Embers

Echoes through time

Photo by Mr Cup / Fabien Barral on Unsplash

In a quaint old house on the corner of Maple Street lived an 80-year-old woman named Mary. Mary was a kind soul, with a gentle smile that spoke of the stories she held within.

Over the years, she had developed a peculiar habit of hoarding newspapers. Stacks upon stacks of newspapers piled high in every corner of her home, each page a piece of history she couldn’t bear to part with.

Mary’s daughter, Susan, worried about her mother’s growing collection. She watched as the newspapers took over the once cozy living room, creating narrow pathways between the towering stacks. Susan knew that something had to be done to help her mother before the newspapers swallowed her whole.

One day, as sunlight filtered through the dusty windows, Susan sat down with Mary at the kitchen table.

“Mom,” Susan began gently, “I think it’s time we do something about all these newspapers. They’re taking up so much space, and it’s getting hard to move around.”

Mary’s eyes flickered with a hint of sadness, but she nodded in understanding.

“I just can’t bear to part with them, Susan. Each one holds a memory, a story that I want to keep close.”

Susan reached out and took her mother’s hand. “What if we create a digital record of the stories you want to keep? We can scan the articles and save them on a computer, so you can read them whenever you want. Then, we can recycle the newspapers and make more space in the house.”

Mary’s eyes widened with surprise, the idea slowly sinking in.

“That... that could work, couldn’t it?” she whispered.

So, mother and daughter embarked on a journey to digitize Mary’s treasured stories. They spent months scanning each newspaper, capturing the headlines and articles that Mary held dear. As they worked, Mary shared the tales behind each piece, her voice filled with nostalgia and warmth.

Mary watched the last newspapers being taken for recycling and felt a surge of conflicting emotions. A hollow ache, a sense of loss that tugged at her heartstrings replaced the once familiar weight of the papers in her hands.

In the quiet of an uncluttered living room, Mary’s footsteps echoed against the newly cleared floors, each sound a reminder of the absence left behind.

She traced the outlines where stacks of newspapers once stood, imprints of stories now just a memory. The once cluttered room presented as a bright space.

As she sat at the kitchen table, a cup of tea growing cold in her hands, Mary’s thoughts drifted back to the days spent poring over the yellowed pages; the ink smudged with time.

Each newspaper held a piece of her past, a fragment of history she had clung to like a lifeline. Each paper recycled felt like folding away a part of her own story, tucking it into a bin of forgotten items.

The absence of physical newspapers left Mary with a sense of emptiness. The room, strangely vast, echoed with a silent reminder of what was.

She closed her eyes, trying to hold on to the scent of newsprint, the crinkle of pages turning in her hands, the comfort of a familiar routine disrupted.

Tears welled up in Mary’s eyes, a mix of sorrow and relief mingling on her cheeks. The act of letting go was bittersweet, a melody of nostalgia and acceptance.

She understood memories live not in papers, but in the stories they hold, in moments shared and cherished.

In quiet moments, Mary would sit at the computer, scrolling through the digital archive, reliving the moments that had shaped her life.

Author’s Note

I am not a healthcare provider, but I wanted to highlight hoarding behavior in this flash fiction piece.

In trying to understand this behavior, I started googling and reading about this mental health disorder.

• Hoarding is a behavior both complex and often misunderstood. Hoarding unnecessary possessions may reveal underlying emotional problems.

• People who hoard often have a deep emotional connection to their possessions, perceiving them as an extension of their identity or a source of emotional support.

• The act of accumulating items brings a sense of control amidst chaos, temporarily easing inner turmoil.

• Fear of letting go stems from fear of loss, abandonment, or error.

• Effective treatment for hoarding behavior relies on understanding its root causes, according to psychologists.

• Psychologists see hoarding as a sign of underlying mental health disorders, including OCD, anxiety, depression, or trauma.

• Acknowledging hoarding disorder as a separate mental health condition highlights the gravity of this behavior and the need for compassionate intervention.

In my experience, it is even more difficult when the hoarder also has dementia.

It’s understandable to cling to familiar things amidst a confusing world.

Mary’s story and the solution offered by her daughter oversimplified a complex disorder.

I wish it were this simple.

Upcoming…

• July’s writing prompt:

  One Hundred-Word Wonders, 17 July 2024

  For those who want to get a head start, the last themes in the Seven Deadly Sins series are Sloth and Vigor, and the prompt word is EMBRACE. Write in exactly 100 words, a story, poem, or creative non-fiction in any genre, using ONE theme only. Use the prompt word or it’s past tense only once. Pieces should be exactly 100 words, no more or less. The 100-word count does not include the title. Hold your piece until the 17th!

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