Chihiro felt Hajime's arm curl around her forearm and pull her down the small hallway towards the large metal door. Haruto's own cold laughter curled around her heart as her blood ran cold.

Hajime had ripped the door open and pushed her out first. He pressed the bus tickets into her hand, and gave her one last pleading look before slamming the door, leaving her alone. She screamed his name, pounding on the door.

The wind whipped across her bare back. Chihiro slowly turned away from the door. She stood on a concrete platform on the outer side of the Bathhouse. There were a set of what seemed to be stairs though they did not connect. They jutted out from the side of the bathhouse and there was no railing.

There were stairs that went down as well, but it looked as if they had crumbled into nothing further down.

Chihiro looked back at the door.

Please let him be okay… Please. I need him.

That thought startled her. She did need him. She looked down at the crumpled ticket in her hand before nodding determinedly. Nezumi was squirming in her pocket. He was displeased with being hit with coal and then jostled around roughly.

Chihiro turned back to the precarious stairs. She swallowed hard and felt on the verge of panicking but she owed it to Hajime to do this. To herself. To her family. She rested a hand on the second step and slowly started her journey up the stairs. She begged herself to not look down.

One step at a time.

o-o-o-o

The stairs had turned from cement to wood as they winded along the side of the building. Occasional platforms popped up where Chihiro rested briefly. She checked Nezumi, making sure he was still safely tucked in.

The climb was slow and the sun had started to peak over the horizon now. She had climbed all night before reaching the beginning of the stairs. She faced a garden against the building with sliding doors. The plants had long since died and it was more depressing to look at.

Chihiro passed by the garden and towards the bridge she crossed with Hajime so long ago. She was ready to cross it when she stopped. Hajime had her hold her breath when they first crossed. She wondered if she needed to do that now. With a hand over her mouth, she ran across the bridge, back towards the labyrinth that she had started to forget. It couldn't have been any more than a day or two that she had first crossed it.

But it wasn't the first time in her life she had passed over it.

ooo-ooo

Chihiro had found her way down to a train station but it looked run down like the Bathhouse and the tracks had rusted.

Why did he even give me these tickets when there isn't even a TRAIN?

She sighed in frustration before deciding to walk the tracks, putting distance behind her and that dreadful place. Her thoughts would wander to Hajime but she chided herself for thinking the worst.

Have faith, little Chihiro.

As the tracks winded along, she felt she had been walking for hours and the sun was setting. She had walked the entire day away. The scenery had changed from barren to foliage and greenery popping up.

Long dead trees were in her view now. A forest of dead trees. She came upon a train stop across from a path that had long been forgotten. She looked into the darkening path. She knew she couldn't travel any further in the night. Who knows what is lurking further along.

Chihiro approached the forest opening. A soft crack disturbed the tranquil scenery. She jumped back as a moving stick detached from a nearby tree. It bounced up and down excitedly. Chihiro had fallen back onto her butt out of shock. It did not seem hostile. She looked at it suspiciously. It was a long stick with a lantern attached to the top. The flame flickered pitifully before being lit with a tiny flame. She looked at it better and noticed a tiny wrinkly hand that it jumped on where it was attached to the stick at the wrist.

It hopped ahead of her as if to beckon her along the faded path. She slowly got up, though keeping her distance. She followed the hopping lamp into the forest.