The door didn’t open.
It simply ceased to be.
One moment it was wood and iron,10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQPlXhzAiFa
the next, a hole in the world through which meaning spilled sideways.
The thing that entered wasn’t a guest.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGAxxKdAnWC
It wasn’t a thing.
It was hunger braided with memory.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaocQ2hi9Yv
Shape wrapped in concept.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe1SwvjQxxj
Its presence cracked the edges of the bottles, though they made no sound.
Even the fire shrank.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkbGci3dMDK
Not in fear.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOjHsKXR1p9
But in reverence.
It did not move.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkTIGLFhVdW
Movement implies direction.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKBx6zB1VQW
It arrived in all directions at once.
There was no voice.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzoSI367dSu
No words.
But I understood:
“You collect them.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvWaZluc6py
You keep what would be forgotten.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡifLc6WM9Cn
You hoard the echoes.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6IpLli9caV
Why?”
I didn’t answer with my mouth.
I thought of every guest.
The broken, the joyful, the unfinished.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDDkiCqmI9r
The ones who stayed. The ones who left half-healed.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXZQTubRDM1
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.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3NvrSv6eMf
A glyph.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQY3FmlvJp4
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.
ns216.73.216.148da2
