It was a Thursday. I remember it clearly. I was taking the garbage out to the road for the Friday pickup, when something caught my eye. It was late, around ten or eleven, and the sun had long since sunk below the horizon; the sky was black, the city lights blocked out the billions of stars and the moon was clouded over.

But I saw it. As plain as day, there it was. Floating before me, high in the sky, was a glowing star, and as quickly as it had appeared, it vanished. But I had seen it, and I knew what it was.

I have never told anyone about it, though. Who in their right mind would believe me? Even the town lunatic, who runs around, day and night, singing "City on Fire" and believes the local meat shop is serving priest would think I'm insane!

So I've kept it to myself. All these years I have kept this secret hidden in the back of my mind, contemplating the significance. I had discovered a thought to be mythical creature and yet I had no proof. How on earth would I be able to convince anyone to listen to me, let alone believe me?

Each night since that fateful day I go out to my back patio around ten or eleven, hoping to catch a glimpse of the mystery. Each night I find myself walking back indoors without another look at my beautiful secret, without another chance to confirm my findings. But, still, each night, around ten or eleven, I find myself on the back patio, hopeful.

The clock reads (nine, fifty-nine). One minute more and I will find myself on the patio, looking into the sky. Three years have passed since I saw the beautiful creature, and my hope was growing thin, but I have since that day, I step outside and look up. The sun is gone. The stars and moon are nowhere to be found. I hold my breath, waiting.

One minute passes. Then another, and another. Ten minutes pass before I finally sigh, deciding to return to the warmth of my house. But as I turn, a glimmer in the corner of my eye catches my attention. Slowly, not wanting to scare the creature away, I turn to face the glimmer.

There it is. After three long years of patiently waiting, there it finally is! Right before my eyes it floats, glowing with all its might. And as I stand here staring, I can officially confirm my suspicions: a fairy! Wings, body, glowing aura...there is no other explanation. It has to be a fairy!

I stare, unblinking, at the beautiful and mysterious creature. Then...I blink...and all is revealed. My fairy is nothing more than a fluorescent grasshopper. All my fantasies are shattered. Three years of believing I had found a real, live cryptid destroyed in, literally, the blink of an eye. All this time I believed I had found a fairy, I believed I had found Tinker Bell, and all it was was a glowing bug.

As the grasshopper flies away with my dreams, I realize I'm not as devastated as I once thought I would be. Mere seconds had passed, yet a glimmer of hope reappeared in my heart. Somewhere out there, there had to be a land where dreams ruled and fairies soared. Maybe what I had seen three years ago wasn't the same creature I had just witnessed moments earlier; maybe there really are fairies out there somewhere, waiting for someone to find them; and maybe, just maybe, I'm the one whose supposed to find them.

They say to clap if you believe, well, I'm clapping...I believe...