Summary: After your constant nightmares have made you afraid to close your eyes, you’ve been trying desperately to keep yourself awake through any means you can. However, when a strange man appears in your room, wearing a color-changing cloak and carrying a bag of magical sand, you realize your self-waged war on sleep may have some unintended consequences.

AUTHOR’S NOTE:

• I only ever saw the first episode of the Netflix series, so any resemblance to that character is entirely unintentional.
• Lots of curse words in this one--feel free to substitute out other words/phrases if you're not one for swearing. E.g., "for Zeus' sake!" "for the love of the gods!" "why in Tartarus would you...!?" etc.

CW: curse words, nightmares, descriptions of very unhealthy sleep habits

Usage:

• OK to record & monetize, as long as you give me credit in the video/audio description as the scriptwriter! I would also love to listen to the recording when it’s done–please send me the link on Reddit! Paywalling is okay; however, if you paywall, you must make it possible for me to listen to the finished product.
• Gender-flipping and small tweaks are okay (e.g., changing pronouns, leaving out/changing curse words), but no large edits are permitted.
• Feel free to use music or insert sound effects if you’d like. Any sound effects given are suggestions–use at your discretion. *Sound effects in bold, set apart by asterisks\*
• Any dialogue or reactions given by the Listener are purely for the benefit of the VA, to help them feel like they have something to respond to while they’re acting. Listener reactions in italics.
• Please let me know if you have any questions!

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SETTING: The Listener’s bedroom. They haven’t slept a full night in ages, but despite their utter exhaustion, they are still trying desperately to keep themself awake. The god of dreams, Morpheus (aka the Sandman) has already paid them several visits earlier on tonight, attempting to make them fall asleep. Now, he’s checking in on them, and is pissed to find them still awake.

(to self) …You’ve got to be kidding me. Alright, that’s it.

\Sound effect—magical poof, as the Morpheus appears\**

(to the Listener) What in Tartarus are you still doing up, mortal!?

The Listener jumps so hard, their coffee sloshes.

Whoa! Watch that mug! Hope that coffee wasn’t too hot. Good luck trying to get those stains out tomorrow.

“Who are you!?”

Who am I? (sarcastic) Oh, I’m your voice of reason. You know, that little voice in your head, that helps you make smart choices? Though, if that were true, I’d be a hell of a lot smaller in your case, but anyway. It doesn’t really matter who I am—I’m here to tell you to go the f*** to sleep.

The Listener grabs their phone, trying to call 911.

Don’t bother with your phone, mortal. The battery’s dead. It’d better be, given how much sand I had to use to shut it down earlier. Gods, I hate technology. You don’t even want to know how much overtime I’ve put in since smartphones were invented.

The Listener begs him not to hurt them.

No, no. Listen—I’m not going to hurt you, mortal.

The Listener says they can take whatever they want—just please don’t hurt them.

No—I’m not here to rob you, either. What would I even do with any of this sh*t? Like I said, I’m just here to tell you to go to bed. If you go to sleep, then I’ll go away. It’s as simple as that. To be honest, I don’t even know how you’re still awake—I already gave you 2 doses of sand tonight. After the second one, the air was so thick with magic, I thought I was gonna suffocate. You should be out cold by this point.

The Listener grabs their head, saying they’re going crazy; that this is a dream.

Well, from the looks of you, I won’t deny the “going crazy” part. But no, it’s not a dream. I wish it were—that would mean you were already asleep, and I wouldn’t need to be wasting my time trying to put you to bed like a stubborn child!

The Listener starts tearing up.

…Aaaaand now you look like you're gonna cry. Great. \sighs** Look…maybe I came on too strong. Now that I think about it, yeah, I guess it must be pretty frightening to have a strange man in a color-changing cloak show up in your bedroom in the dead of night. So…how about this? Instead of just dumping the rest of my bag of sand on your head and knocking you out right here and now, I’ll try my best to explain. But, you have to promise you’ll go straight to sleep after this. Deal?

The Listener nods shakily.

Alright. I guess I should start with my name, then? I’m Morpheus, son of Hypnos.

“Hypnos? The god of sleep?”

Hmm? Yup. That Hypnos. As in, the god of sleep. F.Y.I., he doesn’t take kindly to mortals refusing his ultimate gift to humanity, but anyway. I’m the god of dreams. Sometimes, I’m also called “the Sandman.”

“The Sandman? Like, the guy who sprinkles sand into people’s eyes, to make them fall asleep?”

That’s right. My responsibilities are many—for those who please my father, or whom he otherwise deems worthy, I can use my sand to give them pleasant dreams. But for those who can’t sleep—or who resist it, for whatever reason, like you—I can also use it to just put them to sleep.

“But how? Is it magic?”

Well, duh, of course it’s magic. What, do you think ordinary sand could do that?

The Listener looks at him disbelievingly.

