Matilda tossed and turned in her sleep. The dream had started off so pleasant. She was just about to be crowned England's youngest chess Grandmaster. Miss Honey was there with a bouquet of flowers for her, and the audience was cheering. She heard a voice bellow from the audience, "That's my daughter!" and "That's my little girl!" She followed the sound until she locked eyes with her mother beaming up at her- an expression she had never received from her before. Matilda felt a rush of happiness and relief rush over her and then… everything changed.

The audience gasped. She looked down at herself to see her bare legs damp with pee. Her dress was ruined. The cheers turned to cries of disgust. The expression on her mothers face became one she was all too familiar with, repulsion and indifference.

"See, this is exactly why we sent you away!" Harry Wormwood yelled. "Disgusting, get her out of my sight! You're a Wormwood it's time you started acting like one!"

Matilda felt a giant hand clamp around her arm. She let out a wail of pain as the Trunchbull dragged her off stage and onto a different one. She was thrust into a chair facing the other children in the school. There, sitting on a table was a giant chocolate cake. No! This wasn't her punishment! This hadn't happened to her! She was in the audience! Her only punishment had been…

Then she found herself standing alone, wet and cold, staring at the nails in the walls mere inches from her face. If she dared move even a muscle she would be met with the sharp pain of rusty metal cutting into her skin. Even worse, she could get tetanus! She had read about that in a book and it sounded awful!

A small panel opened and eyes peered down at her. She had expected the Trunchbull, but instead they were Miss Honey's.

"Please let me out!" Matilda begged.

"I'm disappointed in you, Matilda."

"Wake up, Matilda."

"I'm sorry!" The small child moaned in her sleep and shivered from the damp bedding. A gentle hand touched the top of her head. Her eyes sprung open and she examined her surroundings. She slowly sat up and looked around the small apartments one bedroom. Various items that had once been on the nightstand were now scattered across the floor. A mirror that had once hung on the wall now spread shards of glass on the carpet. "Was there an earthquake?"

"N-not quite."

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Stress." the doctor said after a moment as Matilda pumped her legs that dangled off the exam room table.

"That's it?" Miss Honey asked. "Are you sure? She really hasn't been herself lately."

"How so?"

"Well, she's been acting sort of...well...childish." Miss Honey said. The doctor raised an eyebrow as he looked at the small six- year- old girl sitting on the table, and then back to Miss Honey. "I mean she's normally very mature, but she's started," She dropped her voice to a whisper, but Matilda could still hear the word "accidents." "I mean, it's not a big deal or anything, but I just want to make sure there isn't some kind of underlying issue."

"I could check her blood sugar, make sure we're not dealing with juvenile diabetes. Excessive urination can be a symptom."

"Please, but it's not just that it's, well, how do I put this? Things have been… flying around the room when she gets upset."

"Flying around the room?" The dr. looked at the woman doubtfully. Miss Honey locked eyes with Matilda, whose expression was one of horror as she shook her head. "You mean she's getting upset and throwing things?"

"Y-yes, like that." Miss Honey said.

"So she's been throwing tantrums and you're concerned because it seems out of the ordinary for her?"

"Yes!" Miss Honey exclaimed as Matilda scowled. She was not throwing tantrums, Matilda thought until she remembered last night.

Miss Honey had brought up the idea of wearing diapers to bed. Logically it made sense! It shouldn't have been such an issue, but instead of thinking things through like she usually did, she had resisted the idea and it had led to their very first fight. Not even a fight, but a disagreement...at least until the unknown pressure inside her had become so unbearable she had thrown it out and the invisible force smashed the bedroom mirror to bits. She couldn't play dumb with her arms outstretched like some kind of cartoon superhero mid attack as glass exploded around the room.

Matilda sighed. She knew she needed to apologize, even if she didn't quite understand how she had made the mirror blow up.

Matilda tried her best to tune out their conversation, even if it was about her. The pressure in her chest and behind her eyes was beginning to bother her and if she didn't get it under wraps, she would unintentionally demonstrate what Miss Honey was talking about. She tried to think about Miss Honey's promise that afterwards they'd go to the museum together. They were having a special exhibit today on ancient civilization. She had always wanted to go. It was huge! Three stories and there was a massive hedge maze in the back. She had tried on several occasions to go, but they never let her in without an adult. Even that though quickly lost its grounding ability after listening to the two of them go back and forth.

"May I be excused? I need to use the restroom."

"Yes, of course. I need something from you though." The doctor said.

Matilda hopped down from the table and was handed a specimen cup. She examined it. She knew what it was for from reading about medical tests, but she had never had to herself. She couldn't even remember when the last time she was in a doctor's office. Had her parents ever taken her at all?

