This is the story of a boy who couldn't read.
Oh I don't mean that he was dull, cause he wasn't.. He just couldn't read.
John wanted to be a writer, you see he was fascinated by the stories he heard and the movies he watched and he too wanted to tell his own. Because of his difficult in reading, his mother had to read the books out to him, but that didn't stop them from being real to him.
While other children fell in love with actors and musicians, his own hero where great writers like Chimamamda and Chinue Achebe.
But he still couldn't read.
School was John's worst nightmare, his teachers always called him a dullard and his class mates made fun of him. When results came, John didn't have to check his to know that he came in last.
The only ray of sunshine was Mrs Chijoke, his English teacher.
You see Mrs Chijoke was a writer, she always regaled the students with tales from her books. John loved her passion and that encouraged him to keep on writing, so while he slept through other classes and put no effort in them, he was always attentive to Mrs Chijoke.
Her birthday was a 3 months away and so John decided to get her a gift. To him the best gift would be a book written by him to show her that her efforts was not being wasted on him, so he poured out his life into it. He spent hours on the book, he even stopped eating well and reduce his sleep just to write it, it was really tedious because like we have established, he couldn't read but he didn't give up. He spent every spare moment on it and so finally it was ready.
On that day John was the first person in school, he ran up to her and told her how she inspired him to be a writer and that he wrote a book for her.
Mrs Chijoke laughed and laughed, then said to him while smiling sadly at him, *"someone like you can never be a writer"*.
John went home heartbroken.
Two days later, John was found dead, he had slit his wrist and while he lay dying, he wrote with his own blood
*"I have so many stories to tell, but I guess the world is not ready to hear them"*
That same day, Mrs Chijoke picked up John's book and discovered that the work was simply but beautiful, it was one of the best she had seen as a teacher, she sent someone to find John but alas it was too late.
He was dead.
So this is the story of John,
A boy who couldn't read.
A story of a boy had so much talent but sadly was dyslexic.
A story about a boy died because people didn't realize that dyslexia doesn't stop talent.
Signed
E. D. Oghre
Artwork By: Olumide Oresegun
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