The first thing that came to her was the sound of an alarm beeping. She could feel pressure around her throat. Massive hands were strangling her. She tried to scoot away, but she couldn't move. The hands were holding her head in place. Matilda tried to yell, but no sound would come out. Why couldn't she scream? She couldn't move, or make a sound. She tried to suck in a lung full of air, but the hands around her throat were restricting air flow!
Matilda let out a gasp of air and then another! Her eyes burst open, expecting to see the Trunchbull looming over her, but there was no one there. She could feel her heart pounding as she gasped for breath. The Trunchbull's hands were around her throat, so then why couldn't she see her? She tried to swing at the invisible threat, until a figure came into view.
"Hey! She's awake!"
Another figure emerged and held her down. No! Someone was helping her now?
"Matilda! Matilda! You need to calm down!" A voice said. Calm down? How could she calm down? She was being strangled! She wouldn't go quietly! "Matilda! Take a deep breath! You're safe!" That voice! She knew that voice, but why?
"What's going on?" Someone knew and unfamiliar.
"She's woken up, but she's panicking! She's going to hurt herself even more!"
"Matilda! Stop struggling, you're going to pull out your I.V."
"What's 297 times 1,294?" The familiar voice said. Matilda paused for a moment. Why would someone trying to hurt her suddenly start asking math questions? The answer was 384,318 but when she tried to answer, nothing but a painful whistling sound emerged. The question had made her pause just enough for her vision to focus. She took in the room. The Trunchbull wasn't here, but instead one of the nurses from before and… Mrs. Rodgers? Why was she here? And if no one was strangling her, what was around her neck?
Matilda's hands slowly went up to her throat until they came into contact with something hard and plastic. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, before looking at the nurse and pointed.
"A brace. You've been involved in a-" The nurse stopped as if unsure how to explain. "Situation." Matilda wanted to pull it off, it was confining. She felt like an animal that had been put in a cone to keep from licking its stitches. Then a thought came to her. A new surge of panic. Where was Miss Honey? She couldn't move her head to see to the left or right. Her eyes began to water before silent tears began to fall. Had the Trunchbull gotten her?
"What is it? Are you in pain?" the nurse asked. All Matilda could do was make raspy whistling sounds that made her throat burn even more. "On a scale of 1 to 10 how do you rate your pain?" Matilda thought for a moment before holding up five fingers, but it didn't matter to her right now. She had to think. She cursed herself for not knowing more than a few simple things, but tapped her thumb to her chin and spread out the rest of her fingers. Mrs. Rodgers looked at her blankly, but the nurse seemed to understand.
"Your mommy will be back soon. She had to go do something, but I'm sure she will hurry right back once she learns you're awake." Matilda bit her lip. Was she safe? She sank back into her pillow and stared at the clock. It was 2:45 in the afternoon. Had Matilda been out all day? She was sure it was early in the morning when she had been…. She winced at the memory of hands around her throat.
"Let's get you something for the pain." She watched the nurse leave before looking up at Mrs. Rodgers.
"Sorry, it was me who sent her away. She hadn't left your side since then, so I sent her home to get some sleep." Mrs. Rodgers said before scowling. "She'll never listen to me again once she learns she wasn't here when you woke up. "
Matilda felt the panic ebb away slightly. The room was silent for some time before Mrs. Rodgers spoke again. "You know, in all the years I've known Jennifer, I've never known her to express emotion, not happiness, or anger. She'd engage in polite small talk if we bumped into each other in the hall, and that's it. The woman's been a complete mystery. All the children adore her, but the adults," Mrs. Rodgers shrugged. "We've never been able to get more than a, 'Hello, how do you do?' or 'Good morning'".
Matilda wondered where she was going with this. Did the other teachers not like Miss Honey? She couldn't imagine anyone not liking Miss Honey.
"So you can imagine my surprise one day when I run into her in the hall. She's got her arms full of books and the biggest smile on her face i'd ever seen. I had to do a double take, was that really shy and reserved Jennifer I was seeing? It was such a peculiar sight, I had to stop and ask her about it. You should have seen the way her eyes lit up as she told me all about this extraordinary new student in her class. She talked so fast I could hardly keep track of what she was saying. It was like she had been dying to tell someone and couldn't contain her excitement another moment. I was just so stunned she was talking at all.
