The Art of Imagination

Chapter 4

Slithers of light cast spotlights across the dirt-ridden ground. She could barely see in the old shed but the large figure in the centre of the room could have been glowing for all she cared.

It had worked.

“Yes!” she cheered under her breath, waving an arm about excitedly. “I did it!”

Nothing could compare to the pride that swelled in her chest. Ingrid almost skipped around the car, running her hand along the smooth metal shape. When she completed a full turn around the vehicle, she stopped for a moment to admire her handiwork, despite the lack of light.

As far as she could see, the car was solid and sturdy. All she needed to do was test it out. Blindly, Ingrid felt for where she assumed the handle would be and pulled it open. Sticking one leg inside in a very unladylike manner, Ingrid ducked beneath the roof and pulled herself in –

“Oof!”

Rough, hard ground met her basckside with an impact that knocked the air out of her. Ingrid found herself on the hay-covered flooring, shocked. Where were the seats? The lack of light was no help at all.

“So make your own,” she suggested to herself. “If you can make a car, you can make light.” That was it. Yes. That was what she would do.

Holding out her hands, Ingrid didn’t need to blink as she quickly imagined a candle in her hands. She would have tried for a torch but she was just too eager to shed some light on the whole situation.

The candle’s wick lit just by a glance and immediately, the light filled the car.

Ingrid was mortified to find that she was in fact inside the car – only the vehicle had no insides. The entire thing was empty.

“What the heck?” she muttered, brushing herself off. Rising to her feet, she hunched her back to fit as she examined the rest of the interior.

The roof of the car appeared normal, as did the doors. However, the seats were absent as was the steering wheel and other controls that a car normally had. To simply put it, the car was a shell of metal. She wasn’t even sure if she could call it a car anymore.

Disappointment flooded through her as Ingrid stepped out of the open door and slammed it shut. And here she was, thinking she’d outdone herself by creating a car but had wound up with an empty shell that was completely useless to her. She couldn’t drive it to town to deliver the application herself and now, she was all out of ideas.

Ingrid’s shoulders slumped dejectedly. She turned to the disappointment of her imagination and closed her eyes, the dim light of the candle casting shadows across the lids.

The large hunk of metal slowly vanished from her mind’s eye. It took much less effort than she normally took when she tried conjuring things. Once she was finish, Ingrid opened her eyes and found the old shed empty, as if the car never existed. She did the same for the candle too; there was no need for it anymore.

Locking up the shed was much easier than opening it in the first place, probably because she knew what she was doing that time. Ingrid felt a hollowness in her chest where disappointment filled it to the brim. Her imagination wasn’t strong enough. She hadn’t been able to conjure a car.

Ingrid snorted at her pitiful thoughts. Of course it hadn’t worked; her imagination was weak, unexercised. But it gave her all the more reason to find some other way to apply for the academy. There was no doubt about it now; Ingrid desperately needed tutelage and Madam Darlington’s school was her ticket to mastery.

She had to find another way. She just had to.

“No, Miss. I’m sorry.”