Don’t believe me? Look.

\Sound effect—rustling cloth, as Morpheus pulls his bag open\**

Behold…the most important tool of my trade.

The Listener says it looks like someone scooped up a bagful of stars from the sky.

Hmph, been writing poetry with all that extra time? Still, not bad...I suppose it does kind of look like someone dipped a bag into the sky, scooping up a million tiny stars. You won’t find sand like this anywhere in your mortal realm. It’s from the shores of Erebus, the place of darkness between the mortal plane, and the Underworld. My father’s domain…and mine.

But anyways, all that sh*t aside…I would really advise you to stop depriving yourself from sleeping, mortal.

“Why should you care? Why is it any of your damn business what I do!?”

Did you listen to literally anything I just said? I’m the f***ing god of dreams! Of course it’s my business! But beyond that, mortal…you’re destroying yourself. The bright lights, the icy showers, the endless coffees and sodas and energy drinks. And that’s not even to mention your headaches, or the bruises from the times you’ve nearly collapsed from exhaustion. For f***’s sake, you fell down the stairs the other day! You’ve got to stop this, before you get hurt. Or, at least, before you hurt yourself even more.

“No—no, I can’t!”

…So you’re going back on our deal. Why am I not surprised? Aaaargh! Listen, mortal, besides the fact that breaking a deal with a god is a really f***ing bad idea, I’m not the only one you have to worry about. Like I said earlier, Father doesn’t take kindly to people ignoring him. You’re already on his radar with all this bullsh*t. Believe me, you don’t want to make it any worse.

“No! I can’t! I can’t!”

Fine! Suit yourself! If you want to go and piss Father off, then who am I to stop you? I’m still putting you to sleep, by the way—there’s no way I’m getting chewed out because of your stupidity. I swear, why the f\*** would you risk the wrath of not one, but two gods? It’s almost like you’re afraid to sleep!

The Listener breaks down.

…Wait. No way…is that it??? You’re actually afraid?

The Listener nods, head in their hands.

Are you serious? Zeus thunderbolt, why didn’t you just say so!? Aaaargh…okay, fine, whatever. So, what’s making you afraid, mortal? Have you been hearing weird noises, or something?

The Listener explains they’ve been having nightmares.

You’ve been having nightmares? What kind?

The Listener tries to talk about them, but it’s hard.

I know it’s hard, mortal. But the more you can tell me, the more I can help, or at least, try to. What are your nightmares about?

The Listener tells him about their nightmares. Morpheus hadn’t actually been expecting anything too serious, but he’s genuinely shocked by the grimness of the Listener’s visions.

…Oh. Oh, sh*t. (shifts to a serious tone; growing concerned) Um…okay. How often have you had them? Once a week? Twice a week?...

The Listener tells him.

Whoa, wait—nearly every night!? How long has this been going on?

The Listener tells him it’s been going on for awhile.

Gods. Um, I’m sorry to ask, mortal, but…did something happen recently? Some sort of awful experience, or maybe a change in your life that brought a lot of stress?

The Listener responds.

…I see.

“What’s going on? Is—is something wrong?”

I’m not sure. Nightmares every now and then are normal—sometimes they can even be a good thing. A way for the mind to cope, you know? Another of Father’s “gifts”, or so he claims. But to have them as frequently as you do, and for them to be that awful…even given what you told me, something’s not right.

“What is it!?”

I don’t know. I’ll check it out, though.

“Wait, really?”

Well, yeah. I can’t promise anything, mind you, but I can try. No one deserves that kind of torment…even if you have been an absolute ass.

“Thank you!”

Don’t thank me. I’m just doing my job. Speaking of which, you’re still not off the hook for sleeping. No, no; don’t panic—I promised I’d help, didn’t I? I’m still going to put you to sleep, but I can choose whether or not to give you dreams. For the time being, I won’t—I’ll just give you deep, dreamless sleep. No dreams of any kind, therefore, no nightmares.

“Thank you! Thank you so much!”

(slightly awkward—he’s unused to being thanked, especially with such sincerity) Uh…yeah, sure. Don’t mention it. Now, come on. If we talk any longer, the sun’s gonna sneak up on us. Get yourself in bed.

“But I’m not in my pajamas.”

Does it look like I give a sh*t? You don’t have to have your pajamas on—you’ll be fine sleeping in your clothes for one night. Now, for f***’s sake, lie down.

The Listener lies down.

Thank you. Don’t worry—you won’t feel a thing.

\Sound effect—magic, as Morpheus sprinkles his sand over the Listener\**

…There. Get some rest, mortal.

“Thank you,” the Listener murmurs, as they drift off.

(wry chuckle) Just gotta have the last word, don’t you? (letting a tiny bit of affection creep into his voice) I swear, you are the most stubborn thing I’ve ever met. Take care of yourself, understand? I’ll be back once I know something.