The door didn’t open.
It simply ceased to be.
One moment it was wood and iron,26Please respect copyright.PENANAoYglAdKYui
the next, a hole in the world through which meaning spilled sideways.
The thing that entered wasn’t a guest.26Please respect copyright.PENANAlR1pG1a55a
It wasn’t a thing.
It was hunger braided with memory.26Please respect copyright.PENANApsZq5mf8sc
Shape wrapped in concept.26Please respect copyright.PENANA9NQM4LSasF
Its presence cracked the edges of the bottles, though they made no sound.
Even the fire shrank.26Please respect copyright.PENANAGnlOhCO2WZ
Not in fear.26Please respect copyright.PENANAaQhF9bvjuv
But in reverence.
It did not move.26Please respect copyright.PENANAkMaD8vwbLt
Movement implies direction.26Please respect copyright.PENANA1PaGvHLowR
It arrived in all directions at once.
There was no voice.26Please respect copyright.PENANAcuA2smrxdO
No words.
But I understood:
“You collect them.26Please respect copyright.PENANALqSs9PHwiK
You keep what would be forgotten.26Please respect copyright.PENANAoB0FyW4EHS
You hoard the echoes.26Please respect copyright.PENANA1nbeDcjwz9
Why?”
I didn’t answer with my mouth.
I thought of every guest.
The broken, the joyful, the unfinished.26Please respect copyright.PENANAlQIO5OxNRR
The ones who stayed. The ones who left half-healed.26Please respect copyright.PENANAx3aGOVYDZS
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.26Please respect copyright.PENANAZ8fdiAGPDa
A glyph.26Please respect copyright.PENANAVo0Beovrpa
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.
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