Missing Haku pt. 14

When her vision cleared, Chihiro found herself in a large room cluttered with overfull boxes and old furniture. She caught herself wondering if this was a storage or repair building that Yubaba had taken over for the test and forced herself to focus. Each wall blazed with the countdown, letting her know how long she had left. There was a lot riding on her finding Asako before those timers ran out, and she didn’t have time for distractions.

Looking around the room briefly, though she was almost positive it wouldn’t be that easy, Chihiro saw no hints of her friend. That was when she realized Yubaba had never said if Asako would be human, or still in ferret form for this hunt. “Not fair, not fair, not fair," she grumbled quietly, but there was nothing for it but to search.

The room had four doors, one in each wall, and she ran to the first one, weaving between furniture and jumping boxes in her haste. She wrenched the door open to find another room, just as cluttered as the first, with two other doors set on opposite walls. Leaving the door open, she moved to the next one in the first room only to find the same thing: a cluttered room with two other doors. The last two doors in the central room opened similarly and though Chihiro could feel time running out, she was starting to get the big picture. She opened all the doors in the secondary rooms and found that she had nine rooms to search, with no sign of an exit or of her friend.

Once she’d opened every door she could see, Chihiro returned to the central room, took a deep breath and shouted as loud as she could “ASAKO!!!”

The silence that followed rang in Chihiro’s ears, but she didn’t let it depress her. She’d known the call was a long shot, but it had been worth it to try. She hoped it had startled Yubaba - she rather thought the witch deserved a good jolt after what she’d put everyone through. Now she went through each room more thoroughly, looking for any hiding places where Yubaba might have tucked her friend away - she opened those few boxes that were closed, dumped out the boxes that were full and felt on, under, and around all of the furniture, not willing to trust her eyes after Yubaba’s last “test.”

“Come on Asako, where are you,” she pleaded quietly a few minutes later. Her time was running out and though she’d finished searching eight of the rooms she hadn’t found a trace of her friend.

She entered the last room, desperate for a miracle, but not yet willing to resort to Zeniba’s secret gift. “Asako? I don’t know if you can hear me but I am coming to find you. I could use a little help though, if you’d give me a sign.” She paused a moment, but no sign came. Talking had helped her feel calmer though, so she kept talking as she searched the room, telling Asako about finding Haku and pondering what story they would tell their parents when they finally got back. She refused to let herself think about the possibility that they might not make it out.

Chihiro reached the far corner of the last room and glanced up. Two minutes left. She checked the overstuffed chair that was her last hope, lifting up the runner to check underneath, and then running her hands over the armrests and cushion, hoping to run into something.

There! In the front!

The rest of the cushion gave a little under her fingers if she applied a light pressure, but in the front corner she found a spot that resisted. Carefully, she lifted up the cushion and found the hole in the side. Reaching in, she sifted through the pillow fluff until her fingers found the fur covered body.

“I’ve got you,” she murmured, gently pulling the ferret out. Chihiro took a moment to reassure herself that the sleeping ferret really was Asako, before gently sheltering her in the crook of one arm. “Let’s get out of here,” she told her friend with a smile.

The smile fell away as soon as she looked up. There was only a minute left and she still hadn’t found the exit.

There was nothing for it. She’d have to use Zeniba’s necklace if she wanted to get out in time. The thought of Yubaba’s misplaced anger when she discovered the "treachery" brought her smile back as she pulled the necklace one-handed out of her pocket and slipped it on.

She  looked around, but nothing appeared. The exit was not in this room then. She moved to the next room, checking both it and the central room before moving on.

She’d gone through maybe half of the rooms when she found the closed door on an outside wall. She raced over to it, yanked it open, and ran outside to twilight and cheering as the last seconds blinked out on the timer.

She had beaten the test.