once upon a time


there was a girl who had nothing under control except herself. her parents arranged her schedule, her friends arranged her activities, her coaches arranged her sports position. but *she* had control of her emotions, and she let them out on little coloured leashes when she decided to. orange for happy, blue for calm, green for useful... an occasional black for low, lonely days, a very rare pink leash for girly hours, and the occasional red leash for when she was ticked off at the world and everyone arranging her life.

one day, she moved to a new house. her new friends not only refused to arrange her life, they refused to let her use leashes. "just be yourself" they insisted. they took away the leashes and hid them and made her train her emotions to obey verbal commands instead of physical restraints.

then the girl moved to a new house. she found the leashes in the bottom of a box... and they started making innocent whimpers. "just pull us out and you'll be all colour-coded and in control again," they suggested, temptingly.

...
the girl hung the leashes by the front door, at least until she found new friends to pack them away...

the end