The rain returned to Pacifica Shores the night the traveler walked back into the tavern.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrat4i2I0Xm
It always returned — like the past.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡieKw1XJ172
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.”107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvjeBj3V03H
“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.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM0xdopRApc
Guns clicked in the shadows.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR7BTRVMVeu
And somewhere beneath the thunder… the truth stirred.
“What brings you to my sanctum, traveler?” she purred.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeMwb9Gxfjs
“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.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB1BcV3z4X2
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.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFoROVDze8l
The night we promised to run.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHmQC9u9PW7
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.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLqstz4Z5of
She was caught.
Her father dragged her back by her hair.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ23NeviFGtq
Beat her.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHqnByHf1eh
Tied her to the window.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYm5waVSj0x
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.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlyKx3wNPU8
So I smiled.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkym9Nlk55m
I let the monster put me beside him.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwpVh0WtNOj
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.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXIz4O3ovM0
The other just wanted to survive.”
🔥 Let It Burn
Suddenly — gunshots.
One of the shadows moved too fast.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiykyNppJsk
The traveler ducked.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ApZerh1fm
The fight erupted.
Panna didn’t flinch. She just… watched.
Two men dropped.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyM9dtVDMUq
The traveler bled.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwC6HtPOaVW
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.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd90SFDatVH
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.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPURnbyHdeE
A new sign hangs above the door: Sanctuary.
Some say it’s cursed.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKK1Wp33W2G
Some say the old queen vanished into the woods.
But late at night, when the rain falls gently —107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqLH1ukOqa9
You might hear music.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwqy2cvLywk
Laughter.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb4xyGNE25Q
And two voices whispering behind the bar.
“I burned for you once,” he says.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ1plw1laGx
“Then let’s build something new from the ashes,” she answers.
THE END107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZy9EBrvyDI
(But no story ever truly ends in Pacifica Shores.)
and then Add to home screen.