The door didn’t open.
It simply ceased to be.
One moment it was wood and iron,11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6MGVCkg9Mq
the next, a hole in the world through which meaning spilled sideways.
The thing that entered wasn’t a guest.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpF4UQje27c
It wasn’t a thing.
It was hunger braided with memory.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9HfY9f5gmf
Shape wrapped in concept.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuLgvf4uslj
Its presence cracked the edges of the bottles, though they made no sound.
Even the fire shrank.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgO2KD6qPsW
Not in fear.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWcoUfQqdkF
But in reverence.
It did not move.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK62ot9dSiZ
Movement implies direction.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoCOKLfRgIX
It arrived in all directions at once.
There was no voice.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVmN5ww53Kv
No words.
But I understood:
“You collect them.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGEMJfV8whm
You keep what would be forgotten.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrhBnTXf2Vj
You hoard the echoes.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAlftBpHff6
Why?”
I didn’t answer with my mouth.
I thought of every guest.
The broken, the joyful, the unfinished.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrjuTg6cTDn
The ones who stayed. The ones who left half-healed.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9DQYzDkhbd
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.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRXnR78oQte
A glyph.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2YPaKYnaYz
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.
ns216.73.216.239da2
