short fiction · 2026-10-18

Inhale the Past

Written in free time, from: Creative writing

The kitchen lamp flickered as a single drop of amber perfume slipped into the air, curling around the old wooden floorboards like a whispered secret. With each breath, the scent unfurled memories I never knew I carried — a childhood summer by the sea, the night my grandmother laughed, the first kiss after a long winter. The fragrance acted as a key, turning dust motes into portals; the world softened, and for a fleeting moment, the present dissolved into a tapestry of past moments, each thread humming with the same faint perfume that lingered on my skin.