Dear Mister Sandman

Chapter 13

It had been an hour after her bath and Charlie was already fighting her tiredness. All that walking and crying and bathing exhausted her. Nothing appeared more relaxing than a good night's sleep in that moment. And it didn't help that it was already dark outside, it started to rain and she was wrapped inside a warm and comfy bed as the sounds of the firepit grazed her ears.

"No." Morpheus glanced at her every once in while as he read a book about curses. He had gone downstairs after helping Miss Denver out of the bath and let her change into a pair of his sweats. He had dressed up her wounds and went back to his father's room in order to successfully acquire the keys to his office. He came back upstairs with a bunch of promising books almost half an hour ago and was close to be done with the first one already.

"I know. I'm trying. It's just- boring." She said for lack of better words.
"I could help you read those books." She offered, sitting up a little and glancing at the top book of the huge pile he had brought upstairs and placed on the bed next to her. Morpheus was seated right next to said pile on the bed, not even a meter away from Charlie.

"You couldn't. They are in ancient Greek letters." He said, before looking up at her.
"Unless you know how to read those." His voice sounded hopeful, but she was afraid she had to disappoint him.
"Sorry." He shrugged in return and resumed reading.
"But isn't there a bunch of myths about sleepwalking in-" She was determined to be helpful one way or another.

"Not every myth is based on a true story, Miss Denver. A lot of stories have never found the light of fame, since they weren't ever supposed to be read by society. So what you have in front of you are a variety of scriptures about curses. And some about sleepwalking. Some about demons, some about ghosts. All of which were found in diaries or simple letters." Morpheus shook his head. He sounded close to offended that she even suggested a simple myth with no proof of ever really happening.
"So no matter what myth you might think helpful, it's not. Only facts can give us more insight on what's going on with you." He looked back into his book.

Charlie looked around in his room after sighingin defeat, trying to find anyhting that she could use to pass some time. But everything in his room was kind of boring. There was no computer, no TV. All she saw was bookshelves filled with books and some decorative items. His walls were a boring, yet kind of comforting shade of beige. He had close to no pictures up, except for one on his desk that was a little too far away for Charlie to see completely. If her feet didn't hurt like that, she would stand up and get closer.

"What's that picture on your desk?" She asked Morpheus, hearing him sigh.
"My mother and I." He said as he flipped the page.
"Can I see it?" She asked him, hoping he wasn't creeped out by that. She wanted to see his mother, whose looks she could not even remotely imagine. But Morpheus did not look that much like his father, so she was kind of interested to see where he got his outlandish features from.

"Fine." He sighed again, clearly annoyed by her constant intervening. He stood up anyway and neared his desk. He glanced at the old picture of his mother and him, a small smile overcame him. But he shook his head and made sure to wipe off said smile before he turned around and went back to Miss Denver. He handed it over and went back to his reading, hoping she would stop talking now.

"Morpheus, your mom is beautiful." Charlie gasped. The picture seemed to have been taken on a soccer field. She didn't know Morpheus used to play socker. He seemed to be around five when that photo was taken. If he hadn't told her that it was him and his mother, he would never have thought it was him. The boy in the picture wore green soccer shorts that went along with his green and white striped soccer shirt. Under his arm, he carried a black and white soccer ball. But what surprised Charlie even more than the beautiful woman next to him, was the huge grin that the boy in the picture wore.