Duality

VI

Onika Tanya Maraj

Onika hummed quietly as she painted. It was the weekend and her first two weeks of college went average for her.

She was proud of herself for getting a job but she felt like her progress diminished each time she was faced with social interaction. Abel is easy to talk to, she discovered that quickly.

He's pretty open about a lot of things and compliments her art a lot in their art major, Onika feels a little at ease in that big school when she sees him.

Kelly's also super nice to her, Onika hasn't really talked to Robyn or Michelle but when they introduced themselves it turned into an argument between them and Onika slowly backed away that day.

She dipped the brush slightly on the pallet and continued painting. It made her feel a centered after a long week. She felt like she was floating on clouds when she was in her element.

She smiled looking at her unfinished piece. Onika looked at her buzzing phone and picked it up. "Hi Auntie." She said quietly.

"Nika! Hey—how's it been?" Onika thought for a few seconds. "It's been..okay. I think—I got the job at the arts and craft store and school hasn't been that stressful just yet.." She trailed off squinting at the detail on her canvas.

"That's good—I'm busy getting these boxes packaged up." Onika smiled at that. Her aunt decided she was going to move closer to Onika so she'd only be about an hour away.

"Auntie Vess you don't have to move here for me." Onika felt a little bad. She didn't want to be a burden but she'd be lying if she did she didn't prefer her aunt closer to her.

"Nonsense—this small towns been pissing me off anyways. I found a new location for my bakery around there too." Onika smiled a bit. She was happy her aunt found a good place.

Onikas aunt was a baker, Onika always thought it was a strange sight to see her bake sprinkle cupcakes and pink cake pops while having multiple tattoos.

"That's good—hey auntie?" Onika asked getting her aunts attention. "Is our last name common?" Onika asked and Vanessa quirked an eyebrow over the phone.

"Maraj? I don't think so..though It's possible someone else could definitely have it—why?" She asked and what Onika said next almost made her Aunt drop her phone.

"My art teachers last name is Maraj—he wants us to call him Micah though. I just never have seen someone with my name before." Onika said clueless while her aunt was stuttering.

"Oh—Oh uh—yeah that's crazy." She managed to get out. Vanessa was sweating bricks while Onika was casually painting not noticing her aunts change of voice.  She's never exactly been good at reading the room.

After not hearing anything on the other line Onika got a little worried. "Auntie are you okay?" Onika asked and her Aunt gulped slightly. "Yeah I'm good. I'm great. Hey Nika my phones dying I'll call you back later okay?" Her aunt said and she felt bad lying to the sweet girl but she needed time to think.

Onika nodded slightly worried. "Okay—love you!" Onika said before the line went dead.

All the way over in Vermont Vanessa was cursing under her breath.

"Damn it Micah—couldn't have chosen any other college to work at?" She cursed under her breath.

Vanessa loved Onika, she's wanted to protect her since day one—she wanted to shield her from the cruel reality she unfortunately lived in when she was a kid—Micah being in her life forced her to tell Onika about the man she's been asking about since she was a kid.