The rain returned to Pacifica Shores the night the traveler walked back into the tavern.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKOaLLwTVq2
It always returned — like the past.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaxrKmfYPd3
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.”73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4db6h2NVjK
“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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNGVx6Rv4hG
Guns clicked in the shadows.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxpTXnnqG2k
And somewhere beneath the thunder… the truth stirred.
“What brings you to my sanctum, traveler?” she purred.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6WV4BpzO7e
“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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSOUaFqxvL6
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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyTrCtx0lSb
The night we promised to run.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ25dYD1WVOU
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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgP9MtS4tZ6
She was caught.
Her father dragged her back by her hair.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgeM1TXKRew
Beat her.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3FhaFwbZRX
Tied her to the window.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7xvpXTSuPv
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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAWIP358hMe
So I smiled.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ39UsSGdO1X
I let the monster put me beside him.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNuAuunoBUE
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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkSp2E13B5A
The other just wanted to survive.”
🔥 Let It Burn
Suddenly — gunshots.
One of the shadows moved too fast.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpMNrp0Qkfv
The traveler ducked.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAp7ppNR2nC
The fight erupted.
Panna didn’t flinch. She just… watched.
Two men dropped.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOimfCzyUlp
The traveler bled.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfS6Cj6sH0g
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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwJ4ulS8zXT
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.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaOzRlodR5H
A new sign hangs above the door: Sanctuary.
Some say it’s cursed.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡve0gzkfehS
Some say the old queen vanished into the woods.
But late at night, when the rain falls gently —73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGjjb8SzI97
You might hear music.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg8WEVnNs12
Laughter.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGWltRLSarT
And two voices whispering behind the bar.
“I burned for you once,” he says.73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfDZGCmcxDK
“Then let’s build something new from the ashes,” she answers.
THE END73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlLXKBEee4u
(But no story ever truly ends in Pacifica Shores.)
and then Add to home screen.