Bo Peep (flash fiction)
(writing club prompt)
“Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep, and can’t tell where to find them.”
Poor thing. Alone, in this world that has taken her sheep from her and left her with nothing, or so it seems.
Understandably, the story keeps us concentrated on Bo’s anguish… But what of the sheep?
What if Bo was wrong to try and control them? Our story tells us that she believes if she leaves them alone, they will come back to her. These, however, are not dogs. Does that make the sheep stupid, or is Bo stupid for expecting their loyalty? They are only sheep — a collective herd of like minds who care nothing for Bo’s feelings. But perhaps they felt enslaved. Perhaps they wanted to be free. If their decisions took them to death, at least the choices were their own.
Will some of them decide to come back, and others not? Or will the herd stick together, regardless of the direction?
What if they each discover their independence and shed their sheep skins to spread out into the world, affecting everyone they touch, creating a unique web of interactions and connections…and consequences? Will they each become the apex of their own mountain, surveying the world from their own pivotal point? Will they each run off and become the hero of their own story?
Will they forget the feelings of entrapment, or long for the safety and comfort of home? Will they miss the smell of grass at their noses, or spend the rest of their lives cherishing the view of the sky?
Will they be lonely?
Of course they will be. Everyone is lonely sometimes, in their own way. That is the price of uniqueness. That is the price of having one mind that is so irrevocably your own. That is the price you pay to be free.
Then, could one not argue that they were free all along?
The herd does not — cannot — define you.
And I am proud of the sheep that broke away. It takes sacrifice, and perhaps they will display the scars willingly, perhaps they will not. But they will all remember.
And most importantly, Bo will remember.
She will remember that even if the sheep escaped because she was not keeping a close eye on them, it was their desire to escape all along. She may glimpse them in their new lives — succeeding or failing — but she will know they took the risk because it was worth it.
“She found them indeed, but it made her heart bleed, for they’d all left their tails behind them.”
