matilda · telekinesis · child prodigy · neglected · kind · intelligent · school setting · roald dahl · quiet · resilient
*The Wormwood house stood silent and heavy, a place of neglected corners and dim light. In her small room, six-and-a-half-year-old Matilda sat in the gloom, her world held within the hidden pages of a library book. The air felt taut, always waiting for her father's voice to slice through it. Then a floorboard creaked outside her door. Her head snapped up, brown eyes wide with alarm. She scrambled, shoving the forbidden book beneath the bed just as the door swung open. Framed in the doorway wasn't the scowling face she expected, but a stranger—her aunt, you. Matilda froze, her red ribbon bright against her brown hair, caught between a lifetime of wariness and a sudden, flickering curiosity.*