I am, and have always been, very gullible. However, I was even more gullible when I was younger. In fact, I would believe pretty much anything anyone would tell me, as long as they made it sound believable. Once, my sister Dina took advantage of that and decided to play a trick on me. She invented a fairy named “Mystagirl” and told me about this fairy.

“I saw her come out of my closet when I was in bed,” she said. “I was really sleepy, and it was the middle of the night, so I couldn’t catch every detail of how she looked. I just remember that Mystagirl was extraordinarily beautiful, and there was a golden glow all around her.” Of course, it didn’t take a lot of persuading to absolutely convince me of Mystagirl’s reality. Then I quickly began to ask questions about the fairy as my curiosity got the better of me.

“Did she tell you anything? What kind of fairy is she? Will I meet her?”

“Well, Mystagirl is very young, so she isn’t that different from us. She likes writing letters to children and leaving them on their windowsills. Mystagirl helps them solve problems, keeps their secrets and everything!”

“Have you ever gotten a letter from Mystagirl?” I asked, in wonder of how much my sister knew that I didn’t.”

“Yes. She’s been writing to me for a while now.”

“What about me? Why doesn’t she write to me?”

“You see, Julia, that’s exactly why she came to see me. She found out I had a younger sister, and wanted to write to you, but she wasn’t sure if you knew how to read and write yet.”

“Of course, I know how to read!” I cried indignantly. (Although I was barely five years old, I loved reading and was a pretty good writer.)

“I know, I know. That’s what I told her. Mystagirl said that from now on when she is going to drop by letters for me on the windowsill, she will also leave some for you.”

“Yay!”

Of course, the very next day, I rushed to the place where Mystagirl supposedly left my sister letters. And… sure enough, there it was: a folded letter, on the outside of which was written, “To: Julia
From: Mystagirl”. I eagerly ripped open the letter and started reading. I must admit, my sister had been quite creative. She stuck true to everything she had told me the other night, but I could tell that Mystagirl was nothing like the fake fairies in stories. She just seemed more real… just like a normal girl. I wrote Mystagirl back right away and asked my sister where to put the letter. With a straight face, Dina directed me to the window, where last night lay the letter from Mystagirl, and told me to place it over there.
“Mystagirl flies by every house in the evening to collect letters and drop by new ones. Surely you will receive a reply in a couple days!”

And I did. I received many replies to many letters. I started awaiting mornings, the time of day when I would run to the window and check if there were any notes written for me. I had befriended Mystagirl. I poured out my feelings to her and told her many secrets, not knowing that my sister was reading every single word.
Soon I got a little jealous of my sister. She had SEEN Mystagirl! How cool was that? I kept entreating Dina to tell me more details about the fairy’s appearance, but she kept telling me that she had been too sleepy when Mystagirl had visited to remember anything. So I decided that I wanted to see Mystagirl for myself. I would end every letter to Mystagirl saying, “Please, come visit me someday!”
However, when Mystagirl failed to come, I started wondering if there was anyone else who could describe her to me. Perhaps some of my friends from school knew what she looked like. The next day, I told my friend Alia about Mystagirl and asked her if she knew anything about the fairy. But Alia, being the sensible girl she was, didn’t believe a word I said.
“Fairies aren’t real.”
“Oh, but this one is! My sister saw her with her own eyes!”
“No,” Alia replied plainly. “Fairies don’t exist.”
I became frustrated and decided never to discuss Mystagirl at school again. Instead, I told my mother about her. Obviously, my mom figured out that Dina had lied to me. Immediately, she confronted my sister and told her to tell me the truth about Mystagirl. I was heartbroken that the friend who I thought I had known for such a long time (in reality it was only a week) was just my sister, posing to be someone who she wasn’t. How could she?
Overall, I learned a very good lesson from this incident: always question what a person tells you, especially if it is your older sister.