​Scentience

She woke blanketed and bound by heavy darkness. She was not afraid of the dark - never had been. In fact, she found that it sharpened her other senses and opened different windows on the world.
 
Though her lids felt leaden, sleep would not come. An inveterate insomniac, she knew better than to try. So she settled herself and let her mind float, seeking different sensory channels. 
 
She listened but could hear almost nothing. What little sound reached her was dull and muffled. Almost like mournful music. So, abandoning sight and sound, she honed in on aroma.
  
Adrift she was carried on a current of scents that seemed somehow linked to one another -and to her. 
 
The initial concoctions were mouth-watering. The savoury smell of olive oil, garlic and rosemary. The earthy nose of red wine. The irresistible fragrance of freshly baked bread. All of this was suffused with the waxy warmth of candles. She could almost feel velvety butter melting on her tongue. 
 
She could also smell the familiar cocktail of her husband: his warm skin, his woody scent, his affection, his desire. And there was the tender perfume of fresh roses that he had given her. Love. 
 
She sighed and settled again. 
 
The next thing to hit her nose was the wool blanket and worn leather seats of their car. The whiff of happy wet dogs. Cosy, comforting. Suddenly, the stinging stench of fire, burning rubber, burning petrol, burning everything. The smell of danger, damage, destruction. 
 
Then a different smoky stink. The smell of ash-infused skin and clothing, of too many cigarettes smoked. This was incongruously paired with an astringent odour. Rubbing alcohol, industrial detergent, formaldhyde, disinfectant. Ominously sterile. 
 
For a brief moment, she smelled nothing. Complete scentlessness. 
 
And then she was struck by a deluge of hankerchiefs and lilies. The heavy fragrance of grief. It was wretched.
 
‘WhereamI ?’she wondered. 
 
‘At the funeral,’ came the unexpected reply. 
 
‘Whose funeral?’ she responded reflexively.
 
‘Yours, of course ‘
 
 
 
5 March 2019