Maria is a patient in the psychiatric hospital

An exploration of the Maria is a patient in the psychiatric hospital theory.

Explanation
It is often assumed that Maria is walking outside of the psychiatric hospital, when she sees a disoriented Maia laying in the grass. Perhaps, Maria is at the University, where she works, or headed towards the University.

In this theory, Maia sees Maria outside of the hospital because Maria is a patient there. When Maria takes Maia to her place, she is taking Maia back into the hospital.

This doesn't imply that Maia is also a patient, but she might be.

This theory sheds an interesting light on Maria's blog post about whether she is living in a simulation. If the hospital is part of the video game realm, then Maria might be one of the few characters in the video game who realize they are living in a simulation.

Questions

 * Is Maia also a patient in the hospital?
 * Is Maia sleeping in the hospital at the end of Episode 1?
 * Is the hospital in the video game realm?
 * Is Maria living in a simulation?
 * Is Maria communicating with characters in a video game?
 * Is Maia the same person as Maia?