The door didn’t open.
It simply ceased to be.
One moment it was wood and iron,30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb3PEwgaUR6
the next, a hole in the world through which meaning spilled sideways.
The thing that entered wasn’t a guest.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD1K0GJj45l
It wasn’t a thing.
It was hunger braided with memory.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx765Nw0u8y
Shape wrapped in concept.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ15YMLypUZe
Its presence cracked the edges of the bottles, though they made no sound.
Even the fire shrank.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRDMQS3ih0D
Not in fear.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJ55uJEyxA
But in reverence.
It did not move.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8z7hf9xz76
Movement implies direction.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5am7f4J3X8
It arrived in all directions at once.
There was no voice.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbs61hf96rn
No words.
But I understood:
“You collect them.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡICM3kPnos8
You keep what would be forgotten.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHbtoXaKDLq
You hoard the echoes.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4DZP3AaKUf
Why?”
I didn’t answer with my mouth.
I thought of every guest.
The broken, the joyful, the unfinished.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlu9PthB6IP
The ones who stayed. The ones who left half-healed.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3axuXh7MiM
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.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtliOlhuvVY
A glyph.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrwyxmwVK7n
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.
ns216.73.216.153da2
and then Add to home screen.