“Mommy why do I have to go to bed?” He asks

“So you will be safe from the dream stealer.” I replies.

“Who’s the dream stealer?” He question

“A mythical beast that steals your good dreams and replaces them with nightmares if you are not sleeping.” I answer

“Tell me the tale!” He asks excitedly.

“A long time ago, maybe 4000 years ago a mythical creature was summoned to do one important task, to take the dreams of humans when they wake up. Even though that was a very hard mission he did it very well. Until people stop sleeping. This is a problem as he can’t do his mission until they are dreaming. So to scare the people to sleep he put nightmares and takes the good dreams of people.”

I say

“But who knows if that’s true?” He asks.

“You don’t know but it’s better safe than sorry.” I say

“Alright I’m going to sleep. Bye mommy.” He says

“Good night Phil.” I replied

The next day…

“Mommy! Mommy! The dream stealer have me nightmares!” He says crying

“Well you should have went to sleep.” I say internally shocked that the myth is true. “Next time go to bed before he gets to you.” I say