matilda oneshots i had to get out of my head

matildamas day 7: decorating

hello everyone, welcome to day 7!! only five more days!

please enjoy!! :)))

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"Mummy?"

"Yes?" Jenny responds to Matilda popping up at the foot of her bed one morning like a little gopher.

"Can we pleeeease decorate today? The tree's just been sitting there for ages!" Matilda begs.

"It's not even been there for a day!" Jenny responds with a giggle. "We only bought the thing twelve hours ago!"

"Twelve hours is so loooooong," Matilda whines, flopping face-first onto Jenny's bed. Jenny chuckles and gently tickles her back.

"Losing strength?"

Matilda nods, face still firmly in the mattress. "I'm simply withering away."

"Withering? Well, then I guess you're too weak to help me pick out all the decorations," Jenny hums teasingly. Matilda snaps her head up rapidly.

"No! I can help!"

"Then go get some solid shoes on and meet me in the attic. Don't want you needing another tetanus jab just yet."

Matilda goes flying out of the room and to her own to find some shoes she can wear to protect her feet. Jenny isn't positive they're necessary, but she hasn't been in the attic since they moved in and she feels it's better to be safe than sorry.

She gets on a sturdy pair of her own shoes and heads down the hallway, tugging on the cord and releasing the steps up into the creaky old attic. She shivers at the chill, and at the memory that her daughter lived in an even smaller one for a majority of her life thus far.

Matilda meets her there after barely three minutes, panting slightly after moving so quickly. "Where are the decorations?"

"I'm not sure. I don't know what... survived Aunt Trunchbull," Jenny begins quietly. "I'm sure she destroyed most of it."

"She can't have gotten all of it," Matilda says in her comforting little way.

"I hope not," Jenny says with a sad smile. "Start poking around over there. Carefully, mind. A lot of the things are glass, so watch for anything broken. And keep an eye out for any loose nails on the shelves."

Matilda nods and starts poking around in her corner. Jenny goes to the one opposite and starts pulling boxes off shelves and opening them.

She nearly coughs up a lung opening the first one, as she inhales a cloud of dust that smells of memories and potential bronchitis. She waves it away and looks in.

She smiles when she sees the box is filled with her mother's old things. She remembers her father showing her these as a little girl. The play teapot her mother had when she was a girl herself, a ratty old teddy bear, an equally ratty but still beautiful doll, photos (though unfortunately few and far between), a dress just a bit bigger than what Matilda wears, an old mint tin full of miniature watercolor paints. And all of it wrapped in a bright red leotard. Her mother's first acrobat costume.

Nothing Christmas, but she puts it by the stairs to take down and sort through when she has a spare moment. Seeing that still intact gives her some hope.

She looks up and smiles as she sees Matilda poring curiously over an old, dusty book she found. She sneezes suddenly as she inhales a bit and looks panicked that she's ruined the book for a moment. Relief spreads across her angelic little face as she realizes the book is okay, but she puts it to the side and continues digging through the box.