The door didn’t open.
It simply ceased to be.
One moment it was wood and iron,52Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlqgBkkSfmc
the next, a hole in the world through which meaning spilled sideways.
The thing that entered wasn’t a guest.52Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj8xrSme7zn
It wasn’t a thing.
It was hunger braided with memory.52Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeJyYQUy53T
Shape wrapped in concept.52Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq93j5HbgbT
Its presence cracked the edges of the bottles, though they made no sound.
Even the fire shrank.52Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzWqCXk1zgD
Not in fear.52Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2LeERtIot9
But in reverence.
It did not move.52Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdBI6vN3HbN
Movement implies direction.52Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlT1WQVWEP4
It arrived in all directions at once.
There was no voice.52Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwaDqoB4MQE
No words.
But I understood:
“You collect them.52Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡomQf0o5Ajd
You keep what would be forgotten.52Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡitF5ZQi4cT
You hoard the echoes.52Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGC52kkfDAV
Why?”
I didn’t answer with my mouth.
I thought of every guest.
The broken, the joyful, the unfinished.52Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk0S4Dzd7JM
The ones who stayed. The ones who left half-healed.52Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFESESzOhA1
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.52Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaHW2UjrB5p
A glyph.52Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4KCVJStimy
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.
ns216.73.216.131da2
and then Add to home screen.