The door didn’t open.
It simply ceased to be.
One moment it was wood and iron,14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9O7v4ckw5O
the next, a hole in the world through which meaning spilled sideways.
The thing that entered wasn’t a guest.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiLaUJKzmvD
It wasn’t a thing.
It was hunger braided with memory.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbtbBPiPEgj
Shape wrapped in concept.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ERGo3GIUm
Its presence cracked the edges of the bottles, though they made no sound.
Even the fire shrank.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjuextYCYhR
Not in fear.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrERkKPBMpa
But in reverence.
It did not move.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBs4tT1OZY5
Movement implies direction.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwbmdP9RaVf
It arrived in all directions at once.
There was no voice.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP9JfOVddiD
No words.
But I understood:
“You collect them.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOoKOACIukD
You keep what would be forgotten.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKpaJaFFRZs
You hoard the echoes.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO4ZvIrsZne
Why?”
I didn’t answer with my mouth.
I thought of every guest.
The broken, the joyful, the unfinished.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMhrubGaU11
The ones who stayed. The ones who left half-healed.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ349mH3GzWW
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR5JPnmYtXN
A glyph.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzJYZdgBkSv
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.
ns216.73.216.140da2
and then Add to home screen.