The door didn’t open.
It simply ceased to be.
One moment it was wood and iron,56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwsc1QrbsNw
the next, a hole in the world through which meaning spilled sideways.
The thing that entered wasn’t a guest.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtBWI3h8uGK
It wasn’t a thing.
It was hunger braided with memory.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTPgy5Jllfm
Shape wrapped in concept.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhg01MSqSLZ
Its presence cracked the edges of the bottles, though they made no sound.
Even the fire shrank.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdd4dwQ23a8
Not in fear.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMyRQw69uj8
But in reverence.
It did not move.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCTXRSEjxCp
Movement implies direction.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaa2WxJ4779
It arrived in all directions at once.
There was no voice.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIxAY17Zyr3
No words.
But I understood:
“You collect them.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzrkdo3GZbb
You keep what would be forgotten.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQYtqqcwk4V
You hoard the echoes.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2CUH17VblD
Why?”
I didn’t answer with my mouth.
I thought of every guest.
The broken, the joyful, the unfinished.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMuA1hZcEyX
The ones who stayed. The ones who left half-healed.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNdqMIwxqS6
The ones no one else remembered.
I thought of the ledger.
I thought of the fire.
And I thought of the chair that is always empty but never alone.
The thing paused.
Or maybe the universe did.
Then, without form, it offered something.
A sound.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhM1dgjhTkA
A glyph.56Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFffiek0srW
A flavor that tasted like entropy and lullabies.
I did not drink it.
I bowed.
And I said:
“Not everything is meant to vanish.”
It left through the ceiling.
The door was back. Whole again. But warmer.
The tavern has not shifted since.
But the stars over the window blinked a little slower that night.
And I brewed a drink I could not name.
I have not served it.
Yet.
ns216.73.216.238da2
