Strange Smell trigger memory

[DroopyA]

I just got a whiff of what smelled like the fruit cups we use to get in lunch when I was in elementary and middle school.

I'm not sure where it came from (since I'm sitting in my office alone) but regardless, it's a smell I instantly recognized without any thought, brought back an entire series of school memories.

I know you'll try to blame it on one fruit but I promise it's not. It's not the scent of oranges that brings it back... the smell has to be that perfect blend of specific sliced fruits... fruits that been sitting out in the open and breathed on by large groups of strangers for a few hours... I'd tell you what those fruits where but I never ate my fruit cup so I don't know.

Anyway, I don't like it. Just this moment I've come to the conclusion that I always hated school because of this smell. It's a terrible smell... like that "too clean" smell the dentist has... you can just tell somethings not right about it. Bad things happen here.

It makes me feel uncomfortable... brings me back to the days when I felt small and was afraid to talk. When I felt like the room was really big and everybody was always staring at me waiting for me to do something stupid so they can talk about me and make fun of me. Man I hated being little...

What a terrible smell.

[Minners]

Whoa, that is a revelation! To be brought back so many years to school and all those memories of pain and misfortune, I hope it doesn't leave any long term effects, for you or anybody for that reason..

[SuperFlonic]

You're not the only one. I have the same thing with some smells. It's weird, really, since most of the time I'm not able to pinpoint the source of the smell. I just smell it.