Imagine

Tessa was stumped.

She had no idea what to write. Choose an occupation you would like to pursue. Explain why you want this occupation. Tessa didn't really have any interests available in the colony. Baking? No. Whenever Tessa tried to bake, it usually ended in a fire. Cleaning? No. Tessa HATED cleaning. Sewing? Absolutely not. Tessa still had scars on her thumb from two years ago. She liked lock-picking, but she wasn’t about to admit that to her teacher. What could she do?

Tessa's mind automatically wandered to astronomy. She loved the stars. Tessa wanted to go up there someday, weaving through planets, zooming past asteroids, flying, discovering, exploring—

     "MISS ADEMER!"

Tessa jumped upright, realizing she had been almost asleep. Oops. Her teacher (who insisted everyone call her “Madame”) had a short temper and was very strict when it came to not paying attention in class. "Yes, Madame?" Tessa replied, holding back a yawn.

"HAVE YOU GOTTEN STARTED ON YOUR TEST YET?"

"No, Madame."

"THEN WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE COLONY ARE YOU DOING?"

Tessa grimaced. "Just…thinking."

“REALLY? AND DOES IT TAKE YOU 34 MINUTES TO THINK?”

The class snickered. Tessa’s cheeks burned and she sighed. “No.”

"I TOLD YOU LAST TIME, IF I CAUGHT YOU DAYDREAMING AGAIN, YOU WOULDN’T GET TO COME TO THE MUSEUM WITH THE REST OF THE CLASS."

Tessa bolted upright. "No, please! I'll never do it again! I promise!"

"RULES ARE RULES, MISS ADEMER. SEE ME AFTER CLASS SO WE CAN TALK ABOUT AN ALTERNATIVE."

Tessa felt like crying. She had always wanted to visit the museum, the only place in the colony that had a real spaceship. But no one was allowed in unless they worked there or they had permission. You could get permission if you were with the school, though, and every year the 11th graders went there on a school trip. Every year Tessa watched with jealousy. Now, finally, it was her turn, the sixth day of 11th grade, and tomorrow the class went to the museum. Tessa had been waiting her whole life for this. And now she’d ruined it, all because she couldn’t keep her head out of the stars. Tessa felt like ripping the test into tiny pieces and throwing it out into space. Instead, she scribbled something about liking plants and slammed her test onto Madame’s chair. Madame raised an eyebrow and opened her mouth, like she was about to chastise Tessa about her attitude. Suddenly, Tessa was mad. Really mad. Madder than she had ever been in her life. She snatched back her test, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it as hard as she could at Madame. The ball bounced off Madame’s head and fell onto her desk. She stared at Tessa, open-mouthed. Tessa yanked her backpack off her chair, shoved it onto her back, and stormed from the room.

* * *

Brilliant. Just brilliant. Tessa cursed herself for being so foolish. What was she going to do now? It’s not like she could run away. After all, she lived in a colony, the only habitable spot on a desert planet, in a vast and empty solar system. Should she go back, apologize to Madame? But Tessa was still mad, and she didn’t feel like saying sorry. And even if she did, it wasn’t like Madame was going to forgive her. Should she walk out of the school? There was no use hanging around anyway if she wasn’t going to go back to class. Tessa shrugged and started walking towards the front door. When she got there, she realized it was locked. She moaned and slid down the wall, plopping onto the floor. What now? Tessa looked around, searching for inspiration. There! On the wall. An unlocked window. But it was pretty high up. Could she reach it?  No. It was about 10 feet off the ground. Way too high. But the window was located in a gap about three feet wide between two walls. If Tessa pushed against the walls, she should be able to climb them through pressure and reach the window. It would be very hard, though. Tessa was considering another alternative when she heard voices. She peeked around the corner and saw--Madame! And the principal, too. If they caught her, Tessa would be in endless trouble. And she was still mad. But she had 30 seconds at best before they saw her. Her only option was to climb the walls. Desperation gave Tessa hope. She pushed against the walls, moving upwards. Faster! Tessa pushed harder, sweat starting to drip from her forehead. Finally she reached the window. Without hesitating, Tessa pushed open the window and jumped out.

Tessa landed on her butt. Pain shot through her and she almost cried out but stopped herself. She didn’t think anything was broken, but she was going to have a nasty bruise there tomorrow. Tessa felt like an idiot. Why hadn’t she considered that the window was 10 feet in the air on both sides? Tessa realized how lucky she was not to have sustained a more serious injury. She stood up on shaky legs and walked to the nearest bench. What could she do now? Her mind leaped to her dream of going to the stars. She had broken out of school… Could she break into the museum? The museum was one of the most important places in the colony. It held the only artifacts from the old planet that the colony had left hundreds of years ago. It also held a spaceship.

Tessa thought and thought and thought some more. Finally, she decided to go to the museum first, and figure things out once she was there. She stood up, stretched, and started walking towards the museum. Here we go…

When Tessa finally arrived at the museum, her legs ached and she was out of breath. She tucked her hair behind her ears, inhaled deeply, and marched up to the front door of the museum. She knocked.

A voice from inside said, “Yes? Who is it?”

“Hello. My name is Tessa. I would like to enter.”

“Um, hold on… Oh yeah. Identification?”

Tessa gulped. “Uhh… Hold on, I have it here somewhere…” She pretended to look in her pocket. “Oh, I can’t find it right now. Could I come inside and empty my pockets; look for it there?”

“Um, okay. Sorry, this is my first time. Sure, permission granted. You may enter.”

