Dear Mister Sandman

Chapter 14

"My father." Morpheus broke the silence when an hour later, the two heard the front door open downstairs. It echoed throughout the whole house and made Charlie jump for a second.

"Stay here, I need to talk to him." He continued, standing up to near his door.
"And don't-" He turned around, leaning against his doorframe.
"Fall asleep, I get it." Charlie interrupted.
"Miss Denver, you must not always interrupt me when I speak. It is very rude." He scowled at her again.
"Well Morpheus, I think you mustn't always tell me to not fall asleep. I have heard it the first couple of times." She mockingly lifted her nose up, in an attempt to look snooty.

"What are-" He started to talk, but was interrupted by sudden footsteps that sounded rather close. He looked to his left and saw his father stomp towards him.
"Son, we need to talk." Hypnos started before stepping into Morpheus' room and stopping in his tracks. He was surprised to see Charlie sitting on the chair next to Morpheus' bed.

"Hi." Charlie awkwardly waved.
"Why hello." Hypnos looked at his son and then couldn't help his eyes to wander back to her.
"Father, we need to talk in your office." Morpheus demanded, but his father shook his head.

"No, I have to talk to Miss Denver first. You wait here." He said, gesturing for Charlie to follow him out of the room.
"But father, I think it's a good idea if I come too. We must discuss our plan." Morpheus followed the two, irked that his father didn't want him to come along. Since when was he ever not allowed to be in the office if he demanded? Never. Well, except for today. Something was fishy.

"I said you wait here, son. There are things I need to discuss with Miss Denver alone." Hypnos urged, turning towards Morpheus and only now seeing the book in his hand.
"What is that?" He almost growled.
"That's what I was going to talk to you about. Why was the office closed?" Morpheus wanted to know, his anger rising at the same speed his father's anger was rising.

"You went into the office? Impossible." Then it dawned on him.
"You went into my room!" Hypnos now growled and Morpheus shrugged, seemingly unfazed by his father's tone of voice.
"Since when do you lock it up? And why can I not be with you and Miss Denver. She is my client. Anything that concerns her, concerns me." Morpheus was confused.

Charlie felt like she should not be part of whatever the two were doing right now. She wasn't sure if they were fighting, arguing, discussing. But she knew standing there and watching father and son talk to one another in such manner, made her really uncomfortable. But she couldn't help the feeling that it was partially her fault. In a way, they were fighting because of her. And she did not really enjoy that thought.

Another thing she didn't enjoy was standing on her feet for a large amount of time. They were still very sore, despite Morpheus' artful and very helpful binding after having put some disinfectant ointment on them. Her situation was physically, as well as mentally uncomfortable at that point.

"You will stay in your room until I'm finished talking to her. As soon as you brought her to me, she became my client. Since you can't do anything right, I have to deal with it. Now stop with this nonsense and go into your room!" Hypnos yelled in anger.

Morpheus stepped back and Charlie saw the hurt in his eyes. That was probably the most human reaction of him that she had ever witnessed. And she falt bad for him. He was trying his best and she really appreciated that he was. She wanted him to know that, but refrained from running over to him and hugging him. He would probably just push her away, she thought.

But when his eyes travelled over to her, the hurt in his look was replaced by embarrassment. He felt embarrassed and she also couldn't blame him for it. Morpheus then looked at the floor, deciding whether he should stay and argue or just leave and let his father win. And he decided for the latter. But he was not giving up, he thought as he turned around and went back into his room.