I had just moved to North Carolina over the summer and was dreading the idea of living here for four years. I mean, come on—I know moving is supposed to be an exciting experience (according to my parents), but so far, I hated it. I decided to call my best friend Audrey, in hopes that she’d make me feel better, but she only ended up making me feel 10 times worse: “Don’t worry Soph. Have some fun! You’ll make new friends in no time, and hey, at least they have really pretty oak trees and lakes there!” Audrey said. Nothing here could ever be remotely “fun.” And oak trees? Lakes? Really? I just sighed again: “Yeah, you’re sooo right, at least I have some OAK TREES to talk to. Anyways, I gotta go. It’s getting pretty late and my mom is yelling at me to take the dog out. Talk to you soon.” I closed my laptop and threw on some pajamas while stumbling down the steps of our house. My mom was waiting at the bottom of the stairs with Buster, my pug. She told me to get some air and get to “know” the neighborhood better. Great.

As I walked outside, I saw my neighbor Johnny working outside. My mom introduced me to him last week and he seemed like any other 16-year-old boy I’d meet. I didn’t think much of him, except that it was kind of weird that he was cleaning these old-looking canoes. The canoes looked really messed up, but I just figured that’s what boys in North Carolina did for fun. Fix canoes. The sun was starting to set, and naturally I hated the dark, so I only took my dog on a five minute walk down the street. When I came back, I let my dog inside, and turned around to say goodnight to Johnny. But when I did, Johnny was gone. I looked everywhere. Even the lights in his house were out. As I stood still trying to figure out where he was, I heard a loud crash in the lake across from my house. I turned around just as the sun was setting over the horizon, and saw Johnny’s boat docked in front of the abandoned lighthouse my mom told me about that sat in the center of the lake. What was this kid doing near the lighthouse so late at night? I had no idea what he was up to, but I was going to find out. I spotted Johnny walking steadily up the large hill to reach the lighthouse, and decided in that moment that I would follow him. My mom was going to kill me, but at least I was getting to “know” the neighborhood better like she said! I ran as fast I could back to Johnny’s house and grabbed another one of the canoes that he was working on earlier. I pushed the canoe into the water (which was surprisingly easy), and started paddling toward the lighthouse. By this time, it was dark, so I knew Johnny wouldn’t know I was following him.

When I reached the lighthouse, I docked my boat away from Johnny’s so it looked like I wasn’t there. I hid in the bushes nearby as a precaution for anything that could happen. As I was about to walk up the steps of the lighthouse, I heard Johnny’s obnoxious, loud laugh and what sounded like tiny faint giggles. The lighthouse was abandoned, so how could anyone else besides me and Johnny be out here? As I reached the top of the gray, eerie steps of the lighthouse, I peeked my eyes through the window to see what Johnny was up to. My eyes scanned the inside of the lighthouse, but everything was pitch black so I couldn’t see a thing: “Am I just hearing things?” I whispered quietly to myself. I had no idea how anyone could be up here, so I decided to turn around and leave. But just as I turned around, a bright yellow firefly flew past my face, and I heard another giggle from inside. OK, no big deal—just a laugh from inside a pitch-black lighthouse. Totally not scary, RIGHT??? There was no way I was going to stick around for any more weird flying things and laughs. Not today. I ran down the steps as fast as I could, turning back only once to make sure no one saw me. But this time, when I turned back I bumped head first into someone else and fell on the ground. Johnny.

I let out the loudest scream possible. As I tried to get up before Johnny could see it was me that ran into him, he held up a lantern that revealed my identity. “Sophia, what are YOU doing here?” I didn’t know what to say, because the light in Johnny’s lantern was so bright. But when I looked inside the lantern that was in Johnny’s hand, I almost fainted. There wasn’t a lightbulb inside it. It wasn’t a firefly like I thought, but something even crazier. This half-foot tall thing had purple wings and brown braided hair, and it looked like a tiny human. It was giggling quietly to itself, until Johnny realized what he had accidently revealed and hid the lantern behind his back. No. This couldn’t be right. How is this possible? Johnny was talking to a fairy. Johnny’s face dropped and he pushed his finger against his lips making sure I would stay quiet. “Shhhh. Shhhh. You can’t tell anyone about this. Please. My life depends on it.”

This was going to be a crazy four years.

—By Sophia M., 19, Los Angeles