"Am I current on all my vaccinations?" Matilda asked. Legally, she would have had to be for school, but she had a sinking suspicion Crunchem Hall wasn't very particular about following the laws. Hadn't she seen a girl in her class get thrown over a fence by her hair on the first day? Bruce Bogtrotter would agree "normal" wasn't in their schools vocabulary.

The doctor let out a patronizing chuckle. "Can't say I've ever heard a little girl ask me if she was getting a shot that way before. Why don't you let the adults discuss that?"

"Please, I'm-" Matilda started to say, but was cut off.

"Now I know shots can be scary, but it's not as bad as you're imagining."

"I want-"

"Now run along and go potty, or do you need your mommy's help with that?" He gestured to the cup in her hands.

The pressure in her eyes was too much to take. Behind the doctor, the wastepaper basket began to levitate.

Miss Honey let out a gasp. "Yes, I think I'll go help her!"

Matilda felt a larger hand begin to pull on hers, and the trash can fell back to the ground with a loud thunk. The doctor swiveled around in his chair searching for the noise as Matilda let Miss Honey lead her to the bathroom.

Once there, Miss Honey watched with a mixed feeling of apprehension and wonder as bits of paper towel floated around the family style bathroom. Matilda on the other hand, seemed hardly to notice. She stood as still as a statue, staring transfixed at the trashcan as garbage continued to rise. After about a minute, everything fell to the floor leaving the bathroom covered in trash.

Matilda let out a relieved sigh and rubbed at her eyes.

"Matilda." Miss Honey said, a bit of apprehension in her voice. The young girl looked up upon hearing her name. "What's going on? How long has this been happening?"

Matilda thought about it. "Well, I guess it started when I accidentally blew up my dad's tv, but i'm still not sure. I can't control it or anything. I get this burning in my eyes and I feel like I'll blow up if I don't get it out. I'm really sorry about the mirror, Miss Honey. I wasn't trying to break it, I had to get the pressure out before it broke me!" She blurted out without stopping. She hadn't realized her eyes had begun to water and sting, but this time for a more mundane reason. "Please don't send me back!"

"Matilda, I would never send you back, sweetie. You are the most extraordinary and brightest child i've ever met. You are wonderful, and special. I'm sorry your family never recognized you for what you truly are. Maybe the doctor's right and you are just under a lot of stress right now. Sometimes I forget you're only six-years-old. You may have the mind of someone far beyond your age, but your body is still growing."

"I was embarrassed and. . . I lost control of it." Matilda tried to explain. "I think I need practice."

"Well," Miss Honey said looking around the room. "I guess we can start by cleaning up in here." Matilda took in the room for the first time and cringed. There were paper towels everywhere! One was even dangling from a vent in the ceiling! Not only that but the faucet had turned itself on. She pointed at the nearest piece of trash and concentrated and then… nothing happened. She pointed again and again trying with all her might, but the most she could get to happen was turning over a crumpled up wad on its side.

"Where are you when I need you?" Matilda said. Resigned to her fate of manual labor, Matilda used her foot to sweep everything into a pile and Miss Honey picked it up and put it back in the trash. Matilda looked up at the vent. How were they going to get that down?

"Do you want help with that?" Miss Honey asked quietly.

"I guess, but how?" Matilda said, still looking up.

"Well, you sit on the toilet and lift your gown up and i'll hold the cup so you don't drop it."

"Wha-" Matilda started to ask until she saw Miss Honey holding the specimen jar. Matilda's face grew a shade of pink. "I can do it myself. I'll meet you outside."

"Are you sure, it can be tricky with small hands."

"No, thank you. I'll be fine."

She waited until Miss Honey left, before reading the directions on the label and sat on the toilet. Why in the world would she think I needed help with this, she thought to herself. She lifted the gown and bent over, but she couldn't see where to position the cup. All she could see was the gown no matter where she bunched it up. Some genius she was if she couldn't even pee in a cup by herself. Resigned to doing it by feel, she blindly stuck the cup under her and relaxed. She could hear it splash in the bowl below. This wasn't right. She moved her arm around under her until she heard a different sound and felt the warm liquid begin to fill from the outside.

There, no problem. She had this. She. . .

. . . . .

"Matilda?" Miss Honey asked, seeing the young girl come out with her head hung low.

"I dropped it in the toilet."

…..

They had made her drink eight cups of water. She felt so full by the time she downed the last one. She looked down at both her arms now covered in bandages and felt relieved. Sure the shots had stung, but the momentary discomfort was nothing in comparison to catching a preventable disease. She had been right to be concerned. She hadn't been vaccinated since she was a baby. So it had been one shot. One cup of water. Another shot. Another cup of water.

"I know Diphtheria isn't very common here as its mostly found in Asia and developing middle eastern countries, but a virus that creates a toxin that can destroy the nose and throat, before leading to paralysis and death doesn't sound pleasant. It's still nothing compared to Polio though. Miss Honey, did you know that 1 in 200 people that had Polio ended up paralyzed?" Matilda rattled on.

