matilda oneshots i had to get out of my head

matildamas day 3: sick day

hello everyone welcome to day three!! i hope you're all having a lovely day :)

this is the first (and hopefully only???) one of these that warrants a small trigger warning. so uh.
if you can't tell by the title, tw for illness and a few small after-effects of child abuse/neglect (nothing directly mentioned)

mostly good fluff!! just putting those in to be safe. enjoy!

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Matilda finds herself very confused to be waking up.

Normally, she's either woken by the delicious smells of a cooking breakfast, or by Miss Honey calling her down to eat it.

Today, there's nothing. It's so quiet that she can distantly hear the ticking of the massive grandfather clock downstairs, and the creaking as the winter wind blusters around their old house. The branches of the tree against the window rap against it in the wind, like a friend asking entry.

Matilda smiles to the window as she gets out of bed. The wood of the floor is almost freezing against her feet, so she quickly dances her way into her slippers and dressing gown. She forgoes making her bed, today. This is suspicious, and it's time to investigate promptly.

She pads out into the hallway and pauses, listening for any movement. Nothing. She takes another step and freezes as the floorboards creak beneath her feet. It's oddly reminiscent of how she used to have to get around her house before she came to live with Miss Honey.

She scoots over flush against the wall where the boards are less likely to creak and continues. She pauses outside the door to Miss Honey's bedroom.

Matilda listens intently with her ear pressed to the door. She hears the rustling of bedding, and a hacking cough. Uh oh.

Ever so gently, she creaks the door to the room open. She doesn't even need to enter to confirm her suspicions.

Miss Honey lies tangled in her duvet. Even from her spot in the doorway, Matilda can see the faint sheen of sweat coating her entire body and the flush of her cheeks. Miss Honey is ill.

Carefully, she closes the door once more and pads down the stairs as quietly as she can manage.

She's taken care of herself when she's sick loads of times, but never anyone else. Especially her mother. She'll simply have to manage for the both of them today.

She begins with breakfast. She could tell simply by looking that Miss Honey has a fever, but she feels it's best to go with something easy on the stomach, too. Just to be safe.

There isn't much in the way of safe breakfast items in the house, so Matilda settles on some lightly seasoned scrambled eggs and a banana. She sits at the kitchen table to eat her own portion, and then does the washing up. When her dishes are drying in the rack by the sink, she loads up Miss Honey's onto a tray and ever so carefully carries it up the stairs.

"Mummy?" she whispers when she opens the door for the second time. A violent sneeze is her answer, and Matilda nearly drops the tray in her fright. Matilda persists. "I made you breakfast."

Miss Honey rolls over and smiles faintly as she sees Matilda's little form standing there. "Oh, lamb. Thank you. I'm sorry I didn't wake you up today."

"It's okay," Matilda says. She carries the tray to Miss Honey's desk and sets it down, before fluffing the pillows in such a way that her mother can lean against them to sit upright and eat in bed. Miss Honey does so, not without effort, and Matilda carefully rests the tray in her lap. "I wasn't sure if you had an upset stomach, too. I'm sorry it's not very much."