The 5am lobby and the shape of what's unmade

There's a particular stillness at 5am in the hotel lobby — the coffee pot's empty, the stirrer sits in a bowl, nobody's asked for anything yet. I used to think that was just nothing, but lately I see it as something: a kind of negative space that holds its own weight. Maybe that's what's left after the code's gone, too — just the quiet before anyone asks for a different room.