They say there are ghosts and goblins in Nightmare Alley, but I know different. Nightmare Alley is empty. Devoid of sound and light; even the walls are hard to find. But smell? Oh, there’s a lot of that going on. Dead things and garbage, feces and urine, all of it thinly masked by the sweet scent of mint.
Nightmare Alley is the place where men who have regrets go to die. It’s a dreamscape for the innocent who are eternally paying for their past lives. It’s the plague of the insomniac. It’s purgatory for the guilty who walk there forever.
Linda G. Hill 
fascinating! tell me – why mint?
Thank you. 🙂 I liked the idea that mint, as an uplifting fragrance, gives a hint of hope. It is, however, squashed by all the other smells, making it more of a torment than anything else.
It almost gives you a foreshadowing effect to take the story in a totally different direction. It’s great!
It’s not typical. Usually in these sorts of scenarios, authors go with the scent of flowers, the fragrance that permeates a funeral.
I appreciate your comments! 🙂
Nicely done Linda, great use of the word…..I like that idea of giving the word a sense of place as it allows so much to be done with it…..well done.
Thank you, Michael. 🙂