The doctor chuckled politely, as she spouted out different dates, until she had come to the M.M.R. vaccine. That date he did know off the top of his head. It was 1971 and as she confidently repeated it, he stopped in his tracks and stared at her as if he was noticing her for the first time. He had assumed she was pretending to know as children sometimes did in order to appear more knowledgeable than they really were.

"That's right." he said as he knit his eyebrows together. He wanted to assume it was a lucky guess, but that didn't seem right. "Do you know what M.M.R stands for?"

"Mealels, mumps, and rubella, they each had their own separate vaccinations in the late sixties, but they didn't put them together until early 70's." Matilda said.

"Where did you learn that?"

"A library book about contagious diseases. It was really interesting, but I skipped over the pictures, especially when it came to the bubonic plague."

"I don't blame you. That medical book, you read it or did someone read it to you?"

"I read it."

"And you understood it?"

"Yeah, I wash my hands a lot more now."

"You said you were six, correct? How long have you been able to read adult books?"

Matilda shrugged and thought about it. "Well, my parents left me home alone since I was three, and it was really boring so I'd walk down the library everyday since it was just a couple blocks. The children's books stopped being all that interesting pretty fast, so I guess since I was four?"

"Wait, what?" The doctor asked alarmed. He looked up at Miss Honey. "She's been left unsupervised since she was three?" He gave her an accusing look.

"Yes, that's why she's in my care now. She is a student in the class I teach and I started noticing signs of severe neglect. When I asked her parents about it, they signed over custody to me. I'm just waiting on the courts to make me her legal guardian." Miss Honey explained.

The doctor relaxed a little. "You must be a very kind person to take her in. Most would just report them and move on with their lives."

"Matilda is a very special girl. She's not like other children her age. I asked my kindergarten class as a joke to multiply a large sum, and she knew the answer right away. I thought she was kidding until I worked it out with a pencil and paper."

"I'm starting to understand your concerns a little better, but I stand by my earlier assessment. I think it's just stress. It can affect the body in strange ways, especially small children. I must admit I am quite impressed with her knowledge and mental capabilities, but she is still just a child. If the urine test and blood work come out fine, my advice is give it time. This is a big change in her life, and she might just be having trouble adjusting emotionally. If the bed wetting becomes persistent, get a mattress protector and maybe some of those absorbent night underwear for kids."

"No!" Matilda said, before cringing in embarrassment for interrupting. "I'm sorry, but please, no diapers. "I'm, I'm…" she started to say before pausing to get her thoughts in order. "I've really never had this problem before."

"Well, I wouldn't call them diapers." The doctor said, but she shook her head. "Well, then I would suggest no liquids before bed, and if need be, set an alarm in the middle of the night to wake you up to use the bathroom."

Matilda frowned. Why hadn't she thought of that?

"That's a thought." Miss Honey agreed. "Let's do that then."

"You ready to try this again?" The doctor asked, handing Matilda another specimen cup. "Please take this nice woman to help you this time."

"You, you really don't need to help me." Matilda mumbled. "It's kind of embarrassing. You're my teacher."

Miss Honey frowned, feeling a little hurt. She thought they were more than teacher and student at this point. Is that all Matilda saw her as?

"Well, we can't have you drop it again, what if one of my female nurses went with you?" the doctor asked.

Matilda shrugged. She'd rather do it herself, but she had blown that chance. Anything was better than accidentally peeing on Miss Honey's hand or something. She might blow up the sink with her mind. She had read that viruses were spread via bodily fluids, and what if this sudden telekinetic thing was a symptom of some unknown illness? She couldn't risk passing it on to her.

Not Miss Honey.

Anyone but Miss Honey.

The nurse would wear gloves at least. If she couldn't do this by herself, this was the next best option. She gave her agreement, before giving her small hand a glare. "This is your fault." she whispered at it as she followed a young black haired woman with glasses back into the bathroom.

"Go on and lift up your gown with both hands and spread your legs." Matilda didn't fight it when she felt herself get cleaned, it was weird but necessary with her hands occupied. "Now what you're going to do is pee for a second to flush out anything, and then stop."

Matilda stared over at the sink and relaxed. One second went by, and then two. No, no, no, no!

"I can't stop it!"

"No worries, it happens. It takes practice, as long as I can get enough in the cup. Good, just a little more, and... this should be enough. D-did the sink just turn on?"

Oops, Matilda thought as the nurse stood back up with the half-full cup.

"Go ahead and finish up here and meet us back in the room. Don't forget to wash your hands in the haunted sink."

Matilda breathed a sigh of relief when she was alone. Embarrassment seemed to be the trigger for whatever this was. She didn't realize doctor appointments could be so...awkward. At least all the embarrassment for the day was over, she thought as she washed her hands, blissfully unaware that the day had only given a taste of what it had to offer.