No footsteps today.
No stories.
No hands pressed against the wood.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ15mUjgT2qO
No voice asked for warmth.
Only the wind, soft through the window.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVf4cCe7iKk
Only the fire, steady, without hunger.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZmIwc48KWF
Only me.
And that has always been enough.
I poured no drink. I lit no lantern.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC7W4ExtRGd
I watched the dust float in slow circles.
I opened the ledger one last time.
The pages felt… ready.
I did not write to be remembered.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnKXLTjaGMG
I did not write for others.
I wrote because this place listens,277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6U6K7XQe6Y
and sometimes, I needed to hear myself live.
So here it is:
I do not know what waits beyond the tavern door.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaoAW60688w
I never needed to.
Because they came to me.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX5IS5nRwb7
And in return, I gave what I could.
A chair. A cup.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDwIgqGnYkJ
A silence that held rather than judged.
I have nothing more to give.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPd24cDji4g
And that means, finally,277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFPEyxMXFLb
everything I gave was real.
I close this book now—not to end,277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj1gOvwl1wT
but because the pages are full.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6j8pTy2b74
Because the fire has heard enough.
Because the stillness no longer needs a name.
If someone opens this again—277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCmth1r9voD
they are welcome.
But they do not need me.
They will have the tavern.
They will have what they brought with them.
And perhaps, if the fire leans just right,277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9yxyQT4as9
they will have a little more.
The ink dries as I finish this.
I set the pen down.
The chair creaks once.
The fire bows.
And then—
silence.
ns216.73.216.86da2
and then Add to home screen.