So, my room has a smell. Not a nice smell, like scented candles. Not a smell that invokes good memories either though. Cinnamon reminds me of Christmas, if this smell reminded me of anything, it was probably a memory I repressed.
So, I left for Portland last week. I left my room smelling, well it smelled like a dude’s room. When I returned on Sunday, two of my housemates came tumbling out of their respective rooms, asking what the hell I’d left rotting in my room. Confused, I opened my door, and a distinct smell of death smacked me in the face. I turned, and politely asked, “What the fuck did you guys do to my room?”
I turned on my friend Michael, we’d been roommates freshman year, and had lived together since (I’m a senior now). I reminded him that my room had never smelt this badly in 3 years, so either something died in there, or there was something they weren’t telling me.
My two roommates went pale.
It wasn’t from fear though, the smell had just crept out of my room like a decrepit hobo that was rubbing himself on the furniture. I closed my door and we went outside. Luckily the hobo did not follow.
Of course, we did not find the source of the smell, and returned to the crime scene. They wished me luck as I dove into the tangy air that hung in the hellish place. The only thing preventing me from vomiting was the enraged belief that I would find the carcass of a skunk somewhere in my room. My roommates provided moral support by periodically sliding lit scented candles through the briefly cracked door. I took their gagging as words of support.
Every window was thrown open. The room looked as bright as day from the sheer amount of scented candles. But no matter where I looked I could not locate the source. I cleaned that room more spotless than it had probably been in history. But the smell remained, as if a giant fish had stolen Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak and was circling me. The smell was so thick I wouldn’t have been surprised if the candles had gone out from lack of oxygen.
Needless to say, sleeping was difficult. I arranged the candles around my bed to try and create a barrier of smell. It looked like I’d planned a romantic evening, right beside the dump.
My windows have not been closed all week. And I’ve taken to doing my homework in the garden. The smell, has luckily abated by now. Who know’s what caused it, or why it went away. Maybe something ate whatever was causing it.
So, that was a novel distraction. Usually my nose distracts me when something delicious is in the vicinity. I can’t complain too much though, at least my room is clean.
For starters I must applaud you on your story telling abilities. I was practically on the edge of my seat reading your story. However, aside from that I do agree that smells are severely distracting. A smell can drastically change my opinion of a person, place, or thing, either positively or negatively. For example, the smell inside a restaurant is important. If the smell is displeasing then I will not have as easy of a time consuming the food, where as if the smell was delicious then the food would be much more appealing to eat. With people, their smell can either attract or detract me from wanting to be in the near presence. It all depends, and smells are for sure prominent distractions. Great story.
I like your story, your room is the convenient place to do your homeworks, but the smell distracting you to be in it. If I’m in your place i’ll really have hard time to do my work and stay in the room at all.
I’ve ran into similar problems involving smell and distractions. My room is on the third floor of my apartment, with our kitchen on the first floor. Whenever my roommates cook food, the smells works its way upstairs into my room. Most of the time when this happens, my nose gets the best of me and I end up investigating the source of the smell, which usually results in me forgetting about the work I was trying to finish. Smells both good and bad can cause us to become distracted.