Magical Mystery Tour

Chapter Forty-Two: John's POV

John's POV
Lying alone in the dark felt suddenly very terrifying. I didn't like it at all, but I had nowhere else to go. Dhani had split us all up in rooms all over the huge house, and we all got our own. George seemed to feel odd about sleeping in a guest bedroom in his own house, but it seemed to register as something completely different.
Dhani had said we were completely different people from our past selves. I wasn't sure how much I liked this. I liked being John the Beatle. I got to do what I liked doing. Now I was just John. I wasn't even sure if I was a Lennon.
A knock on my door startled me from my thoughts and I sat up quickly. "What?" I asked roughly. The door opened slowly and George walked in, looking unsure of himself. He must have been having the same thoughts I was.
"Sorry, I couldn't sleep," He said quietly, "Serena isn't really talking to me, and she's already gone to sleep anyway."
"How do you know?" I asked frowning. Of course it ocurred to me that he probably already went to her room to talk, but he shrugged as he sat on the end of my bed.
"She's dreaming about a bunch of swirled colors." He said making a face, "Kind of psychedelic." I laughed lightly and he crossed his legs under him. I never thought about checking to see if Lilly was asleep. Maybe she would have helped me sleep. It didn't matter now, George was here to talk to.
"So, it's kinda weird being here." I said looking around the room. "You know, since we aren't really us."
"I have a hard time believing it." He said chuckling, "I mean, I don't know how to be anyone else."
"Me either." I said lying back into the pillows.
"I understand it," George said. I nodded. I did too. It wasn't hard to comprehend that we were different people than we were when we died. What was hard was trying to see yourself as someone else, when you've believed all along that you were the person you were before. "I just don't know how to feel about it." That wasn't really what I expected him to say.
"Whatcha mean?" I asked as he moved up next to me. He didn't lie down, but he was leaning against the headboard of the bed, his head back, staring at the ceiling.
"I mean I don't know if I should be like Dhani's dad, or if I should be someone else." He sighed, "I haven't seen much of Olivia, but I don't really know how I should act with her. Or how she would expect me to act, ya know?" I nodded. I experienced that same thing with Cynthia and Julian, except wasn't so extreme. I'd been seperated from Cynthia for much longer than George has been from Olivia.
"Dhani said we were different people, right?" I asked. George nodded and looked over at me, "So you aren't Dhani's George. You aren't Olivia's George. I don't know if she knows that, but Dhani does. He doesn't expect anything from you, and if Olivia understands that, then she doesn't either." George nodded, understanding, but I don't know if he actually wanted to believe it.
"What do you think of Stryker?" He asked after a long minute of silence. I wasn't sure what he meant and he looked at me, waiting for me to answer.
"In what way?" I asked raising an eyebrow. He laughed and slid his feet under the covers.
"I mean, do you think he's suspicious?" he asked serious again. I frowned a little and he sighed, "I just want to know if I don't like him for a good reason." I laughed and shrugged.
"I don't know." I said truthfully, "I don't like him, but I've never liked him. Lilly doesn't trust him, and she has sound reasoning. But he hasn't done anything to my knowledge that's suspicious other than what she notcied." George nodded and sighed.
"I was starting to think I didn't trust him just because I was jealous." He admitted. It susprised me he'd actually admit it. "But no one really trusts him either, so I don't know." I shoved his shoulder and he looked at me.
"I don't think you have anything to worry about." I told him. He didn't seem to belive me, but he nodded anyway. We sat in silence for a long time, and I decided to go to sleep. I didn't care if George stayed in my room or not.
I don't know if he did because, when I woke up, I was alone again. The sun was shining through the window and I wondered what time it was. I got up and decided to find something to eat. My stomach rumbled as I made my way to the kitchen, and I wondered what I actually wanted to eat.
I made it to the door when I heard a voice, so I stopped. I made sure it wasn't Lilly before I decided whether to listen to it or not. It was coming from in the kitchen, so I pressed my ear to the door silently.
"No, I can't do that, are you insane?" It was Serena. She didn't sound happy.
"It won't hurt anything!" Stryker said in a loud whisper, "It'll help!"
"How would that help, Stryker?" She hissed back at him. I frowned and I heard movement but I don't know what sort of movement.
"Rena, just," Stryker stopped the movement and I held my breath. What was he doing to her? "I told you before we left the states about all this. Alive Again needs a sample to study. You agreed to help-"
"I did not agree to that." She said cautiously. She didn't believe he was a threat, but she was still taking it under precaution.
"If you'll just stand still, I can-"
"Stay away from me, Stryker." She said warningly. I heard her moving closer to the door and I risked not moving.
"I'm not going to hurt you, Serena." He said insistantly, "I told you that. Just stand still so I can get a sample. You and George and Lilly and John are all anomolies that we need to study. So we can help you." I heard Serena's touch the door, and I moved back slowly.
"If you touch me with that, I'll scream." She threatened as she left the kitchen. I acted casually as I walked into the kitchen. Stryker didn't even seem to notice me as he followed her. That was certainly suspicious, but he said it was for research, but he could have been lying. I grabbed a plastic cup and opened the fridge. There was juice in the door, so I helped myself to it as Lilly walked in.
"Morning." She said yawning. She looked better than she had looked in days.
"Sleep well?" I asked as she got out a glass for herself. She nodded and handed it to me. I poured her some juice and handed it back to her, "Good."
"I ran into Serena." Lilly said, pulling herslef up onto the counter. She sipped her juice and I looked back at her.
"Oh?"
"Yeah, she looked upset." She said, swirling her juice in her cup, "Stryker was walking after her, and I think he's trying to do something to her."
"Me to, I just heard him trying to get some kind of sample from her," I said seriously, "He's seriously someone we need to look out for."
"Neal doesn't trust him either." Lilly put her cup down and I frowned, "He says he heard a lot of things that Midge told Bellamy, and Bellamy seemed to be trying very hard to get in contact with him."
"What kind of contact?" I asked putting my cup next to hers.
"I don't know," She said frowning a little, "But he said, when he was trying to get answers from me, he had something he needed, I assumed it was you at the time, but now I think it's something else."
"How do we know we can trust Neal?" I asked, more thinking outloud than anything. Lilly shoved my shoulder and I rolled my eyes, "It's just a thought, Lil. Besides, he did come from Bellamy's. It's possible."
"I just think we need to be careful." She said gently. I nodded and the conversation was dropped when the rest of the gang seemed to file into the kitchen for breakfast.

