Embrace from the Past by Khystyna Ivlieva

“No matter where life takes you, remember you are stronger than you think.”

Now the smell of old paper is mixed with the smell of blood and flesh. But everything was different just three years ago…

After another wild night of partying, Kate stumbles into her apartment late at night. Her makeup is spoiled, her hair is scraggy, and her dress is crumpled. She collapses on her bed. In the spinning room she lies scrolling her phone. The decades of text messages and missed calls from her father are ignored, as usual.

“Sweetheart, I hope you’re doing okay.”

“Please remember to take care of yourself. Love you.”

 “Can we talk sometime? I’m worried about you.”

He definitely wants the best for her, always trying to offer a piece of advice or guidance on leading a more fulfilling lifestyle. But she doesn’t want to hear his suggestions. Nor does she want to think about the future or the idea of changing anything in her life. She lives for the euphoria of the night and for the freedom on the dance floor.

Next morning, on the 24th of February, she opens her eyes to a new world -- the world that has suddenly been transformed into absolute chaos. The familiar, carefree life is violently shattered by the distant sounds of explosions. She nervously rushes to leave for a shelter, knowing nothing about what to take with her. In this hurry, she takes a notebook, which she doesn’t even pay much attention to because the world outside her window is no longer just a playground of fleeting pleasures and carelessness.

2 years later

A military woman is sitting in the trench. Her shaking, dirty hands are holding the diary covered with worn leather, which is filled with yellowish pages. It belonged to her father almost 30 years ago. Worn from the usage of pages, it can be turned only with the crackle of old paper, and each paper turn brings the smell of her father`s written feelings and contemplations.

He died six months after the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

The leather cover of the diary releases a comforting aroma of aged parchment and ink, which reminds her of the relinquished time she could have spent with her beloved father. A subtle scent of his old cologne is soaring in the air, making tears come from her eyes and memories appear in her mind. This descending smell creates an image of the old man`s comforting presence.

She lifts the diary to her nose, closes her eyes, and inhales it deeply. The familiar scent of smoke seems to spread everywhere. It was the same smoke that was covering her father like a cloud.

Each page of the diary carries the smell of her father`s hands that had thumbed through it. The paper itself releases a mouldy smell of old libraries and forgotten rooms. It’s a scent that speaks of stories and feelings told a long time ago. It is the smell of a man who lived and died with dignity and courage.

As she reads through the pages, she feels a sharp pain of regret.

“No matter where life takes you, remember you are stronger than you think” is written on the front page.

With misty-eyed, she reads each page carefully, trying to catch the scent of a missed opportunity. She feels a deep sense of guilt for the calls she didn’t return and for the pieces of advice she ignored. The smell of the old diary with a mix of aged paper, her father’s cologne, and a smoke of hard life remains in the air. It wraps her in a kind embrace of her father from the past.