The rain returned to Pacifica Shores the night the traveler walked back into the tavern.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvMxeH12V9I
It always returned — like the past.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN9VSxPPHi7
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHeQRMrU0cv
“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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU2qc3FhNrt
Guns clicked in the shadows.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH5DVAMsbgT
And somewhere beneath the thunder… the truth stirred.
“What brings you to my sanctum, traveler?” she purred.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRdbN6Z5vqS
“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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdxf5bjh1s0
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEyMOHz3SGZ
The night we promised to run.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIDUfvgoC8z
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaGKrNoRp1I
She was caught.
Her father dragged her back by her hair.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkCyZPgpN8Y
Beat her.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSydhijbAdg
Tied her to the window.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAFvHwVgBdc
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIsWdAi2h1Q
So I smiled.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYMqvPl43Dx
I let the monster put me beside him.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGzO3BcBvMS
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4zniGDjzt2
The other just wanted to survive.”
🔥 Let It Burn
Suddenly — gunshots.
One of the shadows moved too fast.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTAEPSfsRQz
The traveler ducked.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZFc3xCPPrP
The fight erupted.
Panna didn’t flinch. She just… watched.
Two men dropped.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Q5vL5gxh3
The traveler bled.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvNT4a5NvVy
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0eBqKCDz9G
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJmB71zgmqx
A new sign hangs above the door: Sanctuary.
Some say it’s cursed.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFHx8vzULid
Some say the old queen vanished into the woods.
But late at night, when the rain falls gently —107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrYcmhCRBRS
You might hear music.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDfLTFQKYDP
Laughter.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgEs6Tzq8zv
And two voices whispering behind the bar.
“I burned for you once,” he says.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRyE86sYFoo
“Then let’s build something new from the ashes,” she answers.
THE END107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQjDABpUTtZ
(But no story ever truly ends in Pacifica Shores.)
and then Add to home screen.