Scared of Fire

by Steph
(Bristol)

i don't know why, but i have always been scared of fire. My mum thinks that in a past life I burnt to death.

I am only 14, but that tends to mean that i can't hide it, i have to use bunsen burners in science, for example.

The first time we used them in science, i cried. I have become used to candles, and am now OK sitting in say a restaurant with a candle on the table, but I used to get so worked up that my parents would blow the candle out to shut me up.

What I get most scared about now, is cigarette lighters. Although none of my friends smoke, some of them occasionally have lighters.

If they are playing with them, I become afraid that someting bad is going to happen. This is worse if it is someone I don't know, for example on a bus.

I'm not sure why I started writing this, but talking about it makes it seem clearer in my head. I still can't light a bunsen burner but today, for tht first time, I turned on the gas for one (while my friend held the lighted splint).

This may not sound like much, but to me I feel it was a real achievement.

I would encourage anyone elso out there who has any form of phobia at all to share it, get it off your chest. I think it really helps to start to fight the phobia itself.