Dear Mister Sandman

Chapter 8

"I know this must come as a great shock to you, but I assure you we will fix it." Hypnos told Charlie after watching her carefully. He had finished the story Morpheus told him a while ago. And Charlie's reaction was rather- uneventful- for lack of a better description. She just stared at the elder man with a slightly ajar mouth.

"Fix it? Fix sixteen years of my life?" She blinked, now staring at Morpheus, who quickly looked away as he appeared to be ashamed, standing behind his seated father. Charlie shook her head.
"You can't even look at me." She felt her anger rise, but also a lot of confusion and sadness. She was being emotional and it was only a matter of time until the first drop of tear escaped her left eye.

"I didn't know I could curse you, Miss Denver. It wasn't my intention, I promise." He said with a stern tone. Charlie crossed her arms, shrugged and looked at her shoes, not being able to talk unless she felt like cry-talking.
"Miss Denver-" Hypnos' apologetic voice caused her to look at him.

"My son is very- hard to read, to put it nicely. But I've known him a long time and even though he can't express it, he is very sorry. Which we know doesn't feel like much, but we are trying our best to help you. I fully understand that you feel like crying and maybe punching Morpheus. But it won't help this dilemma. We must act fast, so that you don't lose more of your precious time." He finished, glancing at his son.

"I know, I know. I'm just- I'm sorry, I'm emotional. I just always thought it was me, you know. That something about me wasn't right." Charlie tried to explain, wiping her eyes when her vision got blurry.
"You don't have to apologize, dear." Hypnos responded with a soft voice.

"Miss Denver?" Morpheus asked, trying to sound as soft as his father. Hypnos looked at Morpheus with a surprised facial expression.
"Yes?" She responded, also noticing that he was trying. At least he was trying, she repeated in her head.

"We should go do what I just told you. The senate." He reminded her, keen on not losing any more time to plan their trip.
"Oh, yes. You're right, sorry." Charlie took a deep breath, not noticing the two men in the room exchange a look.

"Well-" She started after feeling herself calm enough to talk.
"Where do we find this congress and how long will it take?" With a small smile her eyes were met with two rather suspicious looking men. Why were they not answering her and rather talking to each other with their mimics and gestures? It seemed like neither of them wanted to answer her.

"Hello?" Charlie's eyes narrowed before Hypnos finally sighed in defeat.
"Well, you see- we can't just call them and say, meet us here. By the way, it's a senate, not a congress, dear. There is a huge difference." Charlie noticed him stalling.

"Okay, so where do we find this senate then?" She repeated.
"Silverthorne." He quickly said, making her nod. The two men exchanged another look.
"Well-" Charlie shot up from her seat and looked at Morpheus.

"Let's get going, then." At the sight of him shaking his head, Charlie rolled her eyes. She had no idea where this Silverthorne was. But she knew right then and there it was going to be more complicated than anticipated.
"You don't know where Silverthorne is, do you?" He asked.

"Nope." Came her quick response.
"Well, you might want to look it up-"
"Oh, stop it, boy. It's the capital of Ailavu. A beautiful country in-"
"Helda." Charlotte eventually caught on. Helda was a different continent!

"You want me to go to Ailavu with you?" Charlie felt slightly awkward. She then looked at Hypnos.
"Are you coming too?" Hope grazed her tone.

"I'm afraid, Miss Denver, I cannot. I've been banned from Helda since-" A side glance at his son.
"I've been banned for a very long time now and even showing myself to the senate seems like one of the top five worst ideas in the world. So you two must go alone. But don't worry, I'm always just a phone call away. Besides, I have taught Morpheus everything I know about them, everything that he might use to get a better sentence." Hypnos assured her. But the last part of his talk made Charlie frown.