I can’t say for sure that it started today. Like, it was kind of familiar when I first got hit with it in the shower this morning, but I couldn’t place it in any particular memory.
It didn’t help that it was really more of a whiff, if that makes sense, like it got swept up from the drain, but that was definitely more than enough for me to notice it.
Picture wet dog mixed with the sourness of an uncleaned gas station bathroom accompanied by an aftertaste of whatever they use to clean hospitals.
Before anyone suggests I get someone to look at the plumbing, I’ve lived in my apartment long enough to know that sometimes weird stuff can happen with the pipes or whatever, so I called my super and let him know.
He said he hasn’t had any other complaints, although that’s exactly what I’d say if I was trying to hide some kind of issue with the building so I don’t know.
I’d mostly put it out of my mind before I got to work, only really remembering it when I thought about the prospect of showering again tonight and if I’d be dealing with maintenance guys coming to check it out, but then I smelled it again coming from somewhere behind me.
At first I thought it may have been my hair and got really self-conscious (I work in a smallish shoe store, so lots of customer interaction), so I went to the backroom and tried to sniff what I could get around to my nose without letting my plait out but I couldn’t find it.
In fact, even with me moving my hair around, the smell seemed to stay put.
Eventually I buckled and offhandedly asked one of the guys if he had smelled anything strange.
He responded by staring blankly at something behind me for a while before apparently snapping out of it when I went to look and told me no.
Although kind of weird, spacing out isn’t all that out of the ordinary for my coworkers, so I disregarded it until about five minutes ago when I started writing this.
The smell hasn’t really gone away since then, to the point where I picked up an extra can of deodorant and sprayed at least half of it into my car before going home.
It’s not even that pervasive of a smell, it just sets me on edge.
Like, on its face, it’s no worse than hanging out in a pungent alley for a while (I worked at a restaurant for a while who’s ‘breakroom’ was literally just a milk crate by the dumpsters out the back), but I just need it to go away.
I went to go shower before, but the light switch is on the other side of the room and whatever it is likes the dark.
I swear it tried to touch me when I first got home and didn’t manage to get the lights on straight away.
The light’s only helping a little bit though.
As I sit here curled up on my bed with my laptop, I can’t help but feel like it’s getting closer anyway.
Not worse, just more… enveloping of me.
My skin’s starting to itch and I think some of my hair came out when I undid my plait.
I honestly don’t know what to do at this point.
Please help.