As the weeks went by, the other teachers started commenting on the change in her as well. It was small things at first. They'd ask, 'What has Miss Honey in such a good mood lately?' and, 'Is it just me, or has Miss Honey been more talkative lately?' I think my favorite was Mr. Trilby stumbling into the teacher's lounge looking shell shocked with the pinkest ears I've ever seen. We asked him what happened, and he mumbled something about Miss Honey saying he looked cute in his new tie."
Matilda smiled at the thought of Mr. Trilby getting flustered over a compliment.
"Do you know who noticed the biggest change in her though?" Matilda gave her a puzzled look. "Oh I think you do." Matilda winced. "Yes, Agatha Trunchbull." Matilda remembered what the Trunchbull had said to her.
"Quiet and fearful Miss Honey told me 'no'."
"From what I've seen and heard from the others, Jennifer had a tendency to, well, I'm trying to find the best way to explain this to you so you can understand. Do you know what 'dissociate' means? It's okay if you don't, I can't imagine you would, let me find a simpler word an- Oh." Mrs Rodgers stopped rambling once she noticed Matilda's thumb in an upright position. "You know what that word means?" Matilda gave her another thumbs up. "Oh well, right, I shouldn't be surprised. Jenny really wasn't exaggerating about you. Let's see, Jennifer had a habit of dissociating when the Trunchbull went on one of her rampages. She'd just mentally check out as the Trunchbull launched students from windows and picked them up by their ears. It was almost as if she wasn't seeing it at all." Mrs. Rodgers said, but then sighed and sat on the edge of Matilda's bed.
"It's not like the rest of us did much more to stop her, but I never understood how someone who liked the children so much could just stand there and let it happen. Now I understand." Mrs. Rodger's face paled, and she shook her hands. Matilda had a sinking suspicion that she had learned of Jenny's past in a similar manner, although she found it very unlikely Miss Honey had shown her what she had written.
"So you can imagine the shock to the Trunchbull when the woman who would normally check out began raising a fuss. The thing you need to understand, Matilda, is that this resentment in the Trunchbull has been building for quite some time. She's been watching her hold over Jennifer slipping bit by bit every day, and it's causing a chain reaction."
"The other teachers have begun sticking up for their students as well, and you know what my favorite part is?" Mrs Rodgers eyes flashed mischievously. "We've all started looking the other way when a certain friend of yours is up to no good. Some have started dropping hints about the Trunchbull's daily schedule, what she's afraid of, places in the school she never goes. Even Mr. Trilby has 'accidentally' let slip where the spare key to her office was." Mrs. Rodgers laughed. "The girl thinks she's being sneaky, but she's about as subtle as a rhinoceros."
Matilda scowled. All this time she had admired Hortensia for the way she could pick locks and sneak around without getting caught. Now here was Mrs. Rodgers telling her they had been giving Hortensia everything she needed to wreak havoc on a silver platter. Matilda smiled weakly. Despite feeling disillusioned with her hero, she wondered what she could be capable of if she knew the teachers were on her side.
"The point I'm trying to make is that Miss Honey has begun to come out of her shell, and Miss Trunchbull has finally realized who is responsible for that." Matilda furrowed her eyebrows and pointed at herself, a look of doubt in her eyes. "Yes, you. Miss Honey adores all her students, but she very much loves you. I think only love could have given her the courage to stand up to the Trunchbull and put an end to all this." Matilda gave her a puzzled look. What did she mean by "put an end to this"? Mrs. Rodgers eyes sparkled again. "Matilda, she's turned over the note to the police. She's agreed to testify. "
Matilda sat there feeling stunned. Just a few days ago she had been a whimpering, cowering mess at the mere thought of it, and now? Matilda's heart swelled with pride. She was going to do what every other adult had been too afraid of. Her Jenny-No, her mom, was going to lead the charge to take down the Trunchbull. Matilda couldn't hide the smile that spread over her face. Hortensia was wrong. Not all the adults were cowards. Miss Honey had literally attacked the Trunchbull with a chair to save her. Matilda would be dead if not for Miss Honey.
A thought came to Matilda and she frowned. Why had the Trunchbull tried to kill her? It hadn't made sense. Why attack her in the middle of the day in a hospital? It would be one thing if they were somewhere secluded and no one knew the Trunchbull had been there with her, but people had seen her here. She couldn't possibly think she could strangle Matilda and just be able to walk out and no one would stop her. Had Matilda really made her so mad she acted without thinking?
