Memories Long Forgotten

Darkness surrounded her. She continued to walk ahead, not quite knowing what was compelling her to walk forward, to walk further into this darkness that never seemed to end. Suddenly, she could saw a small ray of light appear. She grinned to herself. She was almost out of the dark. From what she had been able to gather from her early explorations of wherever she was, the young girl was in a tunnel. Where does it lead to? she wondered as she quickened her pace, eager to see what lay beyond the ray of light.

As she ran, the tiny ray of light she had first seen became bigger and bigger. Suddenly she ran through the light and came face to face with beautiful rolling fields. In the distance she could just make out a building. Maybe someone will be there and they can tell me where I am. Walking through the field, the dark-haired girl could not help and think how beautiful the fields were. I’ve never seen anything like this in my life! I wonder where I am? she thought as she continued towards the building. Soon enough, a bridge came into view. She stopped in front of it and looked at the building that stood majestically before her.

Using what she knew from her history classes, the young girl was able to deduce that the building was from the Nara or Heian Period. The building had at least five levels with several balconies and glass windows. The body of the building was a lighter red with green shingles and gold accents. She felt as if there was something familiar about this building, but she couldn’t place where she had seen it before. She felt as if seeing the building was pulling at long lost memories. As she walked across the bridge she could feel a prickling sensation along her back. She stopped briefly for a moment and looked behind her. Reassuring herself that no one was there, she pressed on. I wonder what this building is used for? she wondered. Most of the buildings she had seen like this were old, and run down. This building, however, was obviously well taken care of.

Taking a deep breath, she continued her trek towards the building. She couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her.

“Sen,” a voice called out.

“Who’s there?” she demanded, turning around.

“Sen, come back to us, we need you,” a feminine voice softly called out.

“Reveal yourself! Who’s there?” she demanded again, looking in every direction in hopes of seeing whoever was calling to her.

“Chihiro, Lin is right, we need you,” a male voice called.

“Tell me who you are!” she screamed, slowly backing away from the building. A bathhouse, she silently corrected.

“You don’t remember us? I’m Haku,” the masculine voice said.
“Haku?” she said. Why does that name sound familiar? “Please, whoever you are, show yourself!” As soon as Chihiro had finished her sentence a woman materialized before her.

“You don’t remember me, Sen?” the voice said. Chihiro looked at the woman and slowly shook her head. While the woman did look familiar, Chihiro was unable to place where she had seen her before.

“We need you Sen, the bathhouse and the Spirit World needs you.”

“Sen?” Chihiro called out.

“Nope, just me,” Amanda said, sitting beside her friend on her bed. “What kind of dream were you having? Sen, Haku and Lin, who are they?” she asked.

“Amanda? It was just a dream then, none of it was real,” Chihiro said, whispering the last part to herself. She was relieved that it wasn’t real.

“What was your dream about? You were moving quite a bit on the bed. Woke me up a few times last night,” her friend said.

“Wow, that was quite a dream, but really Chi, a Spirit World and bathhouses?” she questioned after her friend relayed what she remembered about her dream.

“It was quite a dream,” Chihiro said.

“Girl, you are way too stressed! You need to go out on this date tonight. Unwind, have some fun!” Amanda said clapping her hands together and rising from the bed. Chihiro groaned and tried to bury herself deeper into her pillows.

About ten hours later, Chihiro sat at a table in a restaurant across from her date. This was about the last place she wanted to be…actually it was the last place she wanted to be. She’d rather be anywhere else in the world. Where did Amanda find this guy? she wondered as she sat there listening to her date drone on and on about who knows what.

The only reason Chihiro was still sitting with this guy was to humour the other girl because she knew her friend was worrying about her. She had no intentions of actually going into a serious relationship with anyone, but a date to have some fun couldn’t hurt, right? Well, if this date was actually fun, it would be a different question all together. So far this date sucked, a lot.

“…and the boat actually started after we finally added…” Chihiro tuned back out as her companion continued to tell the story he had started at the beginning of their date which had been…she glanced at her watch…just a little over an hour ago! How long did it take this man to tell one story? One! Not five, not ten, but one! She was going crazy! How was she going to end this date without being rude? What she needed was an intervention, something that would cause this date to end…but what?

“Would you excuse me? I need to go to the bathroom.” Without bothering to wait for a reply, she got up and headed in the general direction of the bathroom door which, conveniently, was beside the front door. She quietly slipped out without being noticed by her date and took her cell phone out from her purse. Chihiro quickly dialed a number and pressed the tiny phone to her ear.

“Hello,” the voice on the other end said.

“Get me out of here!” Chihiro demanded.

“Chi? What’s going on?” Amanda asked, concern evident in her voice.

