The rain returned to Pacifica Shores the night the traveler walked back into the tavern.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7LLtDlD5Vi
It always returned — like the past.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeoCrZjKjFo
Like ghosts.
He stood there, hands empty, eyes full of storms, as Panna Willowbrook raised her glass.
“Welcome! And that’s as far as you go, stranger.”106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrZGHzsrIli
“I run this town. I see all. I knew you were coming.”
He smiled bitterly. “You never stopped watching, did you?”
The tavern emptied in seconds.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3nbR7CRDjg
Guns clicked in the shadows.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMranJYSXtF
And somewhere beneath the thunder… the truth stirred.
“What brings you to my sanctum, traveler?” she purred.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuHBnkBFytx
“Out with it — or out with your life.”
He stepped forward.
One step.
She didn’t stop him.
He reached into his coat — slowly — and pulled out the burnt, warped silver coin that had once belonged to her father.
She stared at it.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw8EKXLOMXg
Then at him.
And something in her cracked.
“You should be dead,” she whispered.
“I was,” he said. “You lit the match.”
🩶 The Past Comes Screaming
His voice stayed steady, but pain laced every word.
“I waited for you that night.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡosqRYrbihr
The night we promised to run.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiufJLIiWRs
I waited at the chapel — until it burned.”
Her eyes flickered — rage, grief, guilt, all tangled in something deeper.
“You don’t know what he did to me,” she hissed.
He nodded. “Then tell me.”
And for the first time, Panna stopped pretending.
🩸 Her Secret
She didn’t just fail to escape.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRO9psYbY3V
She was caught.
Her father dragged her back by her hair.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOIRGN5QbeE
Beat her.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx7gFgP9w8o
Tied her to the window.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEVCpcAkuY3
Made her watch the chapel burn.
“I thought you were dead,” she whispered. “I screamed. I begged him. I would’ve taken the fire myself.”
“And the next morning?” he asked.
She looked away.
“The town needed a face.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnshfNSy51r
So I smiled.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6t153o8OBU
I let the monster put me beside him.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgCepLTDvB0
I buried what I loved… and became what I hated.”
She touched her temple. “After he died, I thought I was free… but something stayed with me.”
“You split,” he said quietly. “One side still loved me.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1aHuO0wTIe
The other just wanted to survive.”
🔥 Let It Burn
Suddenly — gunshots.
One of the shadows moved too fast.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOa2qY7X2BV
The traveler ducked.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm2HZruUHqg
The fight erupted.
Panna didn’t flinch. She just… watched.
Two men dropped.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6cGCRLLjsP
The traveler bled.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSYags9fTT8
But he still stood.
He turned to her — eyes wild.
“Tell them to stop.”
She tilted her head.
“Do you still believe I’m worth saving?” she asked softly.
He stepped closer, blood trailing behind him.
“I never came here to kill you, Panna.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxqWhNtN1zJ
I came here to remind you who you were before this town broke you.”
“That girl is gone.”
“Then let her die,” he said. “And walk out of here with me. Not as Panna Willowbrook. Just as… you.”
Silence.
She walked to him — slow, silent.
Took his hand.
And gave the order: “Stand down.”
🌑 No One Leaves?
As they walked through the rain together — wounded, raw, reborn — the townspeople watched.
No one stopped them.
No one dared.
The traveler looked back one last time. At the tavern. At the graves behind the mayor’s house. At the ashes of all they'd lost.
Panna whispered, “No one leaves Pacifica Shores.”
He smiled. “We just did.”
🕯️ Epilogue
A year later, the tavern still stands.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡamhrU5a1gJ
A new sign hangs above the door: Sanctuary.
Some say it’s cursed.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwrSTfP2ZUU
Some say the old queen vanished into the woods.
But late at night, when the rain falls gently —106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO29udPAg9J
You might hear music.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR15fjn102G
Laughter.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBvDIsDi0kC
And two voices whispering behind the bar.
“I burned for you once,” he says.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzyQWm7HMif
“Then let’s build something new from the ashes,” she answers.
THE END106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1IJ9T1fYtV
(But no story ever truly ends in Pacifica Shores.)
and then Add to home screen.