Her thoughts were interrupted at the sound of approaching footsteps. Matilda had hoped it would be Miss Honey, but was disappointed to see her nurse pushing a cart inside with different sized basins, washcloths and vials.
"It's time to get you cleaned up." the nurse said. "I've also got some pain medicine for you." She sat and watched Mrs. Rodgers stand up and stretch.
"If you're going to be with her for a bit, I think I'll go down to the cafeteria and have a cup of coffee." Matilda felt a wave of gratitude. She recognized one of the basins and didn't feel like going through this dance again with an audience. The nurse waited until Mrs. Rodgers had left before rounding on Matilda.
"Let's start with your pain first. Are you still at a five?" Matilda held up 6 fingers now. Her throat was even rawer than before. She watched anxiously as the nurse began preparing a syringe, but relaxed when she explained it wasn't shot. "It's what the I.V. line is for." Matilda watched fascinated as the nurse pushed the plunger, and in less than a minute the drug's effect started to take hold. She could feel her eyes glaze over as a sense of relaxation took hold. The room began to gently sway. This wasn't so bad, Matilda thought. It almost made the I.V. line worth it, but she was suddenly feeling rather warm. There was another sensation as well, but it felt good, so she closed her eyes and let it happen. She didn't even mind when the nurse told her she needed to take her blood. The problem came halfway through the blood draw when Matilda's mind began to clear. The flushing had stopped along with the pleasant lightheadedness, and reality came crashing down when she realized she was sitting on something now very wet.
She sat in stunned silence until tears began to slide down her face. She couldn't believe she had just done that.
"I'm almost done, see last tube. Just a few more seconds. There, all done, no more needle." Matilda's face began to burn. Oh geeze, the nurse thought she was crying because of the blood draw. "It's all done, you can look up now." Matilda let out an audible whimper and kept her head down. "Nothing scary left, I promise! All that's left now is a nice towel bath and to go potty." Matilda had begun to cry even harder at this. The nurse was confused until understanding dawned on her when she pulled back the blanket.
"It's okay, Matilda, see? You're laying on a disposable pad. I wasn't expecting it to be dry. I hadn't changed it since yesterday." Matilda looked down now feeling even more confused. Was it wet before, and she had only now just noticed it? Or had she peed herself while high? "Or are you so upset because you were awake when it happened?" She didn't know! "Did it happen when I gave you the pain medicine?" Matilda slowly raised her thumb. "Nothing to get worked up over then. It's a possible side effect, I'll just give you something else next time."
Matilda blinked in surprise. She hadn't thought of that.
"Let me get this dirty one out from under you." She turned Matilda onto her side, and replaced the pad with a fresh one. "There, see, no problem. Just let us know if you ever need a clean one. We don't want you sitting on a yucky one all day." When she turned Matilda back over, she found herself laying on top of hard plastic. "You still need to try going potty though." Matilda sighed, resigned to her fate. At least no one was here for this part.
After a demeaning amount of praise for emptying her bowels, she was very slowly wiped down with wet towels as she tried not to irritate the cuts and stitches all over her, and then finally helped into a clean hospital gown. Matilda tried to be polite and say thanks, but all that came out again was an unintelligible rasp.
"Try not to talk. The doctor wants you to rest your throat. Your vocal cords have been injured, and they need rest." Matilda wrapped her hands around the brace and imitated getting choked. The nurse nodded her head sadly. "Your mom was hoping you wouldn't remember." Matilda mimicked writing. "Oh, yes, I'll get you some paper and a pen." She left and quickly returned with a notepad and pen.
How long have I been unconscious?
The nurse seemed suddenly taken aback. Her eyes went wide, and it seemed to take her a minute to compose herself.
"Oh my, Matilda, you have such neat writing, and wow, unconscious, that's a big word you know how to write." She stared at the sentence for a moment, before snapping back to attention. "You've been in and out of it for two days."
What happened to the Trunchbull?
Matilda could see the nurse shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot, but she didn't drop her gaze.
"You know, let's wait for your mom to come back, and she can answer any questions you have." Matilda scowled, she knew that meant bad news. She picked up the pen and continued writing.
Why does my throat hurt so much?
"You had a small procedure yesterday, the Dr. went down your throat with a camera to make sure everything looked all right."
An endoscopy?
The nurse stared blankly, now at a loss for words. Matilda let out a silent exasperated sigh. If she wanted answers faster, she was really going to have to dumb herself down. Under normal circumstances, she would have found her reaction slightly amusing, but right now she felt impatient and in a slightly bad mood. She figured it came with being made to poop in a tray.
