After a few minutes of joyful crying, I pulled myself up, using the wall against my back to steady myself. My legs were still a little wobbly from the adrenaline rush quickly seeping from my bones.

Dusting off the earth plastered to my jeans, I started moving forward, testing the stability of my legs a bit.

Once it seemed safe enough to walk, I set out with a steady stride on the small stone path that led to the town before me. I couldn't actually see it, but I remember how close it was. Could feel how close it was.

The grass was a bit taller than I remember. On some parts of the path, it even tickled my arms, making me scratch furiously to stop the itching. I pulled my backpack up high and hooked my thumbs into the lower straps so that my arms formed triangles next to my upper body. 

Another breeze blew past and I inhaled the fresh air that came along with it; you really didn't find air as clean as this in the human world. And you never will since humans have destroyed it with pollution and overpopulation. A sad reality I learned from my encounter with a spirit.

I stopped when I reached the stream, thanking the heavens that it wasn't filled up. It wasn't difficult to recall how troublesome a time I had getting over it last time, having to use both my hands and feet to move from rock to rock.

Now, older and taller, I leaped steadily from one rock to the other until both my feet were firmly planted on the steps that led into town- if you could call it a town. Houses of faded pastel lined the paved road, their railings decorated with red paper lamps. A slight breeze stirred them; the only movement in what was quite literally a ghost town. 

I smelled the food before I could see it.

The food. The only reason that I was forced to stay the first time around when my parents decided to eat the food that was for the spirits of this world. Some foolish humans who believed that any problem could be solved by whipping out a credit card.

I don't even think that they take our money here.

Then I thought hit me with a jolt.

My parents might have turned into pigs because they decided to eat the food, but me, who ate nothing, started to disappear the moment they started lighting the lanterns.

What would happen to me now?

I couldn't steal any food in fear of being turned into a pig. Possibly something far worse than a pig. But if I ate nothing then I would disappear... Or maybe he would come help me again.

Looking at my watch, I saw the cursors had stopped moving all together. I tried to remember how late it was when I left, but somehow I couldn't recall it. Was it near dawn that I awoke? Near dusk? Even the concept of the two seemed obscure to me.

My eyes traveled to the sky, trying to figure out the time by examining the sun. But who ever said that time in the Spirit World was the same as in the Human World? I recall the days and nights being almost equally long, but as I slept most of the day, it's hard to say.

For all I knew it could be time to light the lanterns any minute now and then I would have to face the chance of disappearing.

I hurried up the steps and past the first few food stands.

All the food was already set out, and like the first time, there was no person, or spirit, to be seen anywhere. But of did the food smell even better up close. As a child, my attention had been too focused on the beautiful things around me. But now, staring at the array of meats and vegetables, an overwhelming hunger took me. I could clearly understand how someone without prior knowledge could be tempted to just start eating.

Only, I did know better.

Now, my next big worry was when they would light the lanterns. If it were normal people lighting them, then it would take a while, but with spirits doing it, it would be done in five minutes. 

Still, it appeared I was safe for the time being.

Then, as though something clicked into place, I remember it.

The place where everything started. There, just beyond the great red lamp filling the square past the food stalls.

The bridge, its red paint glowing slightly in the fading light, was calling to me; urging me to walk over to it.  Memories surged to life. I recalled, in a flurried haze, all the times I had passed over that bridge. All the different emotions I had been feeling at  the different times. Confusion, happiness, anxiousness... It was the last time, the final emotion, that I wasn't too sure about. 

And before I was able to stop myself, I was stepping onto the bridge. 

All around me, the sky started to darken. Time was moving along swiftly now and I had no idea what to do next.

Pulling myself together, I took off in a run across the bridge. Loud creaks emanated from beneath my boots and I kept visualizing it giving away beneath me. Luckily this didn't happen and within a few strides I was safely on the other side with the large bathhouse looming over me, looking as mysterious as ever.

Everything still felt like a dream. An out-of-body experience that I couldn't quite shake. But along with the euphoria, constantly tugging at the back of my mind, was fear. Fear that I would wake up at any moment to find the only miraculous thing was that my body wasn't sore from sleeping on that bench.

Or worse, wake up back in my own bed.

It was at this moment that I turned around and noticed that some of the lanterns where being lit. When I faced to the front again, I could see some activity starting to come to life inside the bathhouse. It was probably time for everyone to start waking up and preparing for the guests that were soon going to begin arriving.

Bouncing on the spot, fingers fumbling nervously together, I contemplated what to do next.

