Soon the two doctors were spread out in the living room watching TV. After a while, Alicia stood up and stretched. "Do you want anything to eat?" she asked.
Ethan's stomach grumbled. "A slice of toast would be nice, thank you."
A few minutes later, she returned with some toast, which he ate without tasting it. They spent the next hour sitting together, talking about random things.
Just before midday, Ethan fell asleep. Alicia didn't want to wake him, so she went into the kitchen and got ready for lunch.
When she returned to the living room with the sandwiches, Ethan was still lying on the couch, fast asleep.
"Hey," she murmured. She shook him gently. "Ethan?"
He mumbled something.
She shook him again, harder. "Wake up!"
Finally, he opened his eyes and looked at her. "Sorry, did I fall asleep?"
She chuckled. "I think you were having a weird dream." She glanced down at his feet. "How are you feeling?"
His expression turned sad. "My headache's gone," he muttered. "But the rest of me feels awful."
"We'll get you feeling better very soon, okay?" she promised. Ethan smiled momentarily.
"So, what was going on in your dream?" Alicia asked.
He shrugged. "I don't know. But it was strange."
Alicia watched him closely. "Was I in your dream?" she joked.
Ethan hesitated. "Maybe."
She raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"I don't know," he replied. "It's hard to describe."
She rolled her eyes and laughed. "Ethan, I think you should tell me exactly what happened in your dream."
He frowned. "Why?"
She sighed. "Because you keep telling me that you don't remember anything about yesterday, right? Maybe your dream could help you remember and make sense of it."
"All right," he agreed reluctantly.
Alicia leaned forward and rested her chin on her hands. "Go ahead."
He closed his eyes. "Well, I was in a TV programme. I'm not sure what it was called – it might have been called 'Casualty' or something like that."
Alicia raised her eyebrows. "What kind of TV programme?"
Ethan swallowed. "It was a medical drama."
Alicia stiffened. "Oh." She paused. "Well, what else happened?"
Ethan shifted uncomfortably. "Um…" He cleared his throat. "I was in the ED with Cal. And we were treating this woman who had a very high fever."
Alicia frowned. "A high fever?"
He nodded. "The patient was lying on a stretcher in the middle of the emergency department and she looked really sick."
Alicia frowned as Ethan went on. "And then, after that…"
She waited patiently for him to continue. He sighed. "I don't know how to explain it."
She cocked her head. "Try anyway."
He took a deep breath. "Okay, so… later I found this website. It was called 'Casualty Online."
Alicia's brow wrinkled in confusion.
"Anyway, I found myself on the 'Casualty Online' website and I was looking around the forums," Ethan explained. "I was reading all these posts from people saying stuff like: 'Ethan is my favourite character. Then, after that, I started watching this video on YouTube and it was a clip from the show." He paused. "It was a scene where Cal and me were talking to this man, and…" His voice trailed off.
"And?" Alicia prompted.
He shook his head, suddenly anxious. "Nothing. Uh… I can't remember." He lied.
She sighed heavily. "So, you saw yourself on Casualty Online?"
"Yes," he confirmed.
"And?"
"And nothing," he repeated.
Alicia let out an exasperated sigh. "Are you telling me that you just dreamed about being in a TV programme? That's all?"
He shrugged. "I guess so. But usually, my dreams are more normal than this. This one felt too much like reality." He stared at her. "In fact, it felt like I was actually there."
"Okay," she acknowledged. "I'm not convinced that your dream was real."
Ethan frowned. "Well, what if I told you that I could prove that it was?"
Alicia raised her eyebrows.
"If I can access the Internet through my mind, then it follows that I must be able to communicate with other people over the Internet as well," he reasoned.
Alicia stared at him in silence for a moment. "That doesn't make any sense."
He shrugged. "It's the only explanation I have."
She crossed her arms. "Fine," she relented. "Prove it."
Ethan nodded. "I will."
"Do you want to tell me what you're planning on doing?" Alicia asked. "Or should I just wait here while you do it?"
Ethan grinned. "You can stay if you'd like."
"Okay." Alicia stood up and glanced nervously toward the door. "Just don't do anything crazy."
Sitting quietly in the corner of the room, Alicia watched Ethan's face intently as he concentrated on his laptop screen. The cursor remained frozen for several seconds before suddenly jumping to the centre of the page.
Alicia turned to look at him. "What are you going to search for?"
Ethan shrugged. "I don't know. I'll just think of the first thing that comes to mind."
Ethan decided to type 'casualty online' into the search bar. His pulse increased as results began to spring up.
However, Alicia frowned with confusion, as all that was visible to her was Ethan's homepage.
"So, it didn't work?" She reasoned triumphantly.
Ethan shook his head. "No. It worked. I got results."
"Really?" Alicia asked.
"Yeah," he replied, turning his laptop away from her view. "I scrolled down the page and I read some of the forum threads."
"I see," Alicia remarked, unconvinced.
"There are lots of people on the site," he remarked. "Some of them seem to think that this show is 'cheesy' and that Cal and me are 'unbelievable,'" he replied. "Some of them also described us as 'lame,' and they claimed that our 'acting' was terrible!."
"However, there were a few people who liked the show," he continued. "One of them even said that it was 'the best hospital drama ever made.'"
"Oh, really?" Alicia noted incredulously.
"Yeah," Ethan's expression suddenly morphed into a horrified gasp. "Apparently, there was some sort of vote recently asking members of the public whether they thought Cal and me were 'sexy' or 'ugly.' Over four hundred thousand people voted!"
"Wow," Alicia muttered, only half listening. She remained convinced that this must be a feverish fantasy.
She laughed suddenly. "I'm sorry, but this sounds like the weirdest thing I've ever heard. Are you sure this isn't brought on by your fever?"
Ethan shrugged. "Maybe, but… I don't know. It feels too real."
"I still don't believe you," Alicia said, exasperated.
All of a sudden, Ethan had an epiphany. "Maybe I can talk to someone on the site." He paused.
"Yes?" Alicia enquired.
"You can't send emails to strangers," she cautioned.
He typed out his message quickly. "Hi. My name is Ethan Hardy. I am a big fan of Casualty Online and I wanted to ask you something. Are you able to help me? Please respond by email."
In a moment of panic, Ethan shut down his laptop but plucked up the courage to open the lid again. He stared at the screen for a moment before pressing the enter button to post the message.
"Well?" Alicia asked.
"It's done," he told her.
"Did you get a reply?"
"Not yet," Ethan replied