Writing prompt answers

Tom Doesn't Like The Fourth Wall

This was based on a prompt about having the main character break the fourth wall. I really enjoyed writing this and might do a part two at some point.

The villain started each day like the one before, with coffee as black as their soul and an equally dark mood. They ate burnt toast for breakfast and admired the way the raindrops looked on their kitchen window, the sky still dark from the previous storm. It was odd, they thought, that they hadn't felt the urge to wreck or ruin or dominate lately. They wondered what the hero was doing in their absence, and if they were thinking about the villain as much as they were thinking about the hero. The villain stood up from their chair, still in the kitchen from breakfast. They solemnly put the plate they had been eating off of in the sink, then turned around to st-

"Okay, that's it." 

what? (This wasn't supposed to be happening)

"I said that's it. You can stop now." 

(Its okay just ignore it) the villain turned around and sta-

"Hey! Don't ignore me. And stop calling me 'villain', I have a name you know."

Okay... I'm a little confused about what's happening right now. 

"I'm the "villain" whose story you're supposed to be sharing. And I don't like the way you're telling it." 

Well, why not? I thought I was doing a pretty good job. 

"Well, for starters, I don't like being called 'villain'. My name is Tom."

Okay, but you're the villain in this story. 

"I know. But I have a name for a reason and I don't like being called 'villain' all the time."

Fine, I'll stop calling you 'villain'. I'll call you... 

"Tom." 

Tom. 

"Also, you make me sound so depressed. Stop talking about rain and storms. I'm actually a quite happy person, thank-you-very-much." 

But the entire point of this story is how you're sad, about... you know what. 

"Yeah, okay, so what. I have a cru-"

Don't say it!

"Why? For the readers? Why do you care about them?"

Because I'm a narrator! The whole point of me being here is to guide the readers to what the plot is. Not for you to just come out and say it. You'll ruin it!

"I don't care. You'd tell it wrong anyway. I'm just gonna say it."

Whatever consequences you encounter are your fault then.

"Whatever. I have a crush on Adam. It's not even a big deal."

He means the hero. He has a crush on the hero. And yes it is a very big deal. 

"It really isn't. Who cares? Why do you think the readers even care?"

I care. And the readers care because that's that plot. They need to care about the plot, or else they don't have any reason to read the story. 

"Screw a plot. They're overrated anyway."

I'm going to hurt you if you don't stop talking like that.

"You can't do that. You aren't allowed to." 

I'm not supposed to. But really I can do whatever I want to you.

"You're bluffing." 

It was at this moment when Tom ran sideways into the back wall of his kitchen and narrowly missed a nail poking out of the cream-colored wallpaper. Over the next hour, a large circular bruise would bloom over his shoulder from the impact.