Multiversum by Leonardo Patrignani Read Free Book Online Page A

quiet neighbourhood in the south-west of Melbourne.
    The following morning, while his parents were at work, Alex threw together some clothes, a book, and his trusty iPod, and stuffed everything into the backpack he usually took to school. Before he left, he wrote a short note and left it on the kitchen table.
    Dear Mamma and Papà,

I’m going on a trip. I won’t be gone long, don’t worry about me.
Everything’s fine, I just can’t tell you what it’s about. You wouldn’t understand. I can’t put this off any longer, and it wouldn’t have made any sense to ask for your permission.

I love you . Forgive me.

ALEX
    With his backpack slung over one shoulder, Alex went back to Marco’s to spend one last night on his sofa. His flight took off the next morning at seven o’clock.
    â€˜I’m jealous of you, you know that?’ said Marco. He was arranging slices of prosciutto on a piece of bread to make a toasted sandwich.
    â€˜Why?’ asked Alex as he sat down to eat. His friend pushed a blue button on the back of his chair. In just seconds, a gap opened up in the table where his guest was sitting. A wooden surface emerged, with a glass, a set of utensils, and a napkin all neatly laid on top.
    â€˜Simple. Someone out there needs you and can’t wait to meet you.’
    â€˜Yes, someone who’s been talking to me for the past four years through a series of epileptic fits …’
    â€˜Cut it out. You know she exists,’ said Marco in a determined voice. Then he looked down at his useless legs. ‘Nothing like that is ever going to happen to me.’
    â€˜Don’t be an idiot. Sooner or later it’s going to happen to you too. You just have to wait for the right time.’
    Marco bit into his sandwich and went on talking with his mouth full of food. ‘I’m handicapped.’
    Alex poured himself a glass of water, shaking his head. ‘You’re a genius, Marco. You’ve got a brain that’s out of this world. And, fine, you don’t have a pair of working legs. There are plenty of people with legs who can’t find their way in life, and just sit there vegetating.’
    â€˜Maybe you’re right … sooner or later I’ll find some poor loser chick willing to spend the rest of her life with a guy on two wheels.’ Marco laughed. He was always self-deprecating, and Alex had gotten used to it. ‘Are you ready? We’ll set three alarm clocks for tomorrow morning.’
    â€˜Yes.’ Alex closed his eyes and imagined himself flying around the Earth, heading for Australia. ‘I’m ready. If you want to know the truth, I’m nervous as a kitten.’
    After they finished dinner, the two friends sat in the living room for a couple of hours, chatting and watching TV, before going to sleep. As they expected, Alex’s mother called Marco’s house in a state of panic. He played his part perfectly, telling her that he’d tried to call Alex’s mobile phone too, and that he was just about to call the house. The performance seemed to have worked: they weren’t going to come looking for him, at least not right away. Or at least that’s what they hoped.
    The next morning, the alarm clocks rang at four o’clock. The journey was about to begin.

9
    Alex took off from Malpensa Airport at 7.12 a.m. on 28 November 2014. In less than ninety minutes, he was scheduled to land at Charles de Gaulle Airport outside Paris, the first of two stops on the trip.
    Thanks to Marco, he’d been able to pay for the whole trip with the debit card. More than a third of the funds had been eaten up when he’d made the reservation and paid for the plane ticket. Part of what was left would pay for a hotel in Australia, unless Jenny had some way of finding him a place to stay. But the idea that someone who had been little more than a hallucination until just a few days ago might be able to offer