Prologue
What is DRS? DRS - Dual Reality Syndrome. In a world where two realities co-exist, a quarter of the population are born with DRS, the ability to live in both realities (transferring from one to the other through sleep states). Diagnosis occurs through testing at a young age and a shifting process naturally occurs where they are locked into one reality with residual memories of the other dissipating away leaving zero memory of their condition. From a handful of individuals, DRS goes undiagnosed. Both realities are virtually similar, so some people with DRS are unaware until their 'event' that they even live within the two.
What is the Safety Net Institute (SNI)? A company/organisation that deals with DRS patients. The handful of DRS individuals slip through the net, living in dual realities until they are forced to choose one reality for the other. This choice is usually through the 'event' process, in which an event occurs in both universes but with two different outcomes and the patient is forced to choose one life or the other. If the individual doesn't choose, it is made for them by the SNI. The SNI deals with the patients until they are ready to 're-join' the reality they have chosen or has been chosen for them.
An 'Event'? A traumatic or life changing moment in which the two realities which usually are close parallels to one another split into different paths. Events are traumatic experiences and usually the patient is put into a medically induced coma for a short period of time at the Safety Net Institute, which acts as a limbo until they can make their choice. If the patient refuses to make a choice, the SNI makes it for them and the choice cannot be reversed. The patient keeps residual memories from the other reality but slowly these recede over time, assimilated over time into memories of one reality. Eventually the DRS patient forgets they lived in dual realities as their current reality comes more into focus and their every day existence.