FINDING ME 1

Written by Jennifer Azubuike

“Ladies and gentlemen please give a round of applause as I call on the winner of this year’s writers’ award to join me on stage. Mr John Mathews.”

The thundering sound of clapping erupted as John marched to the front. The hem of his prime suit flapped rhythmically to his movement as he climbed the shorts stairs in quick steps onto the stage. The presenter handed him a plaque and exchanged handshakes with him as he mouthed his ‘thankyous’ in the deafening sound of applause. Face beaming with excitement, he gave a quick glance at the object in his hand and saw his name engraved in gold on the diamond shaped glass plaque. The clapping continued and some folks even stood as they clapped. When the clapping died down, John stepped up to the microphone for a vote of thanks but when he opened his mouth, the words would not come out. He knew what he wanted to say. His mouth formed the words but the sound would just not come.

“John! John! Wake up.” A hand slapped him on the shoulder to rouse him from sleep. 

John opened his eyes and shut them back in reflex to the light shining above his head. He wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth and sat up. His right arm felt numb from laying on it. He looked in the direction of the person who woke him. It was Kenneth sitting in the next cubicle.

“What time is it?”

“It is 4am.”

“What? No!”

“Yeah, you slept the entire time.  I tried several times to wake you in vain, but when you started that mouth exercise, I just had to force you up because it was weird.”  

“What mouth exercise?”

Thank you for reading! The rest of this story will be available in a book coming soon.

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