Chapter Four - Memories (Posted 5 January 2012)

"Sweetie," a beautiful woman leaned down to be at eye level with her son, "you know we've got another one coming to stay with us for a while."

"Yeah, Mom," Harvey answered her, "you told me last week." He wasn't really surprised by the news. They'd had foster children in and out of their house for as long as Harvey could remember.

"We're putting him in your room."

"What!" He was not okay with that. "Why? We have plenty of rooms for him!"

"We were advised to let him room with someone else."

"Why can't you put him in one of the other kids' rooms?"

His mother sighed. "You know we can only have two kids in a bedroom, Alan. All the other kids are already sharing a bedroom, and we're not going to make them switch rooms when we can just put him with you."

"Theresa has her own room too! Why can't he stay with her?"

"We can't mix boys and girls." she answered. "Besides, your sister is seventeen. Michael needs someone closer to his own age."

"How old is he?"

"Eight."

"I'm five years older than him!" Harvey protested.

"It doesn't matter. He's moving into your room and that's final. You sleep on the top bunk anyway, so he can sleep on the bottom."

"I have stuff on the bottom."

"Then you'll have to move it. Look, I know you don't like sharing a room, but this is only temporary. A couple months."

"Why does he need to be with someone anyway?" Harvey sulked.

"He recently lost his parents." she said sadly. "But he doesn't remember. He's confused and lonely, so we need to make him feel as welcome as possible. Putting him all by himself will only make him feel worse."

"He doesn't remember what happened?"

She shook her head.

Harvey felt his heart sink. He loved his parents, and couldn't imagine what it would feel like to lose them. He hadn't even met this kid yet and he already felt sorry for him.

His mother stood up. "I'm not asking you to make some huge sacrifice. I just need you to share your room and talk to him once in a while. He'll need someone as sweet as you looking out for him. Can you do that?"

Harvey nodded. "Okay." It was just a couple months. How bad could it be?

She smiled down at him. "Thank you."

X

"Wow," Mike said as they walked into Harvey's condo, "you have a really nice place."

"You said that last time." Harvey said.

"Yeah, but I was drunk last time and I only got a peek. This place is huge."

"The kitchen is that way," Harvey pointed, "go sit in there. I'll be right in."

"Okay." Mike wandered in the direction Harvey pointed and sat down at the table. "I think my entire apartment would fit in here."

"Probably." Harvey said, walking in behind him. "You want something to drink?"

"Um... no, I'm okay."

"You sure?" Harvey opened his fridge. "How about a Pepsi?"

"You drink Pepsi?" Mike asked.

Harvey rolled his eyes. "I am a person, Mike. Do you want it or not?"

"Yeah. Thanks." He caught the can Harvey tossed to him and opened it.

"What's your first question?"

"You said you got along with your parents until something happened with your little brother."

Harvey nodded. "Yeah."

"Well. What happened?"

"A lot of things happened. You're going to have to be more specific than that."

"Okay. How many siblings did you have?"

"A lot. I had an older sister, Theresa. But my parents were foster parents, so I had a bunch of foster brothers and sisters. Some stayed for a few weeks. Others stayed longer."

"What was the longest they ever stayed."

Harvey took a breath. "One little boy came to us right after my thirteenth birthday. He was only supposed to stay for two or three months, which was normal. We mostly took kids who were just waiting until they found a permanent home, not ones that had nowhere to go. But something kept going wrong with the custody plans for this one. He stayed with us for a whole year."

"Wow."

"Yeah. Now it's my turn."

"Okay." Mike still had more questions for Harvey. But a deal is a deal.

"Has your eidetic memory ever failed you?"

Mike was surprised by the question. "Well... yeah. It's rare for that to happen, but it's not perfect."

"What happened?"

"Hmmm. Well... once I got lost when I was on my bike as a kid. But I wasn't really paying attention to my surroundings, you know? It was a new bike and I was going so fast, I was distracted, I guess. And then another time I was writing a thank you card, and I couldn't remember what I wrote."

"That's it?"

Mike fidgeted. "Uh, not exactly. After... I mean... after the crash..." Mike didn't specify. He knew Harvey knew what he was talking about. "I couldn't remember anything. But that's not just my eidetic memory, it's my entire memory. I was told I still remembered things just by looking at them once, but to this day I have no idea what happened during the week I had amnesia."

