Fiction: Group 4
Lost In Paradise
Shekou International School, Li, Lily - 18, Fiction: Group 4
hen I first arrived to Shenzhen on an airplane midnight, Pearl River Delta was an
enormous glowing sphere of lights from my aerial view. I was immediately drawn to the
place with the fascination of a child; never had I seen a place were the lights still burn this
bright this late into the night from all directions. Ancient legends have it that the Pearl River Delta was
formed by two magical dragons, one silver and the other golden, transformed into the rivers that nurtured
this blessed land by a goddess. Looking at that glowing sphere of fire at the edge of night, I almost believed
that legend. Behind each of those little lights, there may be a person, may be a family, all existing in the
humming hive of the city. This was the moment when I decided that after I settled in, I will take my time
to explore this place on my own.
My chance finally came at end of summer break. I woke up extra early that morning to find the sky in the
most crisp shade of blue. Puffy clouds adorned the sky like marshmallows as I stared out my window
eagerly. Even this early in the morning, busy people already lined the streets with their bikes and umbrellas,
ready for this new day.
Today can be my perfect day,
I thought,
all I need is to take a chance.
So within an
hour, I packed myself some food, got my sundress on, and set off for a journey out of Shenzhen to other
cities in Guangdong.
Following the map, I told my driver to drop me off at a temple tourist attraction; I even traced a careful
travel route with a red marker on my map. But somewhere along the winding roads after more than two
hours of riding, a series of small villages along the riverside caught my eyes. Even though I did not have a
clue where the villages placed on the map, I felt this abrupt urge to ditch my original travel route and just
explore those villages. So, following my instinct, I got off the car in excitement and begun moving towards
those faraway houses. It wasn’t until the car was completely out of sight that I realized I had left my cell
phone in it. Panic surged through me immediately when I realized that I was in the middle of no where
without a communication tool. Normally this is never a good sign, but strange it was that on second
thought I did not regret this decision at all.
The villages looked much closer than they were in reality, but I enjoyed the long walk. Flower fields
where lavender and irises flourished stretched out in front of me like an ocean of fragrance, making it
difficult to believe it wasn’t early spring. Butterflies of different shades frolicked around me and the
sunbeams brushed across my cheeks like a gentle caress. Feeling pleased with my adventure so far, I took off
my hat and lifted my head up to the sky like I used to as a child. Bathing in the sun’s warmth, I felt relieved,
so I gradually relaxed. I began to think that perhaps losing my phone was a positive thing. Perhaps for one
day, just one day, I can be free from constant calls and text messages pulling me away from everything else I
saw. Perhaps just for one day, there will be nothing between me and the open road.
It was well into the afternoon when I finally made it out of the flower fields and in to the villages. A smile
found its way on to my lips as I surveyed the nearly empty streets signaling that this was an area untouched
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