Dear Mister Sandman

Chapter 9

"Fine, have it your way. But I will not erase her memory." Morpheus said with a stubborn cross of his arms.
"Son, now you're being childish." Hypnos said, having had enough the the two of them. It was time to put an end to this.

"Both of you are being childish. How about-" He looked at Charlie.
"I give you until the end of the week to think about your decision. You might want to try out your bed tying strategy before completely saying no to Ailavu. I'm certain it will give you a better insight of what's going to be the case for the rest of your life. Furthermore, we won't erase your memory, meaning we are trusting you not to tell a single soul about us. About what we just revealed about our world." Hypnos gave her a stern look, but had a really good feeling about her not telling anyone. She seemed like a very mature and trustworthy young woman.

"And you-" He turned towards his fuming son.
"You will not manipulate her decision in any way, shape or form. In fact, you will not see her for the time being." Morpheus simply looked away, not knowing why his father was acting like not doing the right thing was even an option. But it was fine for him right now. Until Miss Denver was due with her decision, he would have enough bullet points to convince her to come with him anyway, he thought.

"This-" Hypnos opened a drawer next to him and picked up a golden card. He held it out for Charlie to take.
"- is your ticket. As soon as you have your decision, you will send a letter, using this card as the paper. No envelope or anything other than your words on this card. You flip it out of the window and it will find its way to us. While I'm not going to erase your memory completely, I will have Darian disorient you, meaning no matter how hard you try, you won't find this house. And I'd like for it to stay that way." Hypnos finished, watching her look at the bland gold card.

"But there's nothing on it." Charlie frowned.
"Well, you won't need to see our address. You simply have to throw it out of your window. No complications." Hypnos assured her before glancing at a sulking Morpheus. His arms were still crossed across his chest as he watched Charlie intensely.

"I think we are done here, son. Say goodbye to Miss Denver." It took everything in Hypnos not to laugh at his son's childish shrug as he stayed silent.
"Well, I for my part really enjoyed getting to know you, Miss Denver. I hope you do take this time to reflect on your previous nights and see whether it is a fixable issue or not." Charlie nodded at that. One glance at Morpheus and she sighed in defeat. Well, if he didn't say bye, why should she?

She might never see him again, but why would she care? He was rude and arrogant and mean anyways. He did curse me, Charlie thought. But he was a child back then. Charlie looked at Hypnos whilst she eventually stood up from her seat. The elder man stood up as well.

"Darian will drive you home. I will show you to the garage. He will be downstairs with your coat shortly." With a swift motion, the wooden door was held open and Charlie went to go through. But something about this just didn't feel right. So she turned back around, catching a short glimpse of Morpheus easing up on his upset facial expression and instead looking at her like he was in disbelief. As if he couldn't understand her point of view at all.

"I know you're upset, because I won't have you be punished for what you did all those years ago. But even if you were the reason why I had nightmares, I still want to thank you for helping me. And although you hate me, I don't hate you. And I wish you nothing, but the best." She smiled softly, hoping to hear a mature response to that. But her words were met with silence. Great, more silence. Well, that was awkward. Never again, she told herself.

Charlie turned back around and met Hypnos by the door. He lead the two across the hallway and through another door before entering another hallway. At the end of that hallway, was the door to the garage.

"Wow." Charlie's eyes went wide as she took in the sight of the black shiny car in front of her. It was a Jaguar, she didn't really know the model. But she did know the make of car. It looked so sexy and just elegant. Never in her life did she think she would ever step into a Jaguar. Charlie was never a car girl, but there were certain makes of cars that she knew and always wondered what it would be like to drive them or even sit in them.

"This is our bat mobile." Hypnos joked, opening the passenger door for her.
"Thank you." Charlie said as she climbed inside, taking her time to analyse the interior. Still astonished, she didn't even notice Hypnos watching her. He crouched down, keeping his right elbow on top of the car door window.

"I know that my son appears rather rude and hard headed. But deep inside he is a really nice young man, just waiting to get a chance, you know. You can't take him too seriously when he acts the way he did back there. He's always trying to do the right thing, which can be quite challenging at times and I suppose it also takes a lot of energy and discipline to do so. But he still has a lot to learn, especially when it comes to his social skills. I just want to thank you for not making him feel even worse than he already does. He was a kid back then and he knows that too. He'll get around eventually. Just you focus on yourself and make sure you do what you think is best for everyone." He said.

"I reckon it must also be hard for you to even think about Morpheus getting punished, possibly killed. Why don't you talk some sense into him?" Charlie really wanted to know.
"I know that no matter what I say as a father will not matter to him. You see, Miss Denver-"

"You can call me Charlie. I don't know why Morpheus insists on calling me Miss Denver. I'm just Charlie." She quickly interrupted him.
"Alright, Charlie. My son is very gifted. And it takes a lot of hard work for a half Uvalion to perfect his skills and therefore, he is a very disciplined young man. He has always been like that when it came to his Might. Because he knows that a big part of being an Uvalion means being a permanent worker. If you think about it, all he knows is helping others. It is part of our codex. An Uvalion must serve and help humans in order to remain alive."

"I, for example will live my life helping people sleep. Morpheus can choose to live the rest of his life helping people have dreams. To him, it's never been a question whether he wanted to help or not. It was his duty. Ever since he found out, he knew what to do. So I think part of being my son, he has the undeniable sense of always doing what's right. And I, as a full Uvalion am not even allowed to deny that. If he weren't my son, I would have to report him as soon as I found out about the curse. But I have been on this earth long enough to have developed certain human emotions, such as love. I love him too much to let him go to the senate." Charlie frowned at that.

"And I need to make sure the two of us are on the same page. I cannot have my son taken away from me. For something he did when he was merely a kid. I'm not supposed to tell you this, but I appreciate you not wanting to make a big deal out of it. I am sure you will find a way to handle your sleepwalking." Hypnos gave Charlie a hopeful look. She gulped, suddenly feeling uneasy. But with a nod, the feeling was gone and Hypnos seemed happy about her response.

"Good. Darian is already on his way. Don't forget to send us the letter on Sunday, preferably morning." Hypnos said, straightening up and closing her car door.

Charlotte gulped, but knew exactly what she had to do.