(Matilda's POV):
Light shines at my eyes and my head begins to spin.
"Matilda, wake up," a familiar, sing-song voice says.
I open my eyes to find myself surrounded by two old women and a boy. They look familiar.
"Gramma Josephine? Gramma Georgina? Charlie?"
I sit up to find myself in the Bucket shack. Slowly the dizziness begins to fade.
"I-it was all a dream," I say relieved.
"That's right. Now you're here," Gramma Josephine says kindly in the same singsong voice.
I feel a rush of relief flow through me. To think that it was nothing more than a mere nightmare. I wasn't really knocked out. I never saw that lab room. Billie wasn't a squirrel; Sophie and James weren't being transformed into squirrels. The relief turns to joy and then to dread as I realize the truth.
"But now my mother's going to have me institutionalized," I squeak sadly.
Tears flow down my face as I drop my head. I feel a sense of hopelessness until I feel a hand gently touch my chin. Slowly I bring my face back up. My eyes meet Charlie's gentle, brown ones.
"It doesn't have to be like that," he whispers kindly.
"But-but how-?"
He puts a finger to my mouth. Reaching behind him, he pulls out a small leather-covered box.
"We've been friends for a long time and you've done so much to help me. Now-"
He opens the box. Inside is a shiny golden ring with the phrase "To My Forever Wonderspark" engraved in silver.
"-it's my turn to repay the favor."
He gives a deep sigh before speaking.
"Matilda, will you marry me?"
I'm taken in shock.
"What?" I ask in disbelief.
"You're smart, funny, beautiful. I've never met anyone like you."
I point out that we're only eleven and, at that age, marriage isn't even legal in this country.
"And besides," I finish.
"Asking me to marry you could only happen in a dream of mine. Or even an induced dream...state."
I trail off in my thoughts. All of a sudden, I hear a small, quick buzz of electricity.
"What was that?" I wonder aloud.
"Just, uh, the-" Gramma Georgina begins to say.
Another buzz and a spark. This one I actually see coming from Charlie.
"-the TV," she finishes quickly.
I go to pondering the possibilities.
"An altered reality or dream state. I suppose through some sort of...alteration of the brainwaves via technology or drugs, a dream state could be induced. But who would do that and why-?"
"So when are we going to have the wedding?" Gramma Josephine blurts out loudly.
"Quiet. I need to think."
"About candy ideas?" Georgina interjects.
"What? No. Of course not. Why would I even want to right now?"
"For the master, of c-c-course."
Gramma Georgina begins to glitch and everything begins to fade away.
Light shines in my face as I open my eyes. They seem to be covered by some sort of goggles; they remind me of the device used to check for eye perscriptions. I pull the goggles off of my head to find myself in a room hooked up to various machinery; it seems like a laboratory of some sort or an operating room. About a dozen Oompa-Loompas in white coats surround me and gasp as they see I've regained consciousness.
"Where in the name of sanity am I?" I ask.
I feel a pain in my left arm. I look to find that I'm hooked up to an IV.
"The master's not going to like this," I hear a voice gasp in my head.
I look up to see several Oompa-Loompas; one of them is speaking into a microphone.
"Who-?" I begin to ask.
Suddenly the door slams open.
"What's going on?" a voice booms in fury.
The Oompa-Loompas rush to two lines; they tremble slightly as a tall figure in a plum-colored coat slinks up to me.