[Days before the murder of Mrs. Wilson.]
(The Young Elizabeth Wilson attends the neighborhood junior high school, Suburban Lake Junior High. She wore something of a uniform, though it was not required. A corduroy, overalls skirt with buttons over a browning white sweater. Her days were often a mystery being in-between social classes. She didn't have enough relationships that caused a Saturday or Sunday morning to be contrived with exhaustion but enjoyment, yet un-lame enough to decide the outcome of her days based on a particular emotion of a single day. Her best friend's name was Chyna Sue. But she did not see her regularly. Only on her lunch and free period.
The crossover into Junior High from Elementary school is always a game of Tetris. However the blocks fall into place, the game will go on until too many pieces were out of place. Causing a tragic ending. In the description of bad rumors and outright fist fights. But if the pieces did fall into place, life goes on as it did in Suburban Lake Elementary School. The reward was mildly sweet at times, but not everlasting. Who remembers a game of Tetris they've won?
Chyna Sue was the only kid who did not care how Elizabeth dressed in contradiction to how much money her family made. So after school, they'd wait for their after-school-pick-up on the side of the curb where parents could drop-off and pick-up students. Two peas in a pod.)
CHYNA SUE: So do you want to hang out this weekend? My parents said I can come over if Mr. & Mrs. Wilson aren't tired of me!
YOUNG ELIZABETH: My parents never get tired of you. I think they like you more than they like me.
CHYNA SUE: Hahaha, nooo that's not true. We're pretty much the same; I'm just the Asian version of you.
(They both laugh; the key to the longevity of their friendship.)
CHYNA SUE: Mrs. Wilson is picking you up today, right? I'll just ask her myself.
(Elizabeth did not respond; seeming displeased in some manner.
Chyna's mother arrives in her crème, grey & blue freshly washed car. Rolls down the window, and motions for Chyna to get in.)
CHYNA SUE: Liz', your Mom is awesome.
(Chyna stands up and sprints to the passenger's side of the car. Her bright pink backpack popping up and down with every step, causing all the school supplies inside to create a synchronized calamity. A wondrous sound to some, because no matter how much commotion the sound caused, the owner of the backpack never stopped running. Or maybe they just never figured out how to stop the bouncing school supplies. The sound was treacherous to others. Especially the students who could not afford as many school supplies, or the students who were always the last to be picked up from the school stoop.)
CHYNA SUE: I'll call you!
(Chyna yelled back to Elizabeth as she got in the car.)
CHYNA'S MOTHER: LIZ'!? LIZ, did you want a ride or your mother's close by on her way?
ELIZABETH: No thanks, Mrs. Ann. My Mother will be here soon; she's not too far away!
MRS. ANN: Okay, sweetheart.
(Mrs. Ann turns her head, and drives off.
15 minutes later, at 3:05PM CT, Mrs. Wilson arrives in her white mini van. Rolls down the window, talking on her flip-phone. She interrupts her own conversation to yell out through the passenger's window.)
MRS. WILSON: Come on, Elizabeth!
(Liz gets up and walks towards the car with her head slightly low. Looking at her mom continue her phone conversation with her freshly curled blonde hair and auburn shades sitting on top of her head holding her beautiful blonde hair back.
Liz gets in. Mrs. Wilson again interrupts her phone conversation to take a second to give Liz some affection.)
MRS. WILSON: Honey, I thought I told you to stop wearing those clothes.--
(And then she goes back to her phone conversation before pulling off of the school lot.)
MRS. WILSON: Yes... Yes... you tell them Sonya Deanne Wilson will not put up with anymore of the nonsense! You're in an all women's club, dress like it. No jeans! No tennis shoes! I don't get what's so hard to understand.-- what's so hard to understand!?
