Please take note that this story, which first appeared in the news in August 2017, is being republished.

Nickolas Conrad, a teenager from Arkansas, is recuperating from burns to his neck that were both first and second degree after he was soaked in boiling hot water while he was asleep. The student from Sherwood High School claimed that six boys at a friend’s house tried the “Hot Water Challenge” on him before setting him on fire with a cigarette lighter.

He told KTHV, “I woke up and just started screaming and crying because I felt this really bad burning on my neck.” “I cried for about two hours while lying in bed, and then I got up, went to the bathroom, and saw what had happened when I looked in the mirror.”

Later that morning, he returned home to his mother, after which he was immediately brought to the hospital to receive burn treatment.

“They claimed to have poured me hot water without realizing it was that hot, but it was really awful at the time,” he said.

The incident occurred weeks after an 11-year-old girl’s friends tried the same challenge and she was burned in the second and third degrees on her face and shoulders.

For eleven days, Jamoneisha “Jamoni” Merritt was in the hospital. No charges have been brought against Conrad, but a 12-year-old was arrested in relation to Merritt’s case.

“All I want is for them to go away,” he uttered. “They are no longer and never will be my friends. Those were never my friends, and I now understand what friends are and how they behave.

Mickey, Conrad’s mother, expressed her shock at the incident and urged other parents to caution their kids about the risks associated with online challenges.

She remarked, “I assumed it had been an accident and that he had been in one.” But it’s really alarming to learn that it was intentional. Never tell someone, “My child won’t do that,” and instead teach them.

The incident was investigated by the Sherwood police department.