"The Time I Lit My Basement on Fire" by Laok

I was about six years old when I lit my basement on fire. It all started when one day I was bored and alone downstairs in my basement. I was a creative child so I would try to make fun out of anything and everything. One particular item that I found interest in was a cardboard roll from when the toilet paper ran out. Gazing deeply at the paper roll and trying to figure out what to do with it, I scurried downstairs to the basement to try and find the roll some sort of use. The way my house was set up at the time was that the only fireplace we had was located in the basement away from the living room that was upstairs, so I was completely alone downstairs with the fireplace on. Me being the very intricate and peculiar child that I was, I had somehow come up with the idea that it would be a lot of fun to throw the cardboard paper roll into the fireplace. Well, bad idea. A ton of smoke started to form and the fire alarms started to sound. Before my mom could come downstairs and yell at me, I almost right away stuck my hand into the fire and took out the cardboard paper roll. I walked with the roll of cardboard (keep in mind it was STILL on fire) and threw it away in a trashcan. In the process of walking across the room to throw the cardboard away, a sofa had somehow caught on fire and at this point the whole trashcan was in flames. At this point my mom had finally made her way downstairs and was definitely not ready for what she saw. Half of our basement was on fire! I don’t really recall how the fire was put out, but after the fire had vanished I tried my hardest to blame it on my older brother. Yeah, they didn’t believe me one bit. After the incident I was grounded for basically half my life and, to this day, I am not allowed to touch the fireplace or even light a candle. Oops.