SPIRITED AWAY: CHIHIRO RETURNS

Memories

Chihiro looks out Mr Manning's car window as he tries to convince her that she could talk to him even when he already said she didn't have to, Chihiro sighs.'Should I at least try to talk about it? But what if I still can't? I have tried to tell Yuma many times but something always stops me... maybe I can tell close to the truth, and maybe I don't have to say it in exact words..? Whelp here goes nothing' Chihiro contemplated.

"Umm...Mr Manning?" Chihiro asked shyly accidentally cutting off whatever he was saying. Mr Manning goes silent and smiles at her "yes? Whats wrong miss Ogino?" He replies curiously.

"You said I can talk to you right?" She looks over at him and he nods, Chihiro looks back out the window trying to figure out what she was going to say exactly. " The things that have been on my mind, they are difficult to explain..but I guess I can start off by saying that I feel like a big part of me is missing and that I feel like iv forgotten something important that happened in my life, but no matter what I do I just can't remember. I cant sleep properly anymore because I keep having similar dreams over and over and they all seemed to be linked with this one place, the only place that I can remember when I first moved here 7 years ago... so when I ditch school I go there because its the only place that makes me feel like I belong and that if I stay there I will remember whatever it was iv forgotten. Everything in my dreams links back to that place and I have even tried to explore it n check but it's so different to what I see in my dreams... you see, in my dreams, after the tunnel there is a massive grassy field with these really old houses and rocks and it looked so beautiful.. but when I walked through it there was nothing but more forest... I just don't understand... am I going crazy??" Chihiro looks up at the teacher visibly upset and distressed.

The teacher looks at her not knowing what to say or think about her story, Chihiro could see it through and it was what she feared he thought she was crazy and needed help.. 'I should have known it would be a mistake in trying to explain and talk to anyone, I'm such a fool' She thought to herself.

The rest of the trip home was quiet and awkward until finally  they arrive at her blue 2 story house that was on top of the hill, without a word she silently gets out of the car and her teacher walks her to her front gate still not know what to say to her about her dreams but he did know what to say about her going into the woods alone.

"Miss Ogino, I don't know what to say or think about these dreams of yours but as your teacher, i cannot look past the fact that you have been going into the woods on your own... I will have to call up your parents later about this.." he puts his hand on her head and ruffles her hair " besides didn't you know.. I heard there are evil spirits that live in those woods.. if your not careful they might put a curse on you" he meant it as a joke but also hoped that it would scare her away from doing it again. However, for Chihiro, it did the exact opposite.

'Spirits...' she thought as her heart started to pound and her head started to throb. Visions suddenly popped into her head of a giant red bathhouse and the young boy she's seen so many times in her dreams stomping right up to her and asking her to leave before it got dark and then there was another vivid vision of two fat pigs wearing her parent's clothes getting hit with a spatula. Nearly hyperventilating Chihiro quickly says her goodbye and runs straight into her house. She slides down against the front door and sits on the ground as she is thwarted with more visions one being her riding on a beautiful white and green dragon.

'This cant is just a dream it just can't be... there is something going on here and no matter what I'm going to find out even if it kills me' Chihiro looks up at the clock in and sees it was only 1 pm her parents won't be back for hours. Suddenly Chihiro races up to her room and empties her school bag and packs a change of clothes, some food, a notebook and pen to write down the things she sees in her visions, a flashlight and a sleeping bag. She has decided tonight she is going camping and to be honest she doesn't really wanna go through listening to her parents 'serious discussion'.

After she was packed she looked through her draws to find her favourite hair band. She hasn't worn it for quite a while but she remembers when she was little it gave her luck. She can't remember where she got it from but that is exactly why she was going to start wearing it again it could be linked to whatever was going on here. Finding the purple hairband she puts her long brown wavy hair into a ponytail which stopped right in the middle of her back in length. Finally, she was ready with a new profound determination and definitely a bit of desperation. She runs downstairs and puts her joggers on and goes out her back gate which led to a shortcut to the forest. Slowly and carefully she finds the small path that she made for herself so she didn't get lost due to the many times of her going down there, stepping over rocks and tree roots she makes her way through the forest.

~20 minutes later~

Although she nearly tripped and slipped down the hill a few times due to her path becoming a bit overgrown she still made it to the red tunnel. Needing a rest she sits on the creepy looking stone statue in front of it, The stone had an eerie grinning face on it. As if on cue her stomach began to rumble. Chihiro giggles a little "looks like its time to eat" she says to herself and takes out her tuna and mayonnaise sandwiches and as she eats she recalls what Mr Manning said about spirits.

'Could there really be spirits? Do they really exist?' She thinks to herself taking another bite of her sandwich. The odd thing is even though her head tells her it cant possibly be true, her heart says the opposite, she doesn't know why but in her heart she truly believes that they could exist. She thinks back to all the dreams and visions shes had and then looks up at the big red tunnel.

'Everything... and I mean everything leads back to here...' thinking hard about how they first got to this town she remembers her father taking the wrong turn into these woods and then we stop here... but then after that everything goes all fuzzy in my mind as if she knows she should know but can't quite put her finger on it. She wonders if these are really just visions and dreams.. what if they were withheld memories?? Maybe she was suffering some sort of amnesia.. shes heard of how painful it is for people who have amnesia, they say it's like losing their entire identity and their life. She now thinks she knows what that feels like... and its horrible.

Finally, she has come to a conclusion that something has definitely happened here, that we didn't just stop here and turn back.. we must have gone in.. but how do spirits have anything to do with that?? She takes her hair band out and looks at it... for some reason she has cherished this even had its own little box she puts it in, the younger I surely loved this hairband and thought of it as special. Suddenly she realized it was starting to get dark it was close to sunset, she checks her phone and to her surprise, it is almost 6 pm she has been here for 3 and a half hours.

Suddenly it began to sprinkle and she packs away her food and runs for the tunnel so she could settle for it and probably sleep there, the rain went from sprinkling to pouring within 5 mins. With Chihiro still being in her school clothes she fixes up her school jacket and zips it up to keep her warm, and makes her way through the tunnel like many times before only to her surprise she wasn't greeted by more forest she was greeted by what it looked to be a train station, a very old one.. and it hits her.

'Oh my lord.. it cant be??? Could it??? ' she recognized this place from her dreams as she took in her surroundings, a candle sits in the centre of the big room with wooden bench seats on either side of the room and right at the other side was another tunnel which led to a big old door. Out of nowhere, she swore she heard a train. Her heart leapt into her chest and she bolts towards the door at the other end placing her hands on the old heavy door, hesitation taking hold of her body.

'This is it.. this will decide if I am crazy or right' scrunching her eyes closed she pushes the door open and a cool breeze comes from outside beating against her face, slowly she begins to open her eyes and almost faints at the sight of it.

Chihiro's legs suddenly lost all strength as she falls to her knees, and as she was trying to come to terms with what she just discovered she suddenly felt whatever barrier that was keeping her from remembering what she longed to know the most disappear, and her memories of the spirit world returned. Tears begin to fall down her cheeks as a flood of memories crammed into her mind, she remembers everything now and as she looks around at the newly familiar grassy field she breaks down and cries as she realizes she has finally come home.