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Who knew such a place could exist in Hong Kong?

Mia had never heard of Weightless Island until one day she was scrolling through Facebook and saw a post by Alice, an acquaintance from college:

“Flowers singing, the grass dancing, trees walking in handstands, animals floating in air and sipping on raindrops. Once I entered Weightless Island, I became weightless and flew up light as a feather. Within one week of being there, I was only fed by sunshine and rainwater but still felt energetic every day.”

What the hell? Mia felt puzzled, but still threw in a “like” for Alice.

Soon after, Mia saw other friends sharing similar posts about Weightless Island:

“OMG I am so obsessed with Weightless Island! No need to eat, walk, or make money, no need to pay 10,000 a month in rent! What a weightless life!”

“I am thinking about moving to Weightless Island, I mean it. In comparison, the rest of Hong Kong is worse than hell to live in.”

“Protect Weightless Island, the last oasis in Hong Kong!”

Mia was a social media copywriter, so she was familiar with the tricks behind getting content to go viral. If those Weightless Island posts had been shared by KOLs always jumping on the latest trend, she would have called it a gimmick. But all of these posts were from Mia’s old primary school or high school friends, or the children of her mother’s colleagues. All of them were poor, living in tiny public housing flats, and doing shitty jobs after graduation from community colleges—in other words, losers. And no company would spend money on hiring losers to do a marketing campaign.

Maybe Weightless Island does exist, Mia thought. What else could explain why her Facebook friends suddenly began talking about it? To dig up some more information, she got in touch with Nan, who was one of those Weightless Island fans (and also, as it happened, her high school sweetheart), and asked him out.

“How are you?” Mia broke the ice first.

“Not bad. You?” Nan replied, and smiled.

“Not bad.” Mia smiled back.

At this moment, they were standing on two sides of the exit gate in the subway station, Mia on the outside and Nan inside. A stainless steel fence separated them. Beside them, there were several other pairs of hands gripping the fence, belonging to other people who were standing there to chitchat, exchange packages, or have a brief rendezvous across that fence without having to walk through the gate and pay for a ticket.

“Is Weightless Island real?” Mia asked, deciding not to waste time on pleasantries.

“I’ve never lied in my life. You know that.” Nan fished out a photo from his pocket and handed it to Mia for her to check.

In the picture, heaven and earth were blending together, only the sea was shining and blue. There were flowers and trees flying above the sea, and a castle-like hut hanging in the air. There were shiba inu dogs, house cats, rabbits, and hamsters frolicking around the castle.

“That’s me.” Nan pointed at the man in the photo, who was floating upside down next to a shiba inu.

“Did you go there with your friends?”

“No, I went alone.”

“Who took this photo for you?”

“A local resident there.”

Mia was staring at the photo and drinking in every detail, while Nan kept murmuring:

“This place seems too fantastic to be real, but it does exist. When I was floating in the air, my body could change direction at will, to sleep on the surface of the sea, or dance among the trees. On that island, I forgot all the problems in my life. My brain was suddenly empty, but my heart was full of passion. I felt like I’d become the wind, free and happy, as if I were the main character of a fairy tale…”

“Then why did you come back?” Mia interrupted.

Nan sighed and said: “I have a son. If I leave, who’s going to take care of him?”

Mia didn’t answer this question, and just stared at Nan’s slim jawline. In that instant, a heartbreaking memory of herself and Nan from years ago came to her. They had hidden in a corner of the school’s storeroom to read forbidden magazines, smoke cigarettes, and drink beer, just the two of them. What did they talk about? She couldn’t recall; she only remembered that she lay in his arms, listened to him reading love poems, and let her forehead kiss his jaw. Although everything about Weightless Island sounded absurd, Mia was sure that her first love would never lie to her.

“So, how can I get there?” Mia finally asked this question.

Nan put away the photo, looked around, bowed his head slightly until his goatee touched Mia’s forehead, and whispered to her: “Fly.”

“What?”

“Yes, you go to the Central Pier, between Pier 5 and 6 you’ll see a short granny wearing a red nose like a clown, and she’ll take you to fly to Weightless Island. She’s the one who took my photo, by the way.”