The Sandman

Everybody has secrets, those little nuggets of yourself that you can't or don't want to share. I have mine, he's an eight year old boy who's afraid of the dark and the monsters under his bed just like any other boy his age, but this boy has reason to be afraid. His name is Theo, he has been marked by Morpheus for an eternity of nocturnal horror and it's entirely my fault.

Theo has always been a child I could ease into slumber with a few grains of sand, he would gurgle in his crib as I sprinkled magical dust over his infant eyes. As he grew, I sensed he was waiting for me to arrive and would greet me as a friend with his fledgling speech. He couldn't pronounce 'Sandman' so I found myself answering to 'Yam Yam' instead of correcting him.

Mine is a lonely fate, wandering the twilight to bring sleep and dreams, so I'll admit to sprinkling only the smallest amount of sand over Theo to ensure I could return daily to help him doze. Most children, and almost all adults, I will liberally administer to so that my return is only necessary every few days but I enjoyed Theo's innocent company in my otherwise dark existence. It was selfish of me to deem myself worthy of such friendship and an action that could cause him much pain.

As the months passed and Theo grew, he came to understand what my sand did for him and would ask for dreams of unicorns and kittens. As he got older, these requests matured with him until I was tasked with creating magical worlds of dragons and adventure where he was always the hero. The smile on his sleeping face filled the void in my soul.

I enjoyed my interaction with Theo and making sure he had the best dreams, his happiness became important to me and I repaid this friendship by failing to keep him safe from my jailor. Somnus is a vengeful God and my contentment is strictly forbidden by the God of Sleep, I'm not the Sandman by choice or by lineage, it's my penance for long ago betraying his family. Even my father, the God Helios and embodiment of light itself, could not extract me from my eternal banishment to the Underworld. I am fated to roam the Earth from dusk until dawn, never again seeing the sunlight while I ensure the states of sleep and dreaming are forced upon the population.

Morpheus brings about nightmares, this is his eternity and he enjoys it immensely, he follows my path in the dead of night to bring terror and torment to my sleeping subjects. He alters the contented path of their sleep to one twisted in tortured agony until they awaken shaking, sweating and scared, destined to relive their ordeal during their waking hours, questioning the boundaries of their sanity. Morpheus is also Somnus's son, his third in command and the discoverer of my secret. Instead of reporting my actions and my preference for this one child, he's decided to mock me and play a nocturnal game where Theo is the prize.

It pains me to watch over Theo tonight from my shadowy vantage point, Morpheus has visited already. He writhes in his sleep from the terror that was planted within and the rate of his little heart has increased to the point that he pants in his sleep and sweats as if he runs for his life. I could be executed for interfering in Morpheus's work, he carries out the desires of his father but in this case I believe he's acting as a renegade and purely for his own gratification. I must chance that it will be his wrath alone that will fall upon me if I am caught.

Theo is marked because of me, he suffers because of me and I promised him in his disturbed slumber that I would lay down my life to protect him from this pain. I reach out with all seven senses and satisfy myself I am not observed, I slip silently to Theo's bedside and hold my cool hand to his clammy forehead. He jolts slightly under my touch and I scatter sand over his dreamscape. He calms visibly and I can see that I have neutralised the demon terrorising his sleep for tonight.

He sleeps calmly now and returns to the foetal position he's always favoured as the dawn starts to break. I feel the pull of the Underworld drawing me away from the emerging sun and I leave my young charge to wake and face the carefree day he deserves, promises to return tomorrow and every day after that.