That One Time I Followed The Rules and Regretted It

When I saw yesterday's contest topic, I tried thinking really hard about the last rule I broke but as expected, I ended up with nothing. Then I tried expanding the search by not just thinking about the last rule but any rule at all and surprisingly, even that was an hard task for me to accomplish.

I've once mentioned it here that while growing up, I've always been a stickler for rules as I hated getting into any kind of trouble. And no, this isn't me indirectly saying that I haven't broken any rules in my life, I'm sure I've broken a few. But the importance of this few is so little that I can hardly remember any of it. Probably something like me missing the curfew or going to a place I was warned not to go to.

Well, this is why instead of telling you guys a story about me breaking a rule, I will tell you guys about the one time I actually did follow the rules and regretted it.

_{Photo by Aron Visuals}

In Nigeria, if there's one thing more than eighty percent of its citizen believe in but probably haven't witnessed it themselves, it is witchcraft. Back in the day, all of the movies showing on television had to do with witchcraft and kids getting initiated by food or toys or whatever, and my parents would always use that as a way to scare us into not taking anything from anybody, either in school or wherever.

And seeing how the last thing I wanted was to fly at night, I always made sure to never take anything from anyone and if I must, I made sure to take it home to show my parents first. Anyways, there was this one time we all travelled to the village. If there's one thing we all know about villages, it is that, that is where this witches and wizards come from. So from the moment we got to the village, I always made sure I was indoors and even when people came to welcome us, I always said a silent prayer whenever they touched me, I was that scared.

On one particular day, my dad had asked I and my siblings to go visit his mother's home. We had gone there to say hi and while we all sat there just chilling, one of the aunties had asked if we would love to eat rice.

First of all, based on my knowledge about witchcraft (knowledge I got from the movies of course), when you're about getting initiated as a kid, it's either you get rice or biscuits and that was what this woman who I've never seen in my life was offering, so of course I immediately rejected her offer but to my surprise, my eldest brother had looked at her, smiled and asked her to bring it to him.

I remember the shock on my face as I watch the young man "eat his life away". They even gave him a drink to wash the whole thing down and though the whole scene in front of me made me salivate, my fear of getting initiated was far more stronger for me to resist.

Well after we left that place and went home, I remember that the first thing I had done was to go report my brothers to my dad, not because I wanted them to get punished, but because I was hoping that if he starts praying for them on time, there will still be enough time to save them from the witchcraft before they go to bed that night to fly.

But then I got another shock of my life that day, this time from my dad. He had first of all asked if I ate with them, to which I immediately told him that I didn't, but then the next words that came out of his mouth broke me and made me regret ever following that rule.

He had told me that I was safe to eat at that house because it was his mother's house and those people there were family. The moment he said those words, I just slowly walked away, images of the rice and chicken my brothers ate there flashing through my mind.

If I had a time machine, I probably would have used it right there and then because I wanted to eat that food. That was the one moment I understood why they say that rules are made to be broken.