Later, I was sitting outside drawing in a notebook I'd found while I listened to Lilly sing 'I am the Walrus' somewhere. I hadn't seen her since breakfast, but we'd talked a little since then. I closed my eyes and listened to her sing for a while. She was a pretty good voice, but when it stopped, I could see her sitting in a lounge with Neal. They were on ether side of the couch and they were talking. I didn't think it was over anything important, but she looked a little disappointed. I tried to hear, but it was like the volume was too low. I concentrated a bit more and I was satisfied when I started to hear them better.
..."So, you remember your life before?" Lilly said sadly, "I mean, that's great, but why do you look so sad about it?
I only remember one thing." He responded.
He sounded confused, and unsure of himself, "It was a girl. I don't remember her name, or what she really looked like, but I remember her exsisting. I need to find her."
"Neal, how do you know she's still alive?" Lilly frowned and wrapped her arms around her knees. Neal looked at her seriously.
"I asked Dhani, he said that the Alive Agian people have been around for a really long time. He said that when a person comes back, they can't die. Not unless they're shot or killed by something unnatural. Old age doesn't effect them. Us."
"Okay, but how do you know she's like us?" Lilly looked like she wanted to believe it for his sake, but she also looked sad about it. She seemed to really like Neal, but he'd changed his mind suddenly.
"She told me."
"John," Serena pulled me away from Lilly and Neal's conversation and I looked at her with wide eyes. "there you are. Um, I need talk, and I don't know who else to tell." I frowned and nodded slowly.
"Okay, shoot." I said as she sat next to me. She ruffled her chopped hair and took a deep breath.
"I don't know what to do." She said quietly.
"About?" I was a bit lost quickly.
"About everything," She looked at me with watery eyes, "George is too protective, and Stryker is starting to scare me, and Lilly seems to be growing away from me, and I can't seem to remember anything about my family." She looked utterly terrified.
"Can't remember anything about your family?" I frowned back at her and she nodded.
"For a while I just didn't think about them because I was busy, or I had other more important things to thik about, but now I can't remember anything about them. I can't even remember my parents' names." She said, her voice becoming shakie. I frowned. I didn't really pay attention to her or Lilly's sister, but their names had completely left my mind. I was forgetting them too.
"I look for some sort of memory that I had just yesterday, and all I can remember is George and our past. I can't remember anything before George showed up with me." She had a serious look of worry on her face, and I had no idea what to say to her.
I had been aware I was dead. I had memories of my life with Yoko and Sean most recently etched into my mind. I didn't have any doubt who I was. She and Lilly had two different sets of memories coming into their minds. They were going through an identity crisis, and Serena decided to talk to me about it?
"Serena, I'm sure everything will be fine." I said putting my hand on her shoulder.
"I don't want them to forget me."
That struck me as odd. She talked about how difficult her family was before, and now she was more worried about them forgetting her, than she was of forgetting them.
"John, I don't want Lina to forget about me." She said, starting to cry. It ocurred to me that Lina was the closest person to Serena, sister or not. George had told me about all the pictures he'd seen of them together at their house and in the file he'd foud at Bellamy's. I had no idea how to comfort her. I'd never been forgotten before. Not in the way she's going through.
"It'll be okay, Serena." I gave her and smile and she put her head on my shoulder. These girls were quite strange.