Exploring the Fourth Wall

It's a simple conversation...

"Hello, cat," Coraline said, sitting down on the garden bench next to the furry black mammal. "How are you doing today?"

The cat yawned and stretched out on the bench next to her. Instead of purring or yowling, like she expected it to, the cat spoke. "Fine, thank you," it answered her.

The human girl almost jumped back in surprise before answering. "Cat, I thought you could only talk in the Other World. Can you just talk everywhere and not bother to most of the time?"

The cat grinned a mischievous grin. "I always liked to have a little chat with you," he told her, the grin morphing into a smirk. "And anyways, the author is giving me permission this time. It wants to see what we will do with a bit of free will."

Coraline looked confused. "What do you mean, Cat?"

The cat stood up, and then sat down on its haunches. "You're not really you right now," he explained. "The author is having fun with us right now, as other authors have done for the past three years or so. There are a few that played with some of us before then, but as far as the author knows, it's only one or two."

The cat sighed after Coraline had sat in silence for many moments. "It's called the Fourth Wall, since you need a name for everything," it said, hopping up onto the back of the bench. It stood there for a moment before jumping to the ground and landing on a lone tulip. "I've taken it as my pride to explore its properties and limits. It's a very interesting place - almost like one-way glass," he continued. "If you're on one side of the wall, you know that the wall is there, and you can see through it. If you're on the other, you don't know it's there at all, and can't find it. And if you're inside it, you can see through one side and not the other, but you know both halves are there."

"Why are you telling me this, Cat?" Coraline asked the animal. It jumped back up on the bench again, and stood on a narrow metal rail that was supposed to be an armrest.

"I can tell you that later," he told her. "There are other things you need to know before I completely explain myself. The author already knows what I'm going to say, but I need more time. This is the way to buy it."

"Well, then, what other things?" Coraline wondered.

The cat continued its lengthy explanation. "There's a paradox you may not be aware of. It has to do with us."

Coraline nodded, and let him continue.

He smiled in satisfaction. "Outside this Fourth Wall, a week or two may pass by when it's but a couple seconds for us. And at the same time, a week passes for us, when for them, it's less than two hours."

Coraline's head hurt, but she kept listening.

"It's a paradox," the cat continued. It licked a paw. "There are a lot of paradoxes involving the Fourth Wall. Some are interesting to exploit. But the most general thing about the Fourth Wall is that one side has free will, and the other doesn't."

"So... you mean..."

"I mean a lot of things," it said. "One of them is that we, over here, don't have free will. We are named and moved by our creators, and then those claiming to be our creators, like the author that is controlling you, come in and take over after the creator finishes messing with us. You are just going through whatever motions the author tells you to."

She understood now. Barely. Coraline hoped the cat would explain a bit more.

"Come to the well with me," the cat announced.

"The well?" Coraline asked.

"Yes, the well."

Coraline followed the cat from the garden, through the mountainous hills. Eventually, the cat walked up to the well and sat down.

It gestured its paw at the well's open cover. "You first."

"What?" Coraline asked. "But that's where we threw her - "

"Do you not remember what I told you?" the cat spat. "That's what the author wants your reaction to be. It's trying to stop us. Jump down the well; it's safe."

Coraline reluctantly obeyed the cat, and found that it was, indeed, safe at the bottom. There was a few feet of water, but she could stand on the bottom.

"This was the closest crack I could find to get inside it," the cat announced after he had fallen in the water with a splash. "Touch the wall, right there."

She reached out her hand in the darkness and felt -

Nothing. Not water, stone, cold in general...

"This was your plan?" she asked. "You want us to escape?"

Coraline imagined the cat was grinning for a moment.

"No, that wasn't my plan," the cat replied. "My plan was this: do you want to be free?"

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