Dear Prudence,
Recently on social media, I got bombarded with accusations of being a childhood bully from a stranger. She accused me of destroying her mental health and even driving her to a suicide attempt as a teen. I was completely baffled and promptly blocked this person. I didn’t remember anything like that, but there were enough details in the messages that added up—like the name of the middle school I went to.
I ended up reaching out to my mother and sister. My mother recognized the last name as one of our old neighbors, and it flipped a mental switch for my sister. It had to be the weird kid that rode on the same bus as her until we moved her freshman year. I asked if she had done anything to this girl, and my sister told me no. Other than not wanting to sit next to her and listen to her weirdness. She pointed out that the woman got us mixed up. We are three years apart, but have similar coloring and sounding names (think Ally and Callie). My sister told me this woman was projecting and couldn’t be bothered to get the right sister. She obviously had issues.
Exactly what sane person hopes to get out of a confrontation like this on social media more than a decade later? The conversation ended with both my sister and mother telling me to just ignore it and go on with my life. It is still sticking to me though. My sister was pretty introverted as a teen, and while I can’t imagine her as being deliberately cruel, she could seem to be pretty cold. I know she would get up and move without a word if I annoyed her enough as a kid.
— Mix Up