Post by damedirritant on Oct 15, 2005 13:23:05 GMT 1
Reliving The Past
by Tamar-Shakira
[/b]by Tamar-Shakira
“Chihiro will remember everything, she just won’t be able to recall it.”
My name is Chihiro Ogino and I’m eighteen years old. I live in a lovely blue house, where my parents and I moved when I was ten. My parents live somewhere else now and they left the house to me. I’m a teacher at primary school and I absolutely love my job, but there is something that is haunting me. And I don’t know where or how to put it. Every night I keep having weird dreams with dragons and ghosts. They won’t go away and I have no idea why I got them. It’s like I’m obsessed or, rather, my mind is obsessed. The one thing that really keeps returning is the face of a boy. He has olive green eyes and black hair. He seems so familiar, but I’ve never met him. Or, at least, I think I’ve never met him. In some kind of way, I do know that his name is Haku …
~~~
It’s Monday afternoon and my classes are over. It was a tough day, because there were a lot of fights among the children and I, as the teacher, had to tear them apart. I’m glad it’s all over. I let my eyes glide over the classroom. The windows on the left side of the room are slightly ajar and the fresh spring air is coming through. As my eyes scan the thirty tables, I see that one of them isn’t empty. On the desk, there is sheet of paper. I sigh and stand up to remove it, but I stop as soon as I see its contents. It’s a drawing and in the middle of it all, there’s a beautiful, white, snail-like dragon. Its eyes are green and around it there are the most amazing colors I have ever seen. It resembles the dragon in my dreams into the tiniest detail. I decide to take the drawing with me and I put it in my bag. Checking the room for the last time I close the door and walk to my bike.
As soon as I get home, I put sushi-leftovers in the oven and walk to the living room. The walls are panted green, with wonderful shapes and figures. In the middle of the room there’s a low suginoki table. I put the drawing on the table and stare at it for a long time. I let my fingers slide over the dragon. Beginning with the head, ending with the tail. Every time I wake up from one of the dreams, I have a weird feeling in my stomach and that’s the same feeling I have at this very moment. I try to put one and one together, but it just won’t work. Again I finger the drawing, but I stop when I see an image flash before my eyes. I see a red bathhouse and there’s a bridge leading to it. It’s as clear as a memory, but I’ve never been there before. Suddenly I’m being pulled into that picture and I see myself as a small girl, running after that one boy form my dreams, through all kinds of flowers and bushes. Then I see the small vision of myself carrying a heavy stone, while thousands and thousands of tiny spiders are following me.
The images are gone as soon as they came. I take a deep breath and back away from the table. What was that? It couldn’t be real, could it? No, it was just the warm weather. I’m hallucinating. Thousands of questions run through my head.
The beeping of the oven wakes me from my reverie and I stumble to the kitchen. The thought of eating makes me sick, so I decide to go to sleep. Tomorrow … tomorrow I’ll figure this out. Tomorrow …
~~~
My eyes slowly flutter open, when I hear my alarm clock. I hit it and I welcome the silence, as it fills my head. I had another dream, but this time it was different. Everything was much clearer. The boy, Haku, had been talking to me about how Rin was being stubborn and how Zeniiba had been talking to Yu-Baaba and how much he missed me. That he was trying to find a way back to me. I didn’t recognize the names and I still don’t. I even haven’t got a clue who he is!
I get out of bed and walk to the bathroom. I’m searching for a ribbon, which I can put in my hair. My eyes travel over the many colors and sizes I have in my drawer. But one catches my attention. It has a shiny, purple color. I reach for it and grab it. But as soon as I touch the smooth material, the weird feeling in my stomach is back and I feel myself being pulled into another world.
I see a pink tunnel. The wind seems to be pulling me towards it. Two meters in front of the tunnel there’s a statue. I shiver. I know that I’m in the forest, next to the hill, where my house is. I can feel that. I try to walk to the tunnel, but when I move my foot, I’m being ripped from the vision and I fall backwards straight into the bathtub.
Rubbing the small of my back, I get up. Maybe I’ll stay home today. I’m not going to teach like this. I walk to the phone and dial the number of the concierge.
“Good Morning, this is the Shinzui School, what can I do for you?”
“Hello, this is Chihiro Ogino. I’m calling to say that I won’t be able to teach today. I’m not feeling very well.”
“Okay, no problem, we’ll take care of it. Do you know how long it’ll take for you to come to school again?”
“No, I have no idea, I’ll give you a ring.”
“Okay, get well soon.”
I think about what happened, when I picked up the ribbon. I know for sure that the forest, which I saw, is the forest at the end of the road here. I can take a look … can I? I decide that I can. I’m going there. I want to find out what this is all about. Muttering to myself, I put on my shoes and lock the door.
When I finally arrive at the end of the road, where the forest trail begins, I let my eyes wander over a nearby tree, surrounded by stones. As I take a closer look, I can see that the stones have the shapes of little houses. Realization hits me. I can feel that there’s something in my mind that is trying to push its way forward. I walk further into the forest and rub my arms. The air is steadily growing colder and the forest is getting denser by the second.
~~~
I’m not watching where I walk anymore. I’ve been walking for about an hour now and I’m exhausted. The road is going up and the ground is very uneven. I feel my foot slip, but my reaction comes too late. I fall and brace myself for the pointy rocks, which are on the floor. But it is not the rocks I feel, when my body collides with stone. I slowly open my eyes and blink a few times. Pink … all I see is pink. I notice that I’m still standing, so I push my hands up against the pink stuff, whatever it is. When I take a few steps backwards, I gasp. It’s the tunnel. The tunnel from my dreams and visions. Half of the wall is covered with plants and the tiny bits of wall that are visible, are very worn.
I stand directly in front of the entrance. It’s now or never. This the moment I can finally discover what those dreams are about. I can finally discover what it all means. My left foot does a step forward, as if I have no control over it. And as soon as it makes contact with the solid ground of the tunnel, something in my head snaps and all kinds of memories are flooding back. I remember.
- END OF CHAPTER ONE - STAY TUNED FOR MORE -
