The rain returned to Pacifica Shores the night the traveler walked back into the tavern.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1HglADR9qs
It always returned — like the past.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaH7f3fZ8f2
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.”60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfEs7DyMCrO
“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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0P2ecN1qWv
Guns clicked in the shadows.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Y8kO82r5G
And somewhere beneath the thunder… the truth stirred.
“What brings you to my sanctum, traveler?” she purred.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ34158iLWjJ
“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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx56MSkdK7F
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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwq8lo5qaI0
The night we promised to run.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9s3rx7ZJp6
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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Sc3gSOJDa
She was caught.
Her father dragged her back by her hair.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqYQTc9sb8o
Beat her.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHoA7tYh3ed
Tied her to the window.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIEtKhr8qFz
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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp5f5PB61LX
So I smiled.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3M4Oyrp4fo
I let the monster put me beside him.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFjvk3g87th
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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbcsUoKAVJC
The other just wanted to survive.”
🔥 Let It Burn
Suddenly — gunshots.
One of the shadows moved too fast.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmYLWtlsv6T
The traveler ducked.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6bT85vCzxY
The fight erupted.
Panna didn’t flinch. She just… watched.
Two men dropped.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu0EbaU98dp
The traveler bled.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqzFrXtnivV
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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgYZD6rT7Hp
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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvO586SC0ut
A new sign hangs above the door: Sanctuary.
Some say it’s cursed.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZxbXulmzBY
Some say the old queen vanished into the woods.
But late at night, when the rain falls gently —60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ66nLRRxnmx
You might hear music.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjW6YNdCP8f
Laughter.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2PpERFsuAH
And two voices whispering behind the bar.
“I burned for you once,” he says.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaLL1RtyfQp
“Then let’s build something new from the ashes,” she answers.
THE END60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKbpiPTdV8Z
(But no story ever truly ends in Pacifica Shores.)
