaze fixed on the statue at the end of the bridge.

I could feel its eyes on me, and felt a chill as I passed it which had nothing to do with the crisp morning air. When I turned to look back, though, nothing was there. Weird.

I heard footsteps crunching the gravel, and then Haku was beside me, kindness shining in his intense eyes. It was mysterious to me how the traitor could look so innocent, so genuine, when I knew his little secret. Time to spill the beans.

“You want an explanation; if looks could kill I’d be a fried delicacy for the gods right now,” Haku joked, his light green eyes lighting up. I felt my shoulders loosen up as I relaxed in his presence. He continued: “and I can offer you proof; didn’t I tell you to remember that I am a friend? Come on Sen, follow me.” With that Haku turned towards the village and I followed eagerly.