‘Ugh, this again?’ she muttered, while watching the deer. She was trying to pinch herself and was closing her eyes, though nothing happened. She groaned and walked away. Nearby was a large man with a glowing red aura, he was holding a spear and wearing only a loincloth.

‘Hello’ he greeted, in a deep, primitive sounding voice.

‘Uhhh, hello? Do you mind if you put some clothes on? Oh wait, they desensitise us, right?’ the man looked confused. ‘Ugh, never mind. You’re just a vision, anyway?’

‘A vision? No, I am real. Very real!’ the man looked aggressive and pointed his spear at her.

‘Woah! Wait, put that down! I’m-I’m sorry!’ the man hesitated, focusing on her, Natalie smiled and grabbed the spear off of him. She then pointed it at him ‘Ha! How does it feel now?’ the man had hardly budged.

‘I am not afraid of you’ Natalie started to point the spear away from him, with a look of concern. She then looked at it’s tip.

‘What kind of material is this, anyway? It’s like a kind of rock’ the man didn’t say anything, he just walked closer towards her.

‘I do not wish you any harm. I simply hunting for food, to feed my family’ 

‘Uhhh, OK’

‘I’ll never attack another human, unless it is in self defence. You have nothing to fear from giving the spear back to me’ Natalie put the spear behind her back ‘According to you, nothing happening here is real anyway’ Natalie then gasped

‘Oh? I… forgot about that’ she then groaned ‘Come on, you know this is just a dream, right?’

‘Dream or no, you have a lot to learn’ Natalie looked puzzled

‘Such as?’

‘Our origins as human beings’ she then just glared at him, eventually focusing on his loincloth.

‘Are you wearing anything under that thing?’

‘Yes. What is it to you?’

‘Ummmm, nothing’ the man looked as if he were about to laugh.

‘Silly girl, none of us have problems wearing nothing and yet here you are, fully clothed as if a storm were coming’ Natalie groaned, shaking her head.

‘Not this again’

‘But anyway, enough of that. Do you know why I have come out here to begin with?’ Natalie shrugged.

‘Beats me’ the man put his hand on his face.

‘You are as ignorant as any other “civilised” human. I am here to hunt. To feed myself and my family. You are lucky, you can go to a shop if you need food, or you can order it on one of your silly little gadgets. To us, finding food is a daily struggle’ Natalie nodded, not saying anything in return ‘You always have clean water running, we need to be careful we don’t drink water that will kill us, which has usually been made that way by your fellow humans’

‘I wouldn’t call these people “my fellow humans”, and yes, there are a lot of things we take for granted. Like having electricity, having phones, internet, nice beds to sleep on and stuff like that. You’re talking to the wrong person’

‘Am I? You have all these things yet you are miserable. Look at us: we live, we love, we are happy. We do not need any of those things’

‘Sometimes I feel technology just makes our lives worse. Especially when it’s used against us’

‘That’s exactly my point. You have all these advanced ways of communicating with each other and yet you are isolated. In our tribes we are closely knit together and we look after one another. You are all distant and rely too heavily on your gadgets’

‘That’s true. Sometimes just meeting people face to face seems like it’s taboo now’

‘And yet we do that on a daily basis. Your world is going mad, and so are you’ Natalie burst out laughing.

‘Yeah, that explains a lot!’ the man smiled.

‘I see. There is hope after all. Now, I’ll ask you this once more: return my spear to me. I’m using it to hunt animals, not you’ Natalie nodded, handing back his spear. ‘Thank you. And remember how fortunate you are to have the healing methods provided to you. We go by word of mouth as opposed to your complex technology’

‘OK’

‘Goodbye, young girl’ the man walked away, walking out to the distance. Suddenly the sky changed colour, later revealing Natalie was back in her hospital bed, lying down as if nothing had happened. She looked at her hands and got out of her bed, almost falling.

‘Oh god!’ she muttered, she eventually walked up to the nurse’s desk. All of them were different to the ones she had seen beforehand. It was six o’clock in the morning.

‘Are you all right?’ asked a Filipino nurse with a high pitched, gentle voice. ‘You’re Natalie, aren’t you?’

‘Yes, that’s me’

‘It’s OK. I got handover when you were sleeping. You’ve been having nasty dreams, isn’t it?’ Natalie looked confused.

‘Ummm… yes?’

‘Did you have another?’

‘Yes. It was weird’

‘OK. Shall I call mental health team?’

‘Ummmm… no thanks’

‘They’ll be seeing you today, anyway’ said a nurse wearing a royal blue uniform, she was wearing black rimmed glasses and had a stern look on her face.

‘Oh, OK’

‘You’ll be seen by a counsellor’ Natalie didn’t say anything.

‘Counsellors are very helpful’ said the Filipino nurse.

‘Tala, I don’t think she knows what a counsellor is’

‘Your name’s Tala?’

‘Yes, Natalie’

‘OK, nice to meet you’

‘And you!’

‘By the way, can you call my mum later in the day?’

‘Of course we can’ said the nurse with the black rimmed glasses.

‘OK, thanks’ Natalie started to walk back to the ward, almost falling over on her way. She laid down on her bed and fell asleep within a few moments, only to be woken up half an hour later by a nurse pushing a trolley.

‘Oh god, what is it?!’ she looked at the nurse, who was smiling at her ‘Oh, hello Tala’

‘I’m just here to take your blood pressure, OK?!’

‘Yes, of course!’ she pur out her right arm so Tala could put the blood pressure cuff on it. She also put a thermometer inside her mouth. The machine later started beeping.

‘Your blood pressure’s a bit high’

‘Is it?’ the pressure machines readings were “149” on the top and “97” on the bottom.

‘Over 149 is usually considered high blood pressure’

‘OK’

‘Your pulse and temperature are a bit high, too’ Natalie barely reacted to what she said, as she was taking off the blood pressure cuff. She went around doing the same things to the other patients, as Natalie fell back asleep.