"Yes, that's right." The nurse mumbled, "Did your moms friend tell you?"
No, I just like to read. Did they find anything wrong?
"That's amazing, Matilda, you know most kids your age struggle to-" The nurse stopped as Matilda tapped her question with her pen impatiently. She really was in a bad mood. She didn't want to be told she was amazing, she felt far from it. Matilda wanted answers, and mostly, she really just wanted Miss Honey.
Sorry Matilda hurriedly scribbled. I don't mean to be so petulant.
"There was some contu- sorry bruising in the windpipe, and the muscles of your neck, but it's nothing time won't heal on its own. You'll just be sore for a bit."
Matilda sat there and tried to process all the information she had learned today. So the Trunchbull was angry at Miss Honey's weak protests to stop hurting them? If Matilda hadn't known Miss Honey so well, she would hardly call, "Miss Trunchbull, please don't throw children out the window," sticking up for them or making a fuss. She supposed it was more than the other teachers had done, and if she was being realistic, given Miss Honey's past, it took serious courage for her to even do that much. If that had upset the Trunchbull so much, she wondered how angry she was after getting hit in the head with a chair.
"This might help you get more comfortable." She heard Velcroed straps loosening around her, followed by the wonderful freeing sensation as the brace was removed from her neck. She nodded her thanks and closed her eyes.
It was nearly 6 pm when Matilda awoke to the sound of hurried footsteps coming into her room. She found herself clenching the bed rail in one hand and the call button, which thankfully now worked, in the other in anticipation. Her heart began to hammer in her chest, until a wide-eyed and out of breath face poked its head around the curtain.
A large relieved grin spread across Matilda's face.
"I'm so sorry I wasn't here." Miss Honey panted. "I can't believe I slept through the call. I woke up to a message on the answering machine and hurried over as fast as I could." Miss Honey managed to lower one of the guard rails of the bed and sat down next to her. Before she could object, Matilda had immediately scooted herself into Miss Honey's lap and thrown her arms around her. It didn't seem like Miss Honey was interested in scolding her for moving though. She had just as eagerly wrapped her own arms around Matilda and was now holding her tightly and rocking her back and forth.
"Oh, I'm so relieved you're alright." Miss Honey whispered before kissing Matilda's forehead. Matilda had so many questions, but right now they didn't seem so important anymore. She knew this is what she wanted and needed more than anything. She rested her head on Jenny's chest and listened to her hum. To Matilda at this moment, there was no sweeter or more beautiful music in the world.
Once they had reluctantly separated, Matilda began to scribble down question after question.
"One at a time, dear." Miss Honey said. Matilda pointed to the most significant one. Where was the Trunchbull? Miss Honey sighed. "Probably at home having supper." Matilda blanched. No! Why? Why wasn't she in jail where she belonged? Miss Honey could read the anger on her face. "I know, it's not fair. The police say there's nothing they can do right now, there were no witnesses." Matilda was outraged! She pointed at herself, then at Jenny. She was there!
"I know, but the Trunchbull's turned it around on me. She says she walked in on me choking you, and I hit her with a chair to keep her quiet."
That's absurd! What about the security guards?
"They only saw me attacking her with a chair, but don't you worry. The police don't buy her story for a minute, even the part about me being an unfit mother to you. Mrs. Rodgers was kind enough to come down to the station and give a character witness as well."
Matilda sat there silently seething for a moment, before picking her pen back up and pointing to another question.
If she wanted to separate us, why did she attack me? Why not just say you were unfit to begin with?
Miss Honey sat there for a moment before speaking. "I've been wondering the same, honestly. She's always been impulsive and angry, but she's never done something so brazen as this."
She made me read your letter. Did she really do all those things to you?
Matilda could see the pain in Jenny's face as her eyes began to tear up. "You were never supposed to read that. No one was. But yes," Miss Honey said after a long pause, "It was true. My childhood was not a happy one." Matilda had remembered her saying that before, but now that she knew just to what extent, her heart ached for her. Forget Matilda's parents never paying attention to her, it was nothing in comparison. "I've decided though. Enough is enough! Someone has to be the first to come forward, so it might as well be me."
Why now? What changed? You were so against the idea before.
Miss Honey smiled sadly before wrapping her arms around Matilda and whispered in her ear. "Because no one hurts my baby."
