The door didn’t open.
It simply ceased to be.
One moment it was wood and iron,13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhuId7r4v0J
the next, a hole in the world through which meaning spilled sideways.
The thing that entered wasn’t a guest.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ978Ggsist4
It wasn’t a thing.
It was hunger braided with memory.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO1LCyXrwGM
Shape wrapped in concept.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7kjbo662f3
Its presence cracked the edges of the bottles, though they made no sound.
Even the fire shrank.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmdz6w3Q0qa
Not in fear.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2DcyHrrOV8
But in reverence.
It did not move.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD5PPngVRNh
Movement implies direction.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1QdYoloIe3
It arrived in all directions at once.
There was no voice.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhxLlAOyRbr
No words.
But I understood:
“You collect them.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqELhmakrWp
You keep what would be forgotten.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZqBozaLfeN
You hoard the echoes.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhgJiykSpvF
Why?”
I didn’t answer with my mouth.
I thought of every guest.
The broken, the joyful, the unfinished.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdGHnwDI9vz
The ones who stayed. The ones who left half-healed.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0EgNwMcvym
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.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7jcm3eo0DA
A glyph.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTQmsEN0FAS
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.
ns216.73.216.51da2
