The rain returned to Pacifica Shores the night the traveler walked back into the tavern.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIXJxcc29ZQ
It always returned — like the past.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4zjw9jVF5G
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.”25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9KhkRvbULN
“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.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtG43HbuyRx
Guns clicked in the shadows.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZDW5EhqF29
And somewhere beneath the thunder… the truth stirred.
“What brings you to my sanctum, traveler?” she purred.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7TYpDj91Zs
“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.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIPh3nyZRTK
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.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJXE8kVNWQp
The night we promised to run.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg6ojFu6kKR
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.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXPujfqzubK
She was caught.
Her father dragged her back by her hair.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzy6V2dRAdD
Beat her.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ15yVU0lH5u
Tied her to the window.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmNaSfDrm7N
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.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC7Q4h18mI3
So I smiled.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlGN7mXqHd4
I let the monster put me beside him.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB8eFD8BYr1
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.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Y0adMDF5R
The other just wanted to survive.”
🔥 Let It Burn
Suddenly — gunshots.
One of the shadows moved too fast.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOQGsisIppY
The traveler ducked.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqPm0Mt0lp0
The fight erupted.
Panna didn’t flinch. She just… watched.
Two men dropped.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgpHkHARMkd
The traveler bled.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3XYGD7tbiH
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.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ12MkTLS7N6
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.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZbm3FcdEyH
A new sign hangs above the door: Sanctuary.
Some say it’s cursed.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9aGTjUH4w7
Some say the old queen vanished into the woods.
But late at night, when the rain falls gently —25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjeWgrXF3hA
You might hear music.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡASVibRK4TM
Laughter.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXO3r6GGjqo
And two voices whispering behind the bar.
“I burned for you once,” he says.25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYCIK3jYgbD
“Then let’s build something new from the ashes,” she answers.
THE END25Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjjho1xoV48
(But no story ever truly ends in Pacifica Shores.)