Going through the front entrance seemed a bit too reckless. They definitely weren't going to recognize me, which meant that I would be chased out or turned to coal on the spot. Since neither appealed to my better nature, I tried to think of something else.

With a start, I turned my head to the side of the bathhouse. There, lined by beautiful flowers, was the little gate that led into the garden next to the bathhouse. It was also how I managed my way in the previous time.

A couple of figures caught my attention as they moved past the front doors and I bolted through the small gate and into the garden. It still looked exactly the same, even the flowers hadn't changed since I hid there the last time, knees skimmed with dirt and tears in my eyes. Luckily this time I was in better shape.

I gave out a little laugh when I realized that history seemed to be repeating itself. There I was again, crouched between the blooming flowers, praying that I wouldn't be found. Only this time, I didn't have someone to help me.

And it seemed that my only escape would be down the stairs again; the stupid stairs that had almost killed me the last time. And now, peering down them, flush against the wall and out of sight, I feared they may be getting their second chance at my life.

Creeping quietly back to the flowers, I risked a look over the small gate. In the distance, some of the guests had already begun to cross the bridge. Some attendants lined the entrance to the bathhouse, their cheerful voices carrying into the night. For the first time, I noticed their loosened clothes, collarbones exposed. 

Pushing those thoughts aside, I crept back to the stairs. I stood there for a few seconds, wondering if it was really worth all the trouble I was going to have to go through again just to get down to the boiler room. Instead of thinking, I simply took a deep breath, sent out a silent prayer and started down the stairs, my heart beating in my stomach.

I was half way down the stairs when I heard voices from above me.

Two women were standing at the top of the stairs, clearly gossiping about something juicy. Attention duly on what they were discussing, they didn't notice me plastered to the wall a few flights down. Or... 

I jerked my hand up in front of my eyes, inspecting it carefully. Thankfully, I seemed to still be visible and not fading away. But this also meant that I would eventually be noticed, especially with non death-fearing speed the woman were descending the stairs.

It's now or never, I thought.

I took a few deep breathes then started running down the steep steps. At least this time I seemed to have more control over the speed I was running.

Nearing the end of the steps, I started to slow down, putting my arms out in front of me to stop myself against the incoming wall. The impact wasn't too painful, but my palms where a little scratched up from where the granite pressed into it.

I looked over my shoulder to see if the women at the top had heard or seen me, but they were chatting away. Whatever the tea, it was clearly worth spilling. 

Silently, I turned the corner and leaped down the last few steps before to where the big metal door was. It seemed impossibly big even now, and way too heavy for a twelve-year-old to open. 

It was then that I thought of the possibility of the boiler man not remembering who I was. It surely would prove problematic to say the least. 

Brushing a few strands of hair out of my face, I pushed the door open. I had to put all my weight into it, managing to open it only enough to slip in. 

The moment I set foot inside I started to choke. Steam filled my lungs, leaving me breathless for a second. I remained near the door, face turned to the fresh air coming from the slightly ajar door.

After my lungs became accustomed, I closed the door.

Tentatively, I made my away across the tiny area with the metal geysers— the ones that let out all the steam that was suffocating me. I could hear the turning of wheels and grinding of herbs already, already imagining the Kamaji slaving away near the immense furnace. 

I leaned against the wall for a moment, trying not to worry about what could happen to me if the boiler man didn't recognize me after all these years. A loose strand of hair brushing my neck as a keen reminder of how different I must now look. A brushed it over my shoulder, hoping it would take my concerns with it.

Finally, I pulled myself together, stepping out from behind the wall. The boiler man, Kamajii, was sitting in the middle of the room in the wood-paneled box that qualified as his sleep place and work place. Long arms working furiously, I couldn't help but admire the exact precision of his movements. Not a single incorrect drawer was drawn from the walls at his sides, the wheel he was constantly turning not hitching once. And as several strings, tokens attached to their ends, fell from the roof, there was no need to stop as he reached for them. Although the curse words muttered under his breath was enough to make Chihiro blush. He'd clearly held back when she had visited before. 

"Kamajii?" My voice came out faint, wavering in its surety. Clearly my throat lightly, I tried again.

"Kamajii?" I repeated, stronger this time.

The boiler man turned to look in my direction, his six limbs never stopping. Reach, open, turn, turn, turn. It struck me for the first time how much he actually did look like a spider with his big beard and black glasses covering his eyes.

"A human, now how did you get here?" he asked, confirming the thing I feared the most.

He didn't recognize me.

I must have frozen, because Kamajii, one long arm extended, was waving oa hand in front of my face, calling out, "My dear, hello?"