“The date is a disaster, that’s what! Now get me out of here! Anything, make up an excuse, just call me back in a few minutes with an emergency of some sorts. I’ll tell you about the date later.” She waited for a confirmation from her friend before hanging up and quietly going back inside of the restaurant. As she made her way back to her seat she caught a glimpse of green hair out of the corner of her eye. Jade green hair…why does that seem familiar? Chihiro asked herself. She shook herself mentally and returned her attention to her date. Finally, after ten minutes, her cell phone rang, and on the other end was her friend making up the biggest fake emergency the world has ever seen.

“Excuse me, but I’ve got to go. My roommate is in a bit of a bind and she needs my help.”

“Do you really have to go? Isn’t there anyone else who can help her?” her date asked, not wanting the enchanting female before him to leave.

“If there was, she wouldn’t have called. I’m really sorry,” Chihiro said, plastering a fake smile on her face. “It was nice meeting you.” Smiling one last time she raced for the exit.

“First thing I’m doing when I get home is going to bed,” she muttered to herself.

All she could see was darkness. She walked ahead, searching for something. Chihiro frowned. Somehow this seemed all too familiar. Where had she seen it before? She couldn’t place it, but decided to walk on.

“Sen,” a voice called out. That name again, Chihiro thought.

“Who’s there? What do you want?” she asked, turning around and trying to find the body that the voice belonged to.

“Sen, come back to us, we need you,” a female voice called out.

“Chihiro, Lin is right, we need you,” a male voice called.

“Who’s Lin? How do you know my name?”

“Chihiro, the Spirit World is in danger, it needs you,” the masculine voice said.

“What is the Spirit World? Wait! Don’t go, please answer me!” she yelled, but it was no use, they were gone. She blinked and suddenly everything went black.


The dreams, or as Amanda referred to them, nightmares, were beginning to take their toll on Chihiro. She was having them nearly every night. Amanda was letting her sleep through the morning classes they had together so she could try and get some sleep. It wasn’t doing much, but it was better than nothing.

She was currently sitting in the library during her spare time, attempting to catch up on the last two day’s lectures. For some reason she was having problems opening the file that Amanda sent that contained this morning’s lecture notes.

“May I sit here?” a beep baritone voice asked, startling Chihiro from her thoughts. She looked up and came face to face with a man with jade green hair. The guy at the restaurant! her mind cried. She smiled and welcomed him to the table. They sat in silence for several minutes, each working in complete silence.

“What’s your major?” Chihiro asked suddenly.

“I haven’t declared a major yet,” the man replied. “What about you?”

“Ancient History of Japan. By the way, I’m Chihiro,” she answered.

“Sounds boring,” he commented

“Everyone says that about history. I find it very interesting,” she snapped.

“Woah, I didn’t mean to offend,” the man said, offering her a smile.

“It’s ok, I guess I’m just a little tired.” She smiled, returning to her work. She glanced at her watch and her heart nearly stopped. Amanda was going to kill her. She hated it when people were late. “I’ve gotta go!” she said, gathering her books up and throwing them in her bag. She was supposed to meet Amanda at the ice cream parlor in ten minutes and it took fifteen to get there! She’s going to be so mad!

“Will I see you again?” he asked, confused at why she was leaving so quickly and wondering if it had anything to do with him.

“Maybe, but I’ve really got to go now. Bye!” she called out as she rushed out of the library.

~*~

“Hey! Sorry I’m late. I started talking to this guy at the library and lost track of time and…,” Chihiro said as she doubled over panting and gasping for breath.

“Is he hot?” Amanda demanded, smiling from her seat.

“Umm…”

“I’ll take that as a yes! Now get over here! We have so much studying to do while we eat some delicious new ice cream that I took the liberty of ordering for us. Thank me later,” the other girl replied. Chihiro just laughed at her friend as she took a seat across from her.

“Ok, so spill, who was the guy?” Amanda asked after several moments of silence. This was the first guy she had ever heard of that had made her best friend lose track of time.

“I have no idea, he just asked if he could sit beside me and I said sure. Come to think of it, I never got a name from him. The weird thing is that he looks like the guy from the restaurant from my disaster date last week. And this isn’t the first time I’ve seen him either,” Chihiro recalled, remembering the couple of times she had seen him around campus.

“Ohhh, Chi’s got a hot stalker. Seriously, girl, if you don’t want him, I’ll take him!” The girls laughed at that comment. Everyone knew that Amanda was boy crazy. She loved to look at guys, but that’s all she did, look. But with the way she went on about them, some people who didn’t know her might think she was a whore. But oh no, she wasn’t a whore. Amanda had standards and rarely took anyone to her bed. She rarely dated either.

“We should get some studying done. Midterms are coming up, after all,” Chihiro commented after they had both calmed down enough. Amanda nodded and pulled out her books.