Magical Mystery Tour

Chapter Six-Three: Neal's POV

Neal's POV-
I was the first one awake. I usually was the first awake. Serena and George were impossibly tangled together and Lilly was using John as a human matress. Dhani was passed out and sprawled all across his bed. He didn't need a girl; he had his pillow to smother.
I pulled on my boots and I decided to explore a little bit. They wouldn't notice my absence, they never did, so I didn't worry much about it. I left the room we were sleeping in and I walked down the hall in the oposite direction we'd come in. I needed to look into finding Hallie.
I'd dreamed about her last night. I dreamed about her evey night though. Serena told me she dreamed about her old life every night too. There was a lot about George, but most of it was about her family. She said she was always scared to go to sleep at night. She didn't tell me why though.
I would rather live in the life I had when I knew Hallie than this one. It was much too dangerous, and I'd been through a lot, much more than I ever wanted to go through.
In my dream, Hallie and I were walking together in the summer rain. She had an umbrella, but she didn't have it open. She was wearing a baithing suit, and I assumed we were on a vacation of some kind at the beach. We went to the beach a lot. It was pouring rain, and we could barely see anything in front of us. We were holding hands, but for the life of me I couldn't remember the kind of relationship we had. We laughed and skipped in the rain together. Neither of us spoke, but neither of us had to really. My dreams weren't about what happened in them, they were about the feelings they gave me. I guess that's why Serena didn't like her memories. They were too painful.
I walked along the halls of Alive Again Lookout and found that not a lot of people were awake. There were just a few official looking people hurrying about, trying to get to their posts on time. I wondered if I'd be able to become an agent here. Hallie's wanting out stopped me from deciding indefinitely. Why would she want out? What could be so terrible about this agency that she'd want out so terribly badly? Dhani and Midge seemed fine with it, but not everyone was alike. Hallie had different goals for her life. She had different beliefs than Dhani and Midge.
"Excuse me," A man said grabbing my elbow, "Can I help you?" I looked at the man and thought quickly.
"Yeah, I was wondering," I said as he let go of my wrist, "Is there a woman called Hallie Tyler that works here? She would be a field agent." The man thought for a moment, but he shook his head.
"I don't know," He said shrugging, "I can direct you to someone who can help you though." I nodded and thanked him as he wrote down a name and directions to an office. 
"Who's James Peters?" I asked reading the name. The man put his hands in his pockets as he started to walk away.
"He's the head of all information around here." He said, "There's nothing that goes on around here that he doesn't know about." I nodded and I looked at the directions. I followed them and found myself standing in the doorway of a cluttered office with crooked photos on the wall and a tall grey haired man standing behind the deck at the large window as he read over a file.
I knocked on the doorway and he looked up, "Um, James Peters?" I asked awkwardly. The man smiled and closed his file.
"Yes," He said tucking the file under his arm, "What can I help you with?" I walked into the office and found it wasn't really cluttered, just the desk was. The sideways photos made it look more of a mess than it really was. It was actually quite clean.
"I, uh, I was wondering if you could help me find someone."  I said as he offered for me to sit down in the chair in front of his desk, "My name's Neal."
"Well Neal, how can I help you find this person?" Mr. James asked leaning on his elbows. He seemed like a naturally happy guy, and the sun shining through his red hair made strange shadows on his desk. "Do you know their name?"
I shook my head and sat up a bit straighter, "I mean, her name used to be Hallie Tyler when I knew her. She might not be called that now." I said quickly. "It was a long time ago, and she wanted out of the agency, but there's got to be some kind of file on her."
"Hallie Tyler?" he asked standing up, "I can take a look for you. Are you an agent here?" I tapped my fingers onto the arm of the chair.
"No," I said seriously, "I came here with Dhani Harrison." James nodded and I stood up. We shook hands and he nodded.
"Well then I'll let you know when I find anything on this Hallie Tyler." He said. He was so confident that he'd find her. It was comforting to me.
"Thank you." I said heading for the door, "Erm, I'll see you around." I waved awkwardly and left quickly. My spirits were lifted completely. I hadn't felt this good in a long time. Besides that I wanted to find Hallie, Lilly had been really distant with me lately. I thought for a while it was because I told her I didn't have any romantic interest in her, and then I started to brush off her distance as everything that's happened with John and Valerie. That's what I kept telling myself it was, but part of me thought it was something more. I spent a lot of time with Serena before all this started happening again. She wanted to help me with Hallie, but she didn't know how to. I helped her come up with the idea of Sophie, but after Sophie showed up, she became just as distant with me. She and Lilly had been friends for a long time, so I didn't take offense to the distance in that sense, but then she started spending all this time with Midge.
Midge wasn't even trustworthy, but Serena still trusted her. I was jealous of the friendships they all had sure, but I was the odd man out in this group. Midge was mates with Serena, and Dhani.  Serena was mates with George and Lilly. Lilly had John and John had George. It was a full circle, and I was on the outside.
It's why I had to find Hallie. Why I had to get her back. My friend. My maybe more than that. She was my circle, and I needed her back. I had to find her, no matter what I had to do to get her.