A Cure for Hiccups

Chapter 1: Dreamsand

"Dreams do not exist within the realm of hours or minutes or any measure of the day. They live in the space between the tick and the tock. Before the tolling of the bell, past the dawn, and beyond the velvet night." (Joyce, William. The Sandman and the War of Dreams. Atheneum Books, 2013.)

~🌟~

It was a beautiful night sky—the stars were shining above him peacefully and the wind blew calmly, helping with the wisps of golden dream sand to every kid in the world—when something small happened; something that changed history.

"Hicc!"

The sound interrupted from Sandman's mouth, severing all the lines of dreams and. It was like someone cutting a piece of string with an invisible pair of scissors.

Sandman covered his mouth in surprise. The noise sounded familiar to him. As if he had heard it before. In the many years he was a guardian he never got a case of hiccups. He was normally a quiet, little man only making noise when it was absolutely needed and when everyone was awake, even then, his voice only came out in light whispers.

He trained to remain calm and reconnected all the dream sand lines which had started to disperse in the breeze. He would have to connect the area not only to the original line but then pressure the cleaned line on each child. The like had to be sturdy enough to send dreams and wishes back and forth, sort of like a telephone line.

"Hicc!"

That's when it happened again. At first, Sandman thought maybe it was a fluke, maybe even something he configured up in his mind. No, that would have been the doing of the Boogeyman. He controlled all of the fear and was the spirit of fear. He gave children nightmares while Sandman gave them wonderful dreams. The two were opposites but they had once met each other.

Sandman shook his head. The past was not important right now. What was important was his job. He was one of the first guardians on Earth assigned by the Man in the Moon via a wish. It was his job to protect children and to help them achieve their dreams/wishes. If he didn't do that he could get forgotten like the Boogeyman man himself, Pitch Black.

He covered his mouth again as another hiccup escaped through his lips. He couldn't do his job with the hiccups. The lines would never get strong enough to transfer the dreams, and he wouldn't have enough time to manually knock out all the sleeping children, at least not by himself.

Sandman looked down. He was currently hovering high above the forest on his golden cloud of golden sand. The forest was lush and full of big trees filled with many leaves. A small circle opening was clear and had enough room for him to land. He looked back towards the city, all of the bedroom windows holding a child or two inside of them. He had to do his job, but how?

Sandman remembered how they helped Toothiana that tooth fairy with her job that one time. Silently and carefully taking teeth from under children's pillows was pretty easy for Sandman. He seldom talked and was small enough to go through most windows. Plus, his job also went on during the night time so it helped in that way too. But he was Sandman, his job required the magical dream sand which brought children's wishes into their individually crafted dreams at night. The only other person who had dream sand—or at least a version of it—was Pitch.

Sandman found himself floating down towards the clearing where a broken bed lay near the middle, it's wood old from time and being outside for so long. The boards which would have held the mattress were mostly broken minus the ones near the head and footboard of the bed frame. They were okay all things considered.

Sandman took a deep breath which was followed by a "Hicc." Sandman frowned but he knew what he had to do. Slowly and carefully, the golden dream spirit made his way down into the lair of the Nightmare King.

~🌟~

Shalom Seedlings!

If you don't already know this is where I ask you all a question. You don't have to answer it, but I think it's fun talking to the author.

Today's question is: Have you seen Rise of the Guardians (the movie which this fan-fiction is based on) and/or any of The Guardians books (the book series this fan-fiction this is sort of based on)?