The news that the missing prominent figure had resurfaced started spreading like wildfire with different variations. This had become the island's dramatic 'return', especially after the maternity speculation.
By the time dusk settled and lights flickered to life along the paved alleys, the entire island had been stirred into a frenzy of gossipy whispers. The tale of the missing Mrs Thornston—once presumed to have eloped, perished, or vanished into thin air—but was now reborn in ten different shades, if not more, each more dramatic than the last.
If truth were a thread, then fiction had woven a hundred cloaks from it. Till that day, the islanders themselves did not know that they were such good storytellers. No one knew who would have won an award, if one was being handed out for this.
