The door didn’t open.
It simply ceased to be.
One moment it was wood and iron,39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXvwCgr8nLH
the next, a hole in the world through which meaning spilled sideways.
The thing that entered wasn’t a guest.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyCLQd4WTTn
It wasn’t a thing.
It was hunger braided with memory.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyaSolhZUK1
Shape wrapped in concept.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsaAGPjWwWB
Its presence cracked the edges of the bottles, though they made no sound.
Even the fire shrank.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp6iL4X2ZPk
Not in fear.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Aq6ab5sfb
But in reverence.
It did not move.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1rXLDvHzKR
Movement implies direction.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3magcRaV4x
It arrived in all directions at once.
There was no voice.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw8h10agZ5I
No words.
But I understood:
“You collect them.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzOC4sdQeCk
You keep what would be forgotten.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj4JkY3ROcv
You hoard the echoes.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsHIuyPhdUc
Why?”
I didn’t answer with my mouth.
I thought of every guest.
The broken, the joyful, the unfinished.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDfyTSksw3r
The ones who stayed. The ones who left half-healed.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7hJXWWmKZC
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.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡauIE3dPv9Z
A glyph.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ583a5ixGsS
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.
ns216.73.216.247da2
