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.
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