The door didn’t open.
It simply ceased to be.
One moment it was wood and iron,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjyvsgQlfi1
the next, a hole in the world through which meaning spilled sideways.
The thing that entered wasn’t a guest.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbxeP6lHaNE
It wasn’t a thing.
It was hunger braided with memory.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKD2OlIKZc6
Shape wrapped in concept.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXTTUh58RhU
Its presence cracked the edges of the bottles, though they made no sound.
Even the fire shrank.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1aWmm2jdJX
Not in fear.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSuOGjxaPKs
But in reverence.
It did not move.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA5rfWPP6J9
Movement implies direction.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsohVAhHuaN
It arrived in all directions at once.
There was no voice.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6oJ4l53pzZ
No words.
But I understood:
“You collect them.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡapewHEhwI8
You keep what would be forgotten.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1NdUddPjGw
You hoard the echoes.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7sj79vypiv
Why?”
I didn’t answer with my mouth.
I thought of every guest.
The broken, the joyful, the unfinished.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsXVFPZ5Tb5
The ones who stayed. The ones who left half-healed.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhcse4SyNPj
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.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4B7gae2TPd
A glyph.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV6JQUX00WR
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.
ns216.73.216.13da2
and then Add to home screen.