(Elizabeth looks down at her appearance in conjunction with the statements her mother just made about women in her Women's Club. The direct statement about her clothes did not break confidence, it was the statements made about the other women. This could be what Sonya thought of Elizabeth but never said. Elizabeth looks back to her mother's clothes which showed enough cleavage to cause lust upon her beautiful chest, yet showed little enough to be considered upper-class classy. Her right wrist jangled with a large golden bracelet, and a huge golden & diamond ring on her right index finger as she navigated the car all the way to their home. The only other words Sonya spoke to Liz on the way home was...)
SONYA WILSON: Be sure to change when we get home-- we have a dinner to go to for your Dad.
(Elizabeth took those words in favor, because she could spend time with her mother and father. She was her father's pride and joy. A blooming white lotus in a dying field that had rain every day and no sun.
Sonya pulls into the driveway and quickly exits the car where you could now see the entire layout of her captivating black outfit. Decorated with gold and high heels clucking up the driveway as she comes to the abrupt end of her phone conversation.)
SONYA: Yes, I'll talk to you later, sweetie. Okay bye.
(Elizabeth walked behind her mother in admiration. The lingering New York City accent sounded like the harp she heard down the hall in her 5th period Geometry class. She could never play a harp or violin. Sonya would never allow it. So she admired the lucrative motions of vibration from afar.
Sonya shuts her phone and walks through the front door as she called to her husband.)
SONYA: Steve!? Steve-- sweetie we're here!
(From the kitchen wearing a suit older than Elizabeth herself came her father. He was in his forties having short dark grey hair like a porcupine. He stood 3 to 4 inches taller than Sonya who was 5'6" feet tall, and had an uncanny resemblance to Elizabeth.)
SONYA: God, honey-- why are you so orange?
STEVE WILSON: I was in the backyard this morning.
(Steve opens his arms revealing his chest and his belly which showed he had been a father for some time. Embracing Sonya as only a father or husband could.)
SONYA: You wearing that?
(Steve looks down holding his palms upward in offence to the comment. Is she saying what he wore was not presentable enough for her? Steve longed to always please Sonya. So he always showed the ruffles along the edges of his eyes and presented his teeth.)
STEVE: Yeah?--what's wrong with it?
SONYA: Nothin' much--
Honey-- Liz, go change.
(An eleven year old child seeing their parents exchanging truths exposing teeth and red cheeks is a joy every child wished to have as a reality. And it was Elizabeth's reality. What more could she have asked for? And the exposed teeth and red cheeks of her father alone was enough for her to feel she lived in a castle in the highest of far away and protected lands with every want she could ever request.
Elizabeth turned and rushed up the stairwell.)
SONYA: You're not wearing that! God I swear, you and your daughter... she gets this from you! You're like twins! Two peas in a pod.
(7 o'clock rolls upon the day. The Wilson family arrives at the Italian 5 Star restaurant.)
GREETER: Good Evening, did the family have reservations?
STEVE: Yes we're here for the Barry's Benefit Banquet.
GREETER: Alright. Right this way.
(The Greeter was a young Romanian male who wore a black tuxedo which stood to accent the freshly plucked and opened grapefruit walls trimmed with gold. Through the arch centered in the restaurant separating the reserved seating from the party reserved venue side was a room full of jewelry laced bodies reflecting the lights on the walls and ceiling. Sonya stood at the hip of Steve grasping the sleeve of the expensive all cotton pea coat he wore. She observed all of the images portrayed in each conversation across the room.)
STEVE: Ah, there's Mr. Barry over there.
(Mr. Barry had a white mane fit for a CEO with a face radiant and orange. His wife wore black bedazzled dress made of real diamonds with a diamond bracelet and crystal shaped earrings to match. Her mid-length blonde hair made her look elegant. A Queen fit for a King in their empire casting wisdom to anyone who'd seek it.)
STEVE: Mr. Barry how are you, sir?
MR. BARRY: Steve! Hey how's it goin'?
(As Steve approached the Barry's with his wife still holding him, she observed the room trying to make sense of where she would possibly be able to fit into the mold of the environment. Seeing so many well kept women in their latest edition, one of a kind dresses and 'end of the line' jewelry.)
