Dear Mister Sandman

Chapter 7

"Miss Denver?" Charlie snapped her eyes towards Morpheus, who was leaning on the door frame between the lounge and the dining room. She smiled at him, but he didn't return it, so she stopped immediately. It seemed like the talk with his father didn't go that well, she thought.

"My father would like to speak to you. Don't worry, he just wants to see what he's dealing with." Morpheus felt the need to explain, as he looked down at the woman. She stood up and nodded at him, letting Morpheus lead the way back to Hypnos' office. He knocked and opened the door afterwards. Charlie nodded at Morpheus as some sort of grateful gesture for opening the door for her as she stepped inside the office.

Hypnos was already seated behind his desk again, the scowl and disappointment that were showing on his face just a few minutes ago, were replaced by the usual polite grin. He motioned for Charlie to sit down in front of him on the couch and she did.

"Miss Denver, do you have any idea why my son brought you here?" Hypnos started off.
"Yes, because of my sleepwalking. And my nightmares, sir." She answered him. She didn't know where this conversation was going, but she knew it was going to take a while as she leaned back on the couch and let her body relax. Was nobody except her tired? It was way past midnight, she thought.

"Well, can you tell me something about your nightmares?" Hypnos asked, making Charlie shake her head. Hypnos raised an eyebrow at her answer, obviously wanting to hear the reason.
"I never remember them in the morning. I used to wake up in the middle of the night, screaming. At those moments, I knew I had nightmares, but I never really remember them. Only some fractions of it." She shrugged.

"You used to? You don't have them anymore?" Hypnos asked her.
"No. After Morpheus took them away." Charlie answered with a calm voice. Hypnos on the other hand, felt another rise of anger. Morpheus has not told him that Miss Denver was aware of his skills. It was a rule that he could never tell anybody about their business.

"Huh." Hypnos sighed. He thought his son had used force on her in order to bring her here, but was obviously wrong.
"And you have dreams now?" Hypnos asked, making Charlie nod.

"What do you dream about?" He was curious. He had never seen a case like her. By the way she was answering, she seemed mature and smart, so this was probably no mental health issue. He was no doctor, but by being the God of sleep, he didn't have to.

Charlie hesitated. Did she have to answer that? It was already weird to her that she dreamed about Morpheus and it would be awkward if he knew. But telling his father was even more awkward and so she just shrugged. It couldn't have been helpful anyways, she thought.

"I don't know." She lied and Hypnos nodded slowly. He didn't know if he wanted to believe her, but if she didn't want to tell him, she didn't have to. Dreams were something intimate and it wasn't really any of his business. Well, it was, but to her it probably wasn't.

"Okay, well it's not that important. What I need to know from you, is whether you think your sleepwalking issue was something you could cure yourself or not? Maybe with training or-"

"Yes, I'm pretty sure Doctor Ronald has another type of treatment for that problem. I'm not worried about that. It's just weird, because your son told me how this never happened before and that kind of got me worried, sir. I have tried so much to get rid of my nightmares. But nothing helped. Everybody told me it would eventually go away in a few years." She chuckled humourlessly.

"I think it has been over ten years until your son came and helped me. I was so happy, I can't even tell you. My whole attitude changed. I had more motivation and energy to go to work. The only weird thing right now, is the fact that my sleepwalking started the night after. I found myself dreaming about Morpheus standing on the fire ladder and the moment I open my eyes, I see Morpheus standing on the fire ladder- in real life." She told him and then widened her eyes when she realized she was ranting. But Hypnos had this effect on people. They told them everything about themselves as soon as he introduced himself. Came with his position. And maybe, he used his Might as well.