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.
ns216.73.216.213da2
