Dear Mister Sandman

Chapter 31

Morpheus kicked a little rock on his way back to the hotel.

He had checked the women's restroom as well as the men's restroom just to make sure. But Miss Denver apparently left without him noticing. And he could only hope she went back to the hotel. A sigh escaped his lips as his hands went deeper into his coat pockets.

He didn't know whether he should be upset by her leaving or if he should feel sorry that she felt as if she couldn't face him anymore. By no means did he ever want to hurt her. He just wanted to make sure they were on the same page. But apparently, they weren't. Well, if he was being completely honest with himself, they were on the exact same page. Apparently, she liked him as much as he liked her. That was what he wanted to avoid though. But instead of achieving that tonight, all he did was make their last actual night together horrible for the both of them.

"Watch out." He heard and before he knew it, something cold hit Morpheus in the face.
"What the-" What was that? It felt like snow. But Morpheus knew, last time he looked around- which was a few seconds ago- there was no snow on the streets. Or anywhere else for that matter.

When he heard mischievous laughter, Morpheus wiped his face and turned to the right. He could not believe it, he felt snow on his hands. As he looked at the person who laughed a second ago, he realized what was happening. For a short moment, Morpheus' mood was momentarily lifted as he looked at the Kri across the street. They locked eyes and the Kri winked at Morpheus. Within a second, the Kri climbed up the street lantern and blew on the palm of his hand, creating snow flakes that slowly fell down to the streets. His snow white hair flew around his face as he jumped to another lantern.

Another look around with the combination of joyful gasps from the humans around him, assured Morpheus that tonight was officially the start of winter in Ailavu. All the Kris were out, on top of buildings, lanterns and even cars. Their baby blue uniform made it easy for Morpheus to spot them. They practically invaded the streets, covering them with thick, white snow. Of course, to the human eye, Kris were invisible. Morpheus did know however, that Kris were very well trained. It takes a while for them to perfect their professionalism. One wrong move and a Kri would become visible to anyone.

"Wow." A Kri above Morpheus on the lantern formed a huge frosty snowflake and showed it to him.
"Why the long face, mate?" The Kri asked, immediately knowing that Morpheus was an Uvalion.
"What?" Morpheus asked.
"Before I threw the snowball at you, you looked sad. How come?" The Kri asked.

"I don't know. There's just a lot on my mind." Morpheus looked around, making sure no human would spot him talking to the Kri. They'd think he went nuts.
"Anything a little snowflake cannot fix?" He gave him another snowflake, making Morpheus smile.

"I've read about you. But I've never seen any of you before. Now I'm here. I've been here for less than a day. And I see more than I did the past twenty-six years of my life." Morpheus said, not exactly sure why he told the Kri.
"That is good, isn't it?" The Kri settled down on the car in front of Morpheus, sitting criss-cross-applesauce as he watched Morpheus with interest.
"I suppose." Morpheus shrugged.

"You are half human." That made him look at the icy blue eyes of the Kri in surprise.
"How did you know?" He asked.
"Uvalions don't get sad. Uvalions don't feel this deeply. I sometimes envy humans. How they seem in control of everything. I can only wonder how exciting life must be for a mixture of both. You get the best of both worlds." The Kri looked at Morpheus with adoration in his eyes as if looking at a puppy.

"Or- as demonstrated by current events- the worst of both worlds." He sighed.
"I guess that can be a problem. But no matter what, at least you know how to feel. You know what warmth feels like. Summer days and cocktails at the beach, eh? I have only heard stories about the earth. This is my first ever job." The Kri did look young, Morpheus noted.