This short story was written for the Hong Kong Young Writer’s Awards Competition. This year’s theme is about the Silk Road.

I was a piece of silk made in China and going on a journey to be traded.

From the time I was made, I was told that I am just a commodity which needs to be sold. But my embroiderer Lin Shi told me this is not true. She said, “You have your own mind. You have thoughts and feelings. I can feel you inside!” She was a very smart woman.

We were taken to the merchant. He checked us carefully and chose the silk he wanted. I was one of them. When he held me in his hand, he gasped, “What a lovely, brand-new piece of silk!”

Lin Shi smiled at him. “Yes, sir. She has a spirit. She has feelings inside her.” At first, the merchant was a little shocked, but then, he smiled back. “That’s what I want!” he laughed.

Before I left, Lin Shi instructed me carefully. She taught me what to do, “Silky (my name), make friends, be nice, find your home and take care of yourself. Wish you luck.”

As a “just born” silk, I didn’t understand what her words meant. When I asked her, she just smiled and shook her head. “You will understand it later,” she answered.

I was curious, but I have to find the answer by myself. They put me into a wooden box with other silks. The first silk I saw was a beautiful girl. She was purple, with flowers on her. She must be expensive. I walked to her with a big smile. “I am going to make friends with her.” I thought.

“Hi! My name is Silky! Nice to meet you, can you make friends with me?” That girl silk frowned and thought for a minute. Then she smiled, “Sure! My name is Jing Juan. Nice to meet you too!”

Just then, I heard a negative judgment.

“What a happy little friendship. They never know they are going to be separated. How ridiculous.”

We turned to the voice. She was a green silk with patterns. She sneered at us.

“Do you want to be our friend?” I asked. She stared at us like looking at a weird monster.

“Do you want to be my friend?” I copied my question.

She was silent. Then she sighed, “I had a friend before. She was an optimistic girl. I thought I found my light, but she was sold to a ugly man. I tried to save her, but look at me.”

She showed a corner of herself. We saw a terrible scar on her; she was ripped. I was shocked.

JingJuan sighed deeply. “She was taken away and I would have to hide in the corner to stay here. For years and years, maybe ten years? Every day was the same, hiding and finding my friend.”

It was a heavy topic. We were silent. Afterwards, we became friends, she told us her name was Valeria, it means to be strong. I asked her who named her. She said her best friend Lucilla did. She was very disappointed about her friend and didn’t say anything more about her friend. Later I learned that Lucilla means “light”.

The days in the box were peaceful. The camels walked steadily, sometimes it’s a little hot because of the desert. We told stories, jokes and played together, everything was perfect until one morning.

We heard something weird, footsteps from a lot of people. Suddenly, screams and yells rang out. Violent fights broke out all over the desert camp.

“What happened?” asked JingJuan. Valeria frowned, then she cried in panic and terrified: “It's the desert robbers! Hide now! Or then you will be ripped into pieces.” We put twigs and sand on us, pretending we are just a useless box that was mixed with the other ones accidentally.

The robbers smashed the boxes, killed the camels left and burned the treasures they didn't want.

“What should we do? We are going to be burned!” cried JingJuan.

“We should sneak out and hide. The merchant must have run away. If the robber didn’t notice us, maybe we can just wait for the merchant to come back later.”

We had no options but to do this. Valeria opened the box carefully. I can hear the screams from the other boxes.

We sneaked out. When JingJuan came out, the robbers found her! They picked her up and took her away.

“We are going to save her.” I said.”

“No! we’re not going to do this!” yelled Valeria,

“We have to.” I said. “Because she is our friend.” She became speechless, then she sighed and shook her head. “Let’s go to the sand hole where they hide the treasures.” I smiled, then we started following the footsteps.

When we finally arrived there, it was a day later. We heard weak cries for help. “JingJuan! We are here to rescue you!” I shouted.

“Silky? Valeria? Is that really you?”

“Yes! Come down!” She climbed off the gold “mountain”. But the robbers must have heard something.

“Who is there?” shouted one. Hundreds of people rushed into the cave. We secretly sneaked out of the cave and then we closed the door. The robbers were all stuck inside! We heard curses inside. As fast as we could, we ran to the hut. Inside, I saw our old friend, camel Matteo. We all rode on him.

“Run, Matteo! Run to the merchant! Run away!” said Valeria.

As we ran, the robbers chased us. But they all gave up when we were too far from them. We never knew how long it took, but we arrived in Rome!

“Look! Valeria! Look! It’s Rome! Isn’t it?” I screamed excitedly.

We never met the merchant again, but our story was famous in Rome. They called us “The Silks with Spirit”. Even the Emperor asked us for a book!

“Sure! Why not?” We smiled.

“I’m going to name it ‘The Journey of a Piece of Silk’!”

The Journey of a Piece of Silk (HKYWA 2025)