The door didn’t open.
It simply ceased to be.
One moment it was wood and iron,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmTRH27S55E
the next, a hole in the world through which meaning spilled sideways.
The thing that entered wasn’t a guest.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBxCmf2aldO
It wasn’t a thing.
It was hunger braided with memory.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2R01B3Wwwp
Shape wrapped in concept.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwMLGFx7kMw
Its presence cracked the edges of the bottles, though they made no sound.
Even the fire shrank.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu5bvc7DZoa
Not in fear.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzfltL7xi0v
But in reverence.
It did not move.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxgPYKEqSf2
Movement implies direction.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3W6WiIvr1M
It arrived in all directions at once.
There was no voice.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtTeO7ml5Fk
No words.
But I understood:
“You collect them.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiZqLjgfjrF
You keep what would be forgotten.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVWIZP28mBe
You hoard the echoes.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡku5PNoZoyr
Why?”
I didn’t answer with my mouth.
I thought of every guest.
The broken, the joyful, the unfinished.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsuryPoTCsy
The ones who stayed. The ones who left half-healed.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUpU36wcNX7
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.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBYhlD7c6m2
A glyph.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ZLXvcUfP4
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.
ns216.73.216.222da2
and then Add to home screen.