I have always known that parties are not for me but there are times when I just have to honour friends invitation. One of the things people could predict perfectly about me is whether I will attend a party or not, almost everyone around me knows the criteria of the parties I will attend and the type I won't.
It's not my fault though, this is a thing that started when I was younger. Staying in a crowded or noisy environment drains me easily so I just avoid it as much as I can.
I attended a birthday party many years ago, a friend in the neighbourhood marked her birthday and insisted that I must be there. After lots of arguments in my head, I decided to attend the party. I was still a teenager and the majority of those who were present at the party were teenagers as well.
To be sincere, it was my first time attending a birthday party of that setting. I met familiar faces in the neighborhood and one of the girls crushing on me was present as well.
I sat at a corner just observing the events, the celebrant danced, cut the cake, gift presentation and I kind of loved how everything went. In my head, everything will soon be over and I can return to my house but things didn't go as planned.
While munching the snack and drink given to me, the MC said it was time for the game and the first on the list was the devil's basket.
There was so much noise from the guests, they were all excited and it got me wondering what the game was and why they were very happy about it.
***This must be interesting," I told myself and paid attention just to see why they were excited. A few minutes later, the guests started passing baskets around and when the DJ stopped the music, the person holding the basket took a piece of paper from it and read what was written in it.
"Pick an opposite sex to remove five things he is putting on and you will remove the same thing as well."
My heart skipped while the lady read it again and immediately, I knew the game wasn't for me.
The girl picked a guy and he stripped himself almost naked. The girl removed some things but couldn't complete them so she paid a token just to back out of the challenge. The players got the challenge to kiss, touch each other sensitive parts and right there, I was wondering what kind of stupid game it was because it only promoted immorality.
I didn't touch the basket and only watched them play because I didn't want to be part of their devilish game but I was wrong. The devil's basket ended in the wrong hands and I was dragged into the game.
The girl crushing on me eventually got chosen by the devil and the challenge was for her to choose an opposite sex to draw an imaginary map of Nigeria on her chest. It could have been a nice challenge if a guy had chosen it but as the devil would have it, a lady picked it.
This girl looked around and eventually dragged me out of my chair. I didn't want to embarrass myself so I just pretended to be one big boy.
We stood for about a minute staring at each other while others were cheering us. She read the note to me again as if I hadn't heard before but I did, I wasn't ready to draw anything on her chest or pay a token since I had no money on me.
The cheer continued for a few minutes until the MC suggested that I pay meanwhile the girl was shaking her chest and telling me that it won't hurt. I thought about everything and just left the party.
It was really embarrassing for me but it was the only option available for me and that experience made me avoid birthdays as a teenager. When I became an adult, I thought the fear of the devil's basket was gone so I attended another birthday party of my classmate.
The devil was glad to see me attend the party and whispered to the ears of the MC to insist on 2,000 as bail for those who couldn't do what the devil was asking of them. I confidently played the game and after paying the first 2,000 because the task was too much than I could handle, I had to walk away or would you have played?
The second devil's task was to get into a three minutes romance with any lady and I was like, isn't there a simple task?
The devil's basket is not for me and I never played the devil's basket game at a birthday party again. I don't play and you can't drag me into the game.