Tessa breathed a sigh of relief, almost unable to believe it had worked. She opened the door and stepped inside. Immediately she looked around for the spaceship. It was tucked in a corner. Covered in dust, it seemed… abandoned. “Why is the spaceship there?” Tessa said, pointing.

“Oh,” said the voice. It came from a guy who looked to be around Tessa’s age. “Actually, I asked that same question when I first came--hey, wait a minute. You’re no older than I am. What are you doing in here?”

Tessa cringed. “Okay… I don’t really have identification. I just wanted to see the spaceship.”

The guy scratched his head and sighed. “My dad runs this place, so I’m allowed in every so often. But today he had to leave to help with a-- sorry, I’m not supposed to tell anyone about it. Anyway, I’m not really old enough to be doing this, so I want to prove I can and follow the rules. But… I don’t really blame you for wanting to see the ship. I want to too. Unfortunately, it’s in a special room that you need a key for, and I don’t have the key yet. I’ve never seen it before either. I love the stars. Have you ever looked up and imagined yourself… Never mind.”

He looked down at his boots.

“Imagined myself what?” Tessa inquired.

Jace kept looking down. “Maybe.. In that spaceship? Going through the stars? Looking for other planets to live on? Does that sound foolish? It does, doesn’t it? My dad always says my ideas are foolish. ‘Foolish notions,’ he calls them. Sorry, I ramble when I’m nervous. Not that I’m nervous, of course; what would I be nervous about? ...I’ll just stop talking now. Uh, by the way, my name’s Jace. You’re Tessa, right?”

“How did you know?”

“You introduced yourself as ‘Tessa’ at the door.”

Tessa blushed. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I mean, no big deal. Um. Anyway, my dad and the people who run this place, they want us citizens to forget about the stars. They want to pretend like everything is perfect right here on this planet, and there’s no reason to leave. But it’s not all perfect. There are so many things wrong. Like, some people have jobs they absolutely hate, because the jobs they wanted were already filled.”

Tessa thought of Madame and how she always seemed to be yelling. She wondered, did Madame want to be a teacher?

     Jace continued. “And there are food shortages everywhere because of a bad season with the crops, and my dad has to leave to help with that constantly, that’s why he’s not here today-- Oops. That’s top secret. Please don’t ever tell anyone that I told you that.”

Tessa remembered the smaller lunch rations back at school. Could the crop failure be the reason for that? She looked up. Jace stood there, a worried expression on his face, digging into the ground with the toe of his boot. Tessa almost smiled. “Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me.”

Jace breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay, then. Do you want to see the museum?”

Tessa bit her lip. “Um… You know that stuff you said about really liking the stars, and imagining yourself up there?”

Jace cringed. “Yeah, sorry. I know, it was stupid. Forget I said anything.”

Tessa waved her hands. “No, no, no! I just meant, um, I do it too.”

Jace blinked. “You do?”

“Yeah! Like, I imagine myself up there in the stars, piloting a ship, dodging meteors and scanning planets for life signs. I thought I was the only one who did that, though.”

“Me too!”

Tessa decided to push her luck. “So… The real reason I was here wasn’t to see the spaceship.”

“What? Why not?”

“Well… I want to steal it.”

Jace’s mouth hung open. “What--”

Tessa quickly spoke again. “Think about it! We could fix it up, maybe polish it a little, strap in, put on those spacesuits they keep inside, and… we’re off! I mean… If you want to come with me, of course.”

Jace backed away. “Woah, woah, woah. Hold on. I need to think about this.”

Tessa decided she’d better wait. Without Jace, she’d have no hope of getting to the spaceship at all.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Jace made his decision. “I’m coming with you. My dad doesn’t really care about me anyway. He’s too busy with work and all.”

Tessa fought the urge to yell, HOORAY! She grinned, and they shook hands. “Let’s go, then.”

“So, first we have to get past the door. Do you know how to pick locks?”

Tessa smiled. “Yes, actually.” She strode up to the Employees Only sign on the door, opened it, and came to another door. She slid a bobby pin out of her hair and began to work.

“Actually--” began Jace.

Tessa shushed him and kept picking. 

“But--”

“Hold on. One more minute.”

Two minutes later, she was done. Triumphantly, she opened the door, and… “This isn’t a spaceship!” Tessa moaned. “It’s the bathroom!”

“I was trying to tell you that!” Jace protested. “Here, this is where the real door is.”

He pointed to a keyhole on what looked like a regular section of wall. Tessa whistled. “Wow. Good camouflage.” She got another bobby pin and tried again.

This time, it took seven minutes to pick the lock. Apparently, the locks on the spaceship were more secure than the ones on the toilets. She pushed open the door, and they stepped inside.

The spaceship itself looked old and abandoned. It looked so pathetic Tessa almost wanted to cry. She put a hand on its side. Smooth and cold. Tessa took some wet wipes from a nearby stand and started cleaning.

“We don’t have unlimited time you know,” Jace said nervously. “Someone could come any minute now.”

Tessa sighed and gathered up the wipes, placing them in the ship. They stepped in, Jace on the driver’s side. “Actually,” said Jace. “Maybe you could drive? I’m not the best at this…” Tessa was more than happy to oblige. She took a moment to run her hands over the controls. Instinctively, she felt--she knew-- what she was supposed to do. She started the engine and carefully tilted the nose of the ship to point at the ceiling. She took a deep breath. There was no turning back now. Silently, she said goodbye to the colony, knowing she could never return. Jace gulped. “Uh, how are we going to get out of the--” CRASH! They smashed through the roof and up, up, up into space. Soon, they were cruising along. Flying, discovering, exploring. It was all that she had imagined and more. Tessa laughed out loud. They were free.