Hello, my name is Charlie and I am a pyromaniac.

I used to just watch fire, for hours on end, watch it dance and perform, just for me. Then one day I picked up a lighter and never put it down.

The flames cheered for me, and raised me up as their god. I had the power to raise them and the power to destroy them, like Mickey Mouse in Fantasia wearing the wizard’s hat, controlling the water.

Then I met Wendy, who used me to get her own fire fix. She lit her own house on fire, and I helped her! She killed her own mother in that blaze, and I let it happen. I was in love with her and she was crazy. She understood my love for fire and we connected, you know?

But her caper had us on the run. We built a career from arson. The fire coming to me whenever I called it. Until I got caught. They took my Wendy away.

That’s why I’m here, in rehab, missing my lighter, and seeing flames everywhere I go.

My name is Charlie.

And I love fire.