He laughed with malice, standing on a ledge across a pit of molten lava, "I will DESTROY the world!" he cackled into the void. 

Heat rose from the pit below and a sheen of sweat covered my forehead. I wiped at the disruption and pulled my bucket of popcorn closer to me. This was the best part. Where the villain declares his reasons for his behavior. Instinctively, I scooted closer for a better view and the man whipped his face around in my direction. Beady black eyes took in my form and he bared his grotesque, yellow teeth at me.  

"Who are you? How dare you venture into my lair!"

I scratched my head, this was odd. Never before have I been spotted while watching from the shadows. Feeling the pain of people as their story unfolded. Waiting with bated breath to see if I had succeeded in guessing the plot. 

"Wait, you can see me?"

"You must be some pesky spy!" he said pointing an accusatory finger at me, "Just to be clear you're quite horrible at your job."

I narrowed my eyes, "I'm not a spy! I'm a reader, so why don't you just continue," I waved my hand in his direction, "with whatever that was, and we can move on to the next part."

A look of confusion settled on his features and his beady black eyes pulled his face into a frown. Yet again, I tried to make myself comfortable while the villain floundered for his next words. With patience that I didn't know I possessed, I waited for him to continue. 

With a nervous tremble in his voice, he looked back to me, "I'm not sure what you're expecting me to do now?"

I rolled my eyes, "This is the part where you tell me, the reader, why you want to destroy the world."

"Isn't being evil enough? I'm the bad guy, am I not?"

I felt my expectations crumble to dust and slip to the bottom of the pit where it was consumed in a blaze by the lava flowing beneath my feet. 

Feeling my annoyance flare, I had to remind myself to swallow it. Here was yet another character with no thought or reason and when examined up close he sputtered and burst into flames, much like my expectations. The only problem was that this one could somehow see me and I couldn't help but feel sorry for the fellow. 

Pushing my popcorn to the side, I got up and wiped the salts on my pajama bottoms, which consisted of blue stars on pink clouds. I always thought that if I ever got sucked into a book, I'd at least get to choose what I was wearing, apparently not.

"No, it's not. You might be the bad guy who wants to defeat the good guy but you still need a cause. Do you even want to be evil?"

The man frowned reducing his eyes to mere black slits, "I've never really thought about it?"

Poor guy, he's never been given the reigns on his own story, he was merely pushed into villain-hood to serve some sort of purpose for the protagonist. I thought to give him a moment to digest, it couldn't be easy to hear that your whole life lacked purpose even if you were the bad guy.

I sat back down grabbing my popcorn bucket form the floor. So my fantasy story turned into an identity crisis drama novel and somehow, I got sucked into the plot. Not the worst thing to happen to me, I'll admit, but still very strange. 

Popping some of my delicious treats into my mouth, the villain sat down next to me. I stopped mid-chew and held out the bucket to him and he grabbed a hand full of treats. 

"So, what is your name?" he asked breaking the silence. 

My eyes flicked over to him, "Oh me. You can just call me The Reader. How about you?"

"I am the Dark Destroyer!" he bellowed with pride. 

I lifted one eyebrow, "Really?"

His head sunk low and red started dancing on his pale cheeks, "Fine, it's Gerald Ruderman."

I bit my lip but failed to keep my laughter in as it roared out of my chest. 

Gerald frowned and folded his arms across his chest, "It's bloody rude to laugh at someone's name, Reader! You're as annoying as that stupid superhero!"

I reigned my laughter in but I still felt tears prick at my eyes. 

"You're right Gerald, I'm sorry. It's a nice name and I just didn't expect it, is all. Am I forgiven?" 

I put on my most convincing 'I'm sorry' face and as a ploy to soften him up, I held out my popcorn to him again. 

Gerald grabbed a handful, "Fine, but no more laughing at my name, deal?" 

He held out his and we shook on it. 

"So what are you gonna do now?" 

"You mean now as in now or now as in the rest of my miserable life?" 

I bit my bottom lip, "Well, I mean the rest of your life and it doesn't have to be miserable. What is one thing you've always wanted to do but couldn't?" 

Gerald thought for a bit before looking at me, "I have the strangest urge to bake. Is this normal?" 

I just shrugged my shoulders, "Maybe you want to be a baker?" 

A huge grin broke out over his face and the evil facade slipped away to reveal a man with a pudgy nose and red cheeks. Two dimples dotted his cheeks and the black in his eyes gave way to a warm brown. His teeth turned from snarling yellow fangs to normal and color spread over his skin, revealing a healthy beige glow. 

I felt myself grin and Gerald matched my smile with new vigor. 

Gerald sighed, "So what do you want to do now?" 

"Now as in now?" I asked mimicking him. 

He simply rolled his eyes, "Yes now, I seemed to have cleared my schedule." 

My eyes darted to the pit of lava flowing below us and I looked back to Gerald, "wanna roast some marshmallows?"