"I'm sorry," I let out after jolting to life. I even took a step back in surprise.

Not sure where to go from there, I inhaled deeply, focusing. "Don't you recognize me?" I asked, the seemingly only obvious route. And then my mouth went into overdrive.

"Well, I guess it makes sense that you wouldn't recognize me after all these years. I mean, if you compare what I look like now to what I looked like the first time I was here then even I wouldn't have been able to recognize myself since a lot of things have happened and as to how I got here, I don't know. I ran away from home and now I'm here—" I stopped when I realized that Kamajii was staring at me with a glazed over expression, the one I get when my parents start yelling at me.

"Sorry," I whispered, covering my face with my hands.

My hopes of a quick and painless entrance started to dwindle. I couldn't conjure any other way other than relying on those who were kind to me before. And as Kamaji was the only one I could easily reach, chances were slim I'd be able to rely on the others. Perhaps I could just run past Kamaji? Or maybe try and convince him of who I was? Maybe even- 

"Sen, is that you?" Kamaji asked.

I lifted my face out of my hands, hope blooming in my heart as if Kamajii had called me by my real name.

I had forgotten that the spirits here only knew me as Sen and not Chihiro— the name that Yubaba, the witch that runs the bathhouse, gave me when I first signed a contract to work for her. To tell the truth, I had all but forgotten the retched name till now. I had caused me to forget my real name, and eventually it would have cause me to forget my own reality. 

Luckily my contract was broken when I broke the spell on my parents. So, that name belonged to a girl who didn't exist anymore. 

"Yes, but my real name is Chihiro, remember?" I couldn't recall whether I told him my real name or not so I just assumed that he called my Sen because that's what everyone called me.

"Yes, of course, Sen was the name you got when you signed that contract," he mused, for the first time halting his work. Turning in his seat, he faced the back of the room. 

"GET A MOVE ON YOU LITTLE MAGGOTS! YOU DON'T HAVE ALL NIGHT TO GET THE WATER HOT!" Kamajii yelled at the top of his lungs. For a moment I thought he was screaming at the walls lined with drawers, but then my eyes darted down to the small holes where the a section of the wall met the ground.

It took me a few seconds to catch on to what he was doing, but when I did, I hopped down from the platform I was standing on and crossed the space between me and the boiler man.

Once I was safely on the other side, I turned around to watch in fascination as hundreds of small black creatures started to emerge from the holes. Their small bodies bounced slightly under the weight of the fist-sized coal they each carried.

After Kamajii had finished threatening the poor little soot balls he turned so that we were now facing each other.

"Well, my dear, you really have grown up to be a very beautiful girl. Now, why is it that you are here?" he asked once I settled myself down on the floor next to him.

I thought about this question before I answered.

"I didn't actually plan to, I sort of ran away from home. I planned to hide away just for a little while to scare my parents, since I thought it would help change their minds about moving. I think the place I ended up in might be the link between our worlds, but then I heard the police, so I slipped out through the door and now here I am," I explained, taking a deep breath afterwards. At least this explanation was a lot less wild than my previous attempt.

"That is quite the little tale you have there." He seemed to consider my story for a moment. "I'm not well versed in the way that humans handle things, but this does seem quite dramatic?" Kamajii pointed out.

I was about to explain to him about how unreasonable my parents where when there was a sound of rocks being thrown down a gutter. The noise stopped as small wooden tokens once again fell from the ceiling, dangling in front of Kamajii.

"Listen, Kamajii, I'll come again later. I know how hectic things are for you when the bathhouse opens, I just want to know whether or not I should go see Yubaba?" I asked while Kamajii turned to look at the tokens.

I loud Hmmmmm sounded from the old spirit. "Yes, I think that would be a wise choice since she can't force you to sign a contract now. The only problem is that you don't want to be stopped half way there, so take this and put it in your pocket," he said to me without turning around.

While he talked his one arm moved past me to a drawer in the top right hand corner on the wall, where he removed some of its contents. I reached out and took the herbs from him, sniffing it before shoving a handful in each of the front pockets of my jeans.

It smelled sweet, almost like roses, but also not.

"You're probably wondering what that is," Kamajii observed. "It's normal grass that I charmed to smell different to everyone who gets a whiff of it, which means that no one will smell your human smell."

That explains the smell of roses, I thought. I wanted to ask Kamaji what it is he smelled from the herbs, but he was already hard at work. 

Instead, I removed my boots and socks, relieved that I had decided to paint my toenails earlier in the week. Putting them in a corner, I slipped from the room, remembering the close the small sliding door this time around.

Then I was off; on my way to meet the witch.