"Week?" Harvey asked.

"Yeah. See I'd been comatose for a long time. And when I came out of it, I had amnesia. Then my gram picked me up and after being home for a few days, my memories came back. I woke up one morning acting like myself, and that's when Gram told me everything that happened."

"What did she tell you?"

"I already told you what she said. She told me I'd been in an accident that... you know... took my parents from us, and put me in a coma. Then I woke up with amnesia."

Harvey was confused. Why would his grandmother lie to him about what happened after the accident? "How long were you in the coma?"

"You've already asked more questions than you were supposed to." Mike reminded him with a tiny smile. "So this boy that came to live with you, was he the brother that changed things for you?"

"Absolutely."

"Were you close to him?"

"I was closer to him than anyone. Believe it or not, I was a nice kid. I always helped my parents with things, and I looked out for the foster kids who were younger than me. I never had any reason to hide my emotions from people. And when he came, I felt so bad for what happened to him. Things were rocky between us at first, but he... he was a target for a lot of the local bullies. They liked to tease him, but I couldn't stand it. I hated bullies in the first place, but no one messed with my family and got away with it."

"You protected him?" Mike asked, trying to imagine Harvey standing up for someone smaller and weaker than him.

"Yeah. But one time... things progressed from just words to threats of physical violence. And even then I was all for people learning to stick up for themselves, but when he tried to fight that kid himself... he got hurt. Badly. And that was the last straw for me. I beat that kid's ass so hard he had to miss school for weeks. And I don't know how, but no one ever found out it was me. But somehow my brother knew. And he clung to me from that day forward."

X

Harvey ran as fast as he could. But of course he didn't get there fast enough. It wasn't that far from one end of the playground to the other, but the world seemed to be going in slow motion as he tried to catch Mikey before he hit the pavement.

And when he saw the blood gushing from his nose, mixing with the tears as he cried out in pain, he froze. Was that laughing he heard?

He turned and faced the kid who dared to punch his brother. He shoved him down, intent on breaking him like he'd broken Mikey, but another cry from behind him brought him out of his fury. This scum would have to wait.

Then he was at Mikey's side, yelling for help. He was always calm in emergency situations, but this was just too much for him to handle. He didn't know what to do.

And the adults were just standing around, gawking. Until one glorious savior pushed through the crowd and called for an ambulance. She did her best to calm Harvey down, to tell him that help was on the way. Somehow she managed to get his parents' phone number from him and call them too, letting them know what happened.

He rode in the ambulance with Mikey, unable to leave his side. He held onto the stretcher as they wheeled him into the hospital. It took three nurses and a security team member to pry him away from the bleeding boy. And then his parents were there, restraining him so he wouldn't go running into the emergency room.

Three hours later they were finally allowed to go see him, and he couldn't move fast enough. He was finally able to breathe as he reached Mikey's bedside and saw his eyes were open, and he was free of blood. The cast on his arm and stitches on his lip made him feel queazy, but Mikey was okay, and that was what mattered.

"Harvey!" Mikey smiled through his injuries. Then frowned worriedly. "Why are you crying?"

"I told you not to try to fight him, Mikey." Harvey reached into the bed and grabbed his hand. It wasn't cold like it had been in the ambulance.

"But I wanted to be strong. Like you."

Harvey shook his head. "You got hurt. I was worried about you."

"I'm okay now, though."

"You are not. You've got a broken arm and a busted lip. And that bump on the back of your head is going to hurt really bad tomorrow."

"But you're here." Mikey said. "So I'm going to be okay."

"Promise me you won't try to fight anymore."

"But, Harvey..."

"Promise me." Harvey demanded, his eyes fierce.

"Okay. I promise."

"Here." Harvey held out a stuffed monkey. "I got this for you from the gift shop."

Mikey smiled and accepted the gift, hugging it closely.

X

"Did people still try to mess with him?"

"Of course they did." Harvey said. "But I was always there to make sure he never got hurt again."

Mike thought about something. "When do we get to the part where you become an emotionless prick?"

Harvey's eyes darkened. "When you ask the right questions. But for now, I've got more for you."

"What else could you possibly want to know about me?"

"Trust me, there's plenty I want to know."