[Juneberry]

<--SHORT STORIES-->

Scentless

People always talk about losing certain senses. When you can't see, you're blind- when you can't hear, you're deaf. No one bats an eye if you tell them you're blind. It's a problem, and some people will bully you, but at least they've heard about people like you before. Heck, there are even treatments in some cases. But what about for the less obvious sensory loss?

My name is Eleanor Meyer, but everyone just calls me Ellie. I have sensory loss in a way most people wouldn't think about. I have anosmia: An inability to smell.

I didn't really understand what I was missing growing up. People often told me I needed a shower because I smelled nasty, but I didn't sense anything wrong with me. A boy once tried giving me a fragrant flower, but when I only said it was pretty, he stuck it up my nose hoping for more. It turned out I was allergic, too- my nose got really itchy, and I couldn't stop sneezing after that. I found it weird that I was fine when it wasn't in my nose, but other than that, I thought I was pretty normal. He was the weird one, wasn't he?

To be honest, I didn't understand my condition back then. I was born like this- I thought everyone experienced the world that way. Sure, I'd heard about smell. People told me about it, but they could never really describe it. Sometimes, I thought it was some sort of joke the world made up to try to trick me. It wasn't until I turned thirteen that I really experienced anything awful from it.

My parents left me alone for a few days to go on an anniversary trip. I was pretty good at housework by then, since my allowance was based on my chores. So, they figured a few days alone wouldn't kill me. Except it almost did- I almost died.

The second day of my parent's trip, I started to feel lightheaded. I was bouncing off walls and furniture, and that wasn't normal for me. I had pretty good balance in general. But, that was only the first sign that something was wrong.

I noticed on the third day that my nose was bleeding ever so slightly, and I was short of breath. I was a runner, but because I'd been feeling so dizzy, I hadn't gone outside over the previous day. After all, the last thing I needed was to fall on the sidewalk, or fall off the curb into the street.

I was oddly tired, and my head hurt. I assumed the fatigue and dizziness for some sort of bug:; after all, even I got sick sometimes,. But when I checked, I didn't have a fever. And like the dizziness, nosebleeds were foreign to me. Yet, I figured it just meant there was pollen outside inflaming my nose.

"Wait," I told myself. "The windows aren't even open. How could my allergies to pollen be acting up?"

All this sounded weirdly familiar... But I couldn't think straight enough to remember why.

The fourth day I felt unwell was the day my parents came home. When they came to my room wondering why I didn't greet them at the door, and came rushing to my room asking if I was okay., I was resting in my bed. In fact, I was practically unconscious and unresponsive. I tried to say hello to my parents, but I could not utter a word.

When I woke up, I was in the hospital with an oxygen mask strapped on my face. I was sick, but not with a cold or flu. I had apparently not fully turned off the gas burner on our stove on the first day. Because of that, I was slowly and steadily getting worse from oxygen deprivation and poisoned by gas inhalation. My parents knew right away there was a gas leak because of the smell of rotten eggs. "Didn't you smell it, Ellie? How could you not have noticed!?" My mom yelled, as she sighed with tears in relief that I awoke and seemed coherent..

"I really didn't!" I shouted in response. Tears welled up in my eyes as well, as I felt myself begin to panic. I really almost died, I was told. My oxygen levels were notably low from staying in that unventilated house filling with natural gas.

"I believe your daughter has anosmia," The doctor said, interrupting our exchange.. "It's a rare condition... And it would explain that she didn't smell the gas. She cannot smell anything!"

My mom asked, "How has no one noticed all this time?"

"If it's congenital, she wouldn't have any point of reference to recognize that she was lacking the sense. She thought her senses were normal, but they are not."

Suddenly, it all clicked. The flowers up my nose, the reminders that I smelled nasty and needed a bath. I cried and cried when I realized it. I wasn't normal, and it almost killed me. No normal person would have been able to blissfully ignore the scent of a gas leak that easily.

After some testing and bedrest at the hospital, I was eventually allowed to go home with my parents. It was decided that from now on, I wouldn't be left home alone without leaving windows slightly open, until my family could install natural gas detectors. This way, if any valve was left open or there was some kind of gas leak, I wouldn't be in as much danger.