Read Online This Book Does Not Exist by Mike Schneider - Free Book Online

incident.
    The shooter could be aiming for me.
    Geppetto said this other world would help.
    What if he lied?
    What if the Door actually wants to prevent me from finding Naomi?
    That would mean I can only reach her if I beat the Door .
    I take off for the book depository.
    I stopped the pilot. I can stop the shooter.

THE 14 TH FLOOR OF THE BOOK DEPOSITORY
     

 
 
    I rush up the stairwell towards the 14 th floor. My recollection of JFK tells me Oswald was there when he fired the shot.
    I reach the landing. A slate-colored door leads out of the stairwell. On it, the number fourteen has been painted in red.
    I tap open the door and tiptoe into the hallway. Searching, I see an empty doorway and a man in front of a window. The man is holding a large rifle against his shoulder. He is down on one knee, aiming the barrel of the gun through the window, towards where I suspect the President’s caravan will emerge.
    I take a long, looping step in his direction.
    When my foot hits the ground, he faces me, leaving the rifle pointed out the window.
    It isn’t Oswald.
    “Hey, come in here,” says Geppetto . His voice remains calm. His face is expressionless. Both are memorable for the very fact that they are so un-memorable.
    If he was going to shoot me, I think, he would have done so already.
    I enter the room.
    Geppetto speaks. “I’m not the ghost of Lee Harvey Oswald in case you were wondering.”
    “I don’t believe in ghosts.”
    “You and me both. Do you like your new outfit?”
    “You said you know where Naomi is.”
    “I have a sense,” he says, before pointing out the window.
    What I see outside is mostly what I saw when I first came through the Door – the grassy knoll, the parade route, people from the 20 th century – with one extreme difference: it is all moving in slow motion.
    “So,” continues Geppetto, “it was good you took the initiative and went to check out your old neighborhood.”
    “The pilot. There wasn’t a body. There weren’t any cops. The plane didn’t crash. No one really died.”
    “But you remember the incident don’t you?”
    “You would have to tell me if the Door wanted to kill me, wouldn’t you?”
    “It may try at times,” he answers, “but it doesn’t necessarily want to. It just has to make things difficult.”
    “Make what difficult? Finding Naomi?”
    He nods.
    “Why is she here? Did you kidnap her?”
    “Come on, Mike. I’m trying to guide you. Naomi is here on her own volition.”
    “But you told me people who are falling in and out of love find the Door . What does that have to do with us?”
    “That’s between you and her. Not me. Complete the incidents, and you’ll get to the point.”
    “How many are there?”
    He shrugs. Outside, along the parade route, the Presidential caravan waltzes into our frame of vision, traveling in slow motion. Geppetto shifts his rifle in its direction.
    “If you look at the car, and I know it’s relatively far away,” he says, “but you should be able to gather that President John F. Kennedy, Jr. is sitting inside. Now, on the other hand, if you look at the woman with him, who in 1963 was Jackie Onassis – and again, I get that it’s hard from this high up – you’ll see that it’s someone else. A different woman.”
    I lean over the windowsill and strain my eyes to focus. Given what I remember from the Zapruder film, which was used extensively in JFK , the woman does appear different. Her hair seems longer, futuristic as far as the 60’s are concerned, and a bit lighter. Her features might be more angular, too. Yet, something about her looks familiar…
    “Is that Naomi?”
    Geppetto hesitates, then says, “I can’t tell for sure.”
    “ You told me to come to the Door because you knew where Naomi was and now you’re not sure?”
    Geppetto remains still. Kennedy’s car inches forward. I watch the woman…
    I think it is Naomi.
    I say this to Geppetto even though I’m not sure I believe it or if I just want