The rain returned to Pacifica Shores the night the traveler walked back into the tavern.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv0ui9kvrDo
It always returned — like the past.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4eBaPxZWNt
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.”88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUk1CboPtuY
“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.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlXN39OyuBy
Guns clicked in the shadows.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm0tRDNqgjo
And somewhere beneath the thunder… the truth stirred.
“What brings you to my sanctum, traveler?” she purred.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWtjtRDnSj7
“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.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5YTY6GBY01
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.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuYdhxT4Kkl
The night we promised to run.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoGyigCXfOb
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.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRtTZN0IkF9
She was caught.
Her father dragged her back by her hair.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn3MdOFwUk4
Beat her.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg9eHIcQ2sI
Tied her to the window.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB5cRme9hlF
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.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYLbno9URcJ
So I smiled.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5UJ1nxU0Yi
I let the monster put me beside him.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVfZl3CQ685
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.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvC7mKCTD1B
The other just wanted to survive.”
🔥 Let It Burn
Suddenly — gunshots.
One of the shadows moved too fast.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb6xvLJgzHq
The traveler ducked.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVk6z42NR6H
The fight erupted.
Panna didn’t flinch. She just… watched.
Two men dropped.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvwVi9Y3aEQ
The traveler bled.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXXadoszT6c
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.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR3RzKwgkOP
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.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSeOkBfNxD6
A new sign hangs above the door: Sanctuary.
Some say it’s cursed.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3opfb3LNr2
Some say the old queen vanished into the woods.
But late at night, when the rain falls gently —88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhh93zbLWdj
You might hear music.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHxuwPdAAr8
Laughter.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5bMP38i7EX
And two voices whispering behind the bar.
“I burned for you once,” he says.88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVxDMhkLLbN
“Then let’s build something new from the ashes,” she answers.
THE END88Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPxyL8Fvgga
(But no story ever truly ends in Pacifica Shores.)
and then Add to home screen.