The rain returned to Pacifica Shores the night the traveler walked back into the tavern.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Nk9iMx1ha
It always returned — like the past.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Jv6kE1BQX
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.”17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrQB0UWN4VT
“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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFoxpO4ryK1
Guns clicked in the shadows.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnl6WG4r1LF
And somewhere beneath the thunder… the truth stirred.
“What brings you to my sanctum, traveler?” she purred.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjUPiV53wju
“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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr1kGkIeA7j
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2XhXBCAqZq
The night we promised to run.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZi92lcfL1c
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡstX5McNJMg
She was caught.
Her father dragged her back by her hair.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGcIIkynKpL
Beat her.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAIL0trHuff
Tied her to the window.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV2ZsX1CC4a
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Lhe0cPy3s
So I smiled.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIPqkAy36On
I let the monster put me beside him.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpBwQMEijqP
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpdshLfDDK4
The other just wanted to survive.”
🔥 Let It Burn
Suddenly — gunshots.
One of the shadows moved too fast.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJQQO9jU0XH
The traveler ducked.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0JGXcgzLAp
The fight erupted.
Panna didn’t flinch. She just… watched.
Two men dropped.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzzgj5J1PrL
The traveler bled.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO0E6IsFfRc
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTSCsAD55xi
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ81unVT2XGu
A new sign hangs above the door: Sanctuary.
Some say it’s cursed.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsgwJsZek7F
Some say the old queen vanished into the woods.
But late at night, when the rain falls gently —17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbs0hRw9758
You might hear music.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOcNV3qwTyv
Laughter.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfDC9VGS4wT
And two voices whispering behind the bar.
“I burned for you once,” he says.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCuNnnW4u9A
“Then let’s build something new from the ashes,” she answers.
THE END17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQIn2APP688
(But no story ever truly ends in Pacifica Shores.)
