Chapter 20
SALEM UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL
Philip had gotten on the first flight back home to Salem. He walked into the hospital and went right for Marlena's office. The door was closed, so he knocked.
MARLENA (VO): Come in.
Philip opened the door and walked in.
MARLENA'S OFFICE
The office was already fairly crowded. J.J. and Theresa sat on one couch, with Shawn-D and Belle on another. Brady stood in a corner of the room, and Marlena sat in her usual chair.
MARLENA: Philip, so glad you could join us.
PHILIP: I'm sorry, I didn't know you were busy. If you'd like, I'll come back later...
MARLENA: No, please, stay. I believe you could contribute to this.
PHILIP: Well, I don't see how, but okay. If you say so.
Philip closed the door behind him.
MARLENA: We were just talking about a rather curious incident that happened. I believe you spoke of something happening during our phone conversation this morning.
PHILIP: Interesting, I would say. Yes.
THERESA: You mean, it happened to you, too?
SHAWN-D: It sounds like it happened to all of us.
MARLENA: All seven of us.
PHILIP: What? What's going on here?
MARLENA: To answer that, I have a question of my own. What did you come here to talk about, Philip?
Philip sat down on the couch next to Shawn-D and Belle.
PHILIP: I don't know if it was a dream, or real, or what it was. But, I swear that something happened that led me to believe that none of this was real. That we were all...
BRADY: Fictional characters from a TV series called Days of Our Lives?
PHILIP: Exactly! After I found out, I was so shocked that I...
SHAWN-D: Called us, and told us about it.
PHILIP: Right. Then, Marlena, you called and we found out that the show we were all from was gonna be canceled. So...
BELLE: We went on a search for our creators and the actors who played us.
J.J.: And along the way, we met some of our biggest fans, and some of us learned some things about ourselves.
PHILIP: This is getting spooky. That's exactly what happened. How did you know?
MARLENA: I think I might have an answer. You see, the mind is an incredibly powerful thing. More powerful than anyone can possibly imagine. It has the power to create and destroy. It also has the immense power of choice. Have any of you ever heard of the theory of alternate universes?
THERESA: The one that says that for every decision we make, the alternative decision is played out in another reality?
Everyone stared at Theresa.
THERESA: What? I liked science when I was in school.
MARLENA: That's precisely correct. Now, it has often been theorized that these alternate realities are not only made up of choices we didn't make, but of dreams. Every time we dream, we are getting a glimpse, even a very tiny one, of an alternate universe. It's Multiverse 101, which by the way, I'm starting a class on next week. I suggest you all join me. Anyway, in this case, for whatever reason, the seven of us somehow ended up in the same dreamscape and spent an extended amount of time together in an alternate universe in which we are all fictional characters from a television series.
J.J.: So, we're all real, then? We're not fictional?
MARLENA: Of course we're not fictional. We're as real as anyone else.
BELLE: Well, that's a relief.
PHILIP: How did we end up sharing a dream...whatever it was?
MARLENA: I don't know. How the seven of us ended up in a shared dreamscape and why that specific one, nobody knows. It's still only a theory, but an interesting one.
J.J.: But, just because that dream wasn't real, that doesn't mean we can't learn something from the dream, right?
MARLENA: We certainly can. What do you suppose you have learned, J.J.?
J.J.: I guess that I'm not alone. That there are other people who feel the same stuff that I do. And, that I'm not as terrible a person as I tell myself.
THERESA: So did I.
MARLENA: I see. We'll discuss that tomorrow. The three of us.
BELLE: Well, this was bizarre.
BRADY: It was too weird for words.
SHAWN-D: It was kind of interesting, though. Meeting all of those people. Jay, Kirsten, Diedre, Tony.
PHILIP: Bri.
J.J.: Jack.
THERESA: Michelle.
BELLE: I wonder what'll happen to them?
MARLENA: They'll continue to exist in their own reality. As I said, dreams are only a small window into another world.
PHILIP: So, somewhere out there, there's a whole world full of people who believe that they're the real ones, and that we're characters from a TV series?
SHAWN-D: Yeah. And, if you told them the truth, do you know what they'd do?
BRADY: They'd probably laugh.
PHILIP: Yeah.
Everyone cracked up.
PHILIP: They probably would.
One by one, the group left Marlena's office, until Marlena was there by herself. She went back to her desk, looking at all of the papers and items on it. She smiled as she picked up an hourglass and turned it over. Slowly, the sand began flowing through it again.
THE END
