Bonniebax Creates

Raya finally decided on an outfit about 2:30pm, after spending the whole morning deciding on an outfit and then changing her mind ten minutes later. She checked the weather forecast to make sure she would be dressed warm enough and saw that there might be freezing rain later that evening, so she was glad they were going out in the afternoon. Raya couldn’t get over how different Micah seemed. For one thing, she’d never heard of someone asking a girl out so boldly like that, except in books or movies. And, why 3:00pm? And the whole anthem thing. Something about him was very alluring to her, and she had thought of nothing else for the last 18 hours but him. She had a feeling this was going to be a disaster or the best first day of the rest of her life. Micah showed up a bit late to her dorm common room, or as he phrased it, ‘just on time’. Raya had been tapping her foot nervously and adjusting her position on the saggy low couch in the common room. She looked at ...

Even though Raya was a quiet person and liked doing things on her own, she uncharacteristically really really liked going to basketball games once she started attending college. There was something about the energy in the place that just felt so vibrant, even through the chaos. It was exhilarating being part of a fan group, and cheering together with the strangers around her was such a rush, especially when the game was close in score and exciting. The paradox of the carefully practiced marching band songs being performed amid the commotion of cheers and shouting and game breaks amused her to no end. All the noise almost felt like a hug in an auditory type of way, or a safe place, where everyone belonged and where the intentions were clear and the routines were expected. Raya could shout, cry, sing, and no one even noticed. Some game days that was even a bit cathartic for her. All that to say, she attended every game and it was one of her favourite things. One d...

Raya grew up as an only child, in sunny dry Oklahoma, and she had a few memories of happy times with her parents from the early days. Her memories mostly were about being outside, with blue skies and tall grasses blowing in a light breeze by a pond, feeling warm and enjoying her hand tucked in her papa’s big soft hand. They threw bread to the ducks and watched the baby ducks following their mama across the water. One day when Raya was eight years old, her papa wasn’t home when she got home from school. She saw the rotating red and blue lights of the police cars in her dreams for years, and sometimes still when she was really tired or worried about something, those familiar chaotic swirling colours appeared behind her eyelids when she closed her eyes, and her heart skipped a beat. Raya stayed in their house with her mama, but she soon realized that her mama left that day too, and a shell of a body remained. Her mama’s long hippie braids were still there for Raya to...