Spirited Away: The Return Home

Chapter 15

"Hmmm," I moaned as I sat up. A light was filtering in from somewhere, but I couldn't find the source so I turned my face away and plunged back into the soft pillow I was sleeping on. Well, that was until I remember where I was, or where I wasn't at.

I shot upright again and once my eyes adjusted, I scoped my surroundings. I was in small, plain room. There wasn't anything other than a bed, a dresser and a desk. I saw my dress folded neatly on the desk opposite the bed I was lying in. I looked down at myself and saw that I was wearing only my underwear.

Throwing the covers to the ground I got up and walked over to the dresser. I had to say it was a beautiful piece of art, with patterns carved into the doors that resembled vines growing up the side of old buildings. It was only a hunch that there would be clothes inside the closet, but at least it was something to go by. To my great surprise there were... Just not something I wanted to wear.

I pulled the hanger out and inspected the two pieces of clothing, and I say pieces because there wasn't really much to be seen. The first was a long, plain brown skirt with slits from the ground up to my thighs on both sides. If that wasn't bad enough, there was what seemed to be a leather crop top to match it. At the front there were two straps that were supposed to criss-crossed over my chest and fastened behind my neck. Other than that, nothing, nada.

I folded the clothes into my arms and walked back to the bed. Sure, it wasn't a lot of clothes, but it was more than I had on anyway.

Reluctantly I put the costume on and looked to see if there was anything else in the dresser. The box was so dark that I had almost missed it, but it was there, hiding in the corner of the dresser. I flipped the lid off and removed the contents. Inside was a note and what appeared to by three bracelets, all with bells.

The note said: "I glad to see you have found this little box." I tried to see if I could recognise the handwriting, but in my attempt was in vain. "Inside you will find three bells. Please put them on and make your way downstairs to the main hall," was all the note said and when I turned it around I found a hand-drawn map.

Clutching the make-shift map in my hand, I headed out the door and into the hallway. It looked a lot like the one in Yubaba's apartment, just not as overly decorated. According to the map I was to go down the hallway until I reached what seemed to be a giant staircase that led down into the main hall.

It wasn't until I started moving that I realised what the bells were for; not making a noise was damn near impossible with the silver ornaments bouncing against my ankle. So much for a sneak attack, if it would have gotten me anywhere. Instead I decided to make my awakening very clearly known.

"HELLO!" I yelled at the top of my lungs as I started to descend the stairs. "I DON'T KNOW WHERE I AM. WHOEVER IT WAS THAT INVADED ME, KIDNAPPED ME, AND IS FORCING ME TO WEAR THESE SHITTY CLOTHES, PLEASE COME GET ME!" It seemed to work, because someone appeared next to the stairs only seconds after I started yelling like a mad woman. It was a girl about my age, we were even dressed similarly.

"I'm sorry, miss, for the inconvenience, please follow me," she said politely, never looking up at me once.

I followed her to a door behind the stairs. She opened it and allowed me in before stepping out and closing it in her wake. The room was brightly lit all over; giant chandeliers hanging from the ceiling in three different places. Other than me and a giant chair there was no one else. I crossed the empty hall and stood in front of the chair. It looked like something that belonged in a king's palace, not standing in who-knows-where all on its own.

Sighing I sat down next to the chair, I did not need some rich person mad at me for sitting in their chair. I wondered if the person holding me here was the same one that had grabbed me from the bath house. For some reason it didn't seem that way, he was just the person who had been sent.