spirited away 2: Return to the spirit world

chapter 3: back to the bathhouse

Twelve years of trying. Twelve years of being let down. Twelve years of disappointment. Chihiro had become so used to being let down that she had no longer expected to find what she was looking for at the end of this tunnel. So it came to a great surprise when she saw something other than the usual empty field. Rather than being surrounded by woods, there was what looked like an abandoned amusement park, or so her father had thought.

Chihiro couldn't believe what she was seeing. For years she had dreamed of this moment. For years she had been let down. Could she finally have made it back after all this time?

"Am I…" she whispered. "Is this… Could I be…"

For some reason, the truth wouldn't register to her. She wanted this for so long. Now that it's happened, she couldn't believe it.

Finally, things began to click into place. "I'm… I'm… back…" She said quietly. An overwhelming joy suddenly filled her, as tears of joy began running down her cheeks. "I'M BACK!!!"

She couldn't believe it. She had finally made it. She was back. She was home. It was amazing. Everything was just as she remembered it. Form this view anyway. She needed to get closer.

She began making her way in the direction she remembered the bathhouse being in. After a few steps, something unusual happened; she was ankle deep in mud. Chihiro looked behind her. The ground was wet and muddy. It had been dry a moment ago.

Chihiro sank deeper in the mud. No, it was no longer mud. It was muddy water, and getting deeper.

"The water!" she cried.

Memories of what had happened 12 years ago came back to her. When she had tried to get away before, this field had been completely submerged, blocking the only way to the spirit gate. It looked like it was happening again.

"Oh NO!!!" she cried as the water got deeper, pouring out of the mouth of the frog statue on the other side of what was soon to be a river.

She made a run for it. The water was getting deeper by the second. It was already up to her waist, then her chest, then her neck.

"Almost there! Almost there!" she panted.

But it wasn't easy to run in water, and suddenly she was no longer running. The ground completely vanished beneath her feet.

"Great." She muttered and began swimming.

The water continued to get deeper. Luckily, she was almost to the other side. Just a few more yards and she would be safely back on dry land.

Suddenly she felt something pass by her leg. Something rough and scaly. Chihiro gulped. What was in here with her?

There, she felt it again. And this time she saw something too. It was too dark to make out what it was underwater, but it was big, and whatever it was, was circling around her like a shark.

"Please don't eat me. Please don't eat me. Please don't eat me."

She kept repeating this phrase as she swam faster, yet more carefully. There was an explosion of water as the creature suddenly burst up from underwater. Chihiro got a good look at it, but wished she hadn't. The creature looked like some sort of giant eel monster. And of course it had to have a mouthful of long razor sharp teeth.

Chihiro squealed and swam as fast as she possibly could. The 'eel' darted forward, no longer keeping up the circling shark routine.

"Please don't eat me! Please don't eat me! Please don't eat me!"

Her feet hit the bottom. She began wading as fast as possible. The 'eel' struck and its jaws clamped down over her jacket. Without wasting a second, Chihiro gave up the jacket and scrambled up on land.