The fourth wall

– I know you’re there.
Pause
— How do you know?
– Because I brought you here.
Pause
— Very good.
– Will she wake up?
— No.

– Did I interrupt you?
— Not really. And in any case, I brought you here.
– I don’t quite understand that.
— You and I we… it’s difficult to explain.
Pause
— We are… part of a vast population of citizens.
– You’re a citizen?
— But of-course.
Pause
– I didn’t think of you as a citizen.
— But you must, in order for any of this to make any sense.

– So what is this?
— The end of a film.
– Did the film make you want to bring me here?
— I guess.
– Was it a good film?
— I enjoyed it.
Pause
– Is it always night time?
Pause
— Yes.

– Now where are we?
— The room with the computer.
– From Soup Cycle?
— Yes.
– It’s a real room?
— Yes.
– Somehow this music fits.
— Oh?
– Minimalist.
— Not everything I listen to is minimal.
– No, but tonight…
— For you, yes.

– I have a question.
— Of-course.
– Who is the woman?
Pause
Silence
– Is… is that a question you can’t answer?
Silence
– Or won’t answer.
— What makes you think I know who the woman is?
– I don’t know, I think…
Silence
– It isn’t Camilla?
— Is it?
– I don’t know.
Silence
— I can tell you.
Pause
— Camilla isn’t the woman, per se. She is… a part of her.
Pause
— Even you and I are a part of her in a way.
– I’m sorry…
— Go-on.
– I just find it strange that you are a part of this whole…
Pause
– Series of constructs, of layers and expressions.
— How so?
– You’re the host aren’t you? I mean, you’re the physical…
— That is merely a facet of my existence, Jodi, nothing more.
Pause
Silence

— What am I, part of the body? Inside the body? I don’t know. I’m beginning to doubt my tenuous grip on the physical. I am merely another analogy, another abstract of the inputs of the world. You and I, we could be interchangeable. Who am I? Who are any of us? I am another faceless citizen of the construct.

– That’s a bit much for me sorry. I just don’t, it’s hard.
— Of-course.
– All the paradoxes, all the crossing between layers, I can’t grasp it all.
— Believe me Jodi, I hardly can myself. So much of it is wrapped up in things that don’t make sense in the physical world, where I, or versions of myself, are bound to spend much of my time.
Silence

– What about… can I ask you about Camilla?
— Sure.
– Is she, I mean, she’s not…
— I wouldn’t worry. I think she wants to stay with you. She’s not going anywhere if that’s your question.
– No but…
— Let me ask you something; how do you feel when you’re with her?
Pause
– Peace. Calm. I feel as if I’m not ill.
Pause
– But you, you don’t get that.
— In a way I do. Remember Jodi, in a way, I am you.
Pause
– Yeah. Yeah I guess. More of that layering.
— Indeed.
– So the woman…

— I don’t know much about the woman. She’s just there. Always. All the time. I don’t know who she is or where she came from. I get the feeling that should I lose it, she’ll still be there.

– Watching over you?
— Who knows.
Pause
— Who knows.
Silence