MR. BARRY: This must be your wife! And ... is that your daughter!?
STEVE: Ah yes this is my wife, "Sonya"...
SONYA: Hi how are ya'?
STEVE: And my beautiful daughter, "Elizabeth." -- Say "hello" Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH: Hi.
(Elizabeth was just 11 years old, but felt more at ease in the presence of her father in that restaurant than her mother did. There were more children in the room Liz's age; she scoured and felt the urge to acquaint herself with her peers wearing her red dress that her mother hand picked for her whilst on a 'Girls Day Out' Saturday shopping spree. Sonya thought is was eloquent with her skin tone that had a much darker pigment than her own. Also matching the brown straight locks Elizabeth wore. Bringing her green eyes to life.)
MRS. BARRY: Very nice to meet you all... and your daughter, isn't she precious!?
MR. BARRY: Yes, honey. How old is she?
SONYA: She's 11, and just going to Junior High School.
MR. BARRY: Ahh, what school?
SONYA: She's going to Suburban Lake..--
MR. BARRY: "Suburban Lake"-- that's the public school, right dear?
(Sonya had a displeasure in that rhetorical question under her false smile.)
MRS. BARRY: Yes it is, dear.
MR. BARRY: You know, Steve, our grandson goes to Bridgeton. I can get you the info.
(Sonya became more and more displeased and felt a direct stabbing of her upbringing and how she was currently raising her daughter. Elizabeth knew her mother well as she looked up at her and felt and saw the distress she was under. Sonya deflected the conversing circle by searching the room once more. She soon noticed some of the women from her Women's Club, and decided to break free of her husband and the uneasiness she felt speaking with the Barry family.)
SONYA: You know what, honey, I think I see some of my girls over there. I'm just gonna go say "hello" if you don't mind.
STEVE: Okay, honey.
SONYA: Stay with your father, okay sweetheart?
ELIZABETH: Okay, Mom.
(Sonya crouched as she approached her friends in her black high heels. Unfortunately even in the black she wore, her room presence, height, blonde hair and large perfectly white smile always gave her away.)
SONYA: Hi, Girls!
(The women all greeted Mrs. Wilson with a smile and hello. They all had black or brown hair. Elizabeth's eyes followed every motion her mother made. The only blonde of the group. Elizabeth would never be able to make out what was being said in the group, but she noticed the constant preening of her mother.)
(Later that night when the Wilsons returned home, Elizabeth spent quality time with her father by their fire place. Laughing and telling stories. Having snacks and hot chocolate, wearing fitted comfort wear you could sleep in for days before the stench and realization that you'd been wearing those clothes to bed for days kicks in. By the end of it, Steve kissed his daughter on the forehead, and went off to bed. Except when he returned to his room, he found his wife, Sonya in the restroom sat in front of the large mirror above the handcrafted sink. She'd been gazing sharply at herself. Steve was stood up in one place looking over his left shoulder through the doorway of the bathroom, sock-less staring at his beautiful wife.)
STEVE: Honey?
(He approached the restroom and leaned against the doorway.)
STEVE: you dyed your hair?
(Something was clearly bothering Sonya as he glared at his wife's freshly wet brunette hair. She did not turn from her mirror.)
SONYA: ... I'm the only one in the family who's blonde...
(Sonya then turned to her husband with a false smile. But Steve knew the women he'd loved for so long. Nothing could leave an emotional disparity like the sadness of his wife. In her hazel eyes was tears she'd wiped before he entered the room, before he crept his way up the creaking staircase. Sonya wanted to be happy for her loving husband, but she felt she could not. She would pretend until it were true.)
SONYA: I figured I'd even things out a bit. Join the club.
(Sonya's want to "even things out" made "things" odd, and her intertwining with joy and happiness for the love of her husband, the feeling that she belonged never became true. Just 2 days later, Sonya Wilson was murdered.)