Chapter 2: Harvey Miller

"Ugh, my head…" Harvey said as he stood up and sat on his bed; he stayed there for a minute. He tried getting his thoughts in order, but they were still in a haze from the sleep. Suddenly he felt his stomach do a front flip.

"Oh no!" Harvey ran to his bathroom and quickly kneeled next to the toilet, He then started to throw up. After finishing emptying his stomach, he sat next to the toilet after he was finished.

"Gah, fuck." Harvey then stood up slowly and walked up to the sink slowly. He raised his head to look at himself in the mirror.

"WHAT THE-!!" Harvey yelled out as he saw himself covered in fire as his flesh slowly burned off. He threw himself back, fell on his butt, and crashed into the bathroom door.

Harvey slowly stood up and peeked at the mirror again, only to see himself in perfect shape. No flames at all.

"What- What was that? I must still be half asleep." Harvey then looked at his reflection thoroughly. Long dark brown oily hair adorned his head, and his brown, almost orange eyes stared back at him. His face was thin and covered in dry sweat, he then looked down at his skinny frame. He saw his old dirty clothes but most noticeable was the sizeable dry patch of blood, a hole right over his liver.

"…I need a shower. I'll think about that later." Harvey then walked up to the shower as he stripped off his clothes, he showered under the hot water for almost an hour. Desperate to clean himself from all the dirt and grime.

After cleaning himself, he stepped out of the shower and walked up to the sink to brush his teeth. Harvey made sure to remove the horrid throw-up smell from his mouth. After finding some mouthwash underneath the sink, he used enough to remove any remaining bits of bad breath and bacteria.

Harvey then entered his bedroom and saw the disarray and chaos. Clothes, dishes, trash, and empty beer bottles lay everywhere in the room. He then walked out to the living room and saw that it was in a similar state. Opening the blinds to look out his front lawn, he saw overgrown grass, weeds, and a few trash bags thrown around the yard.

"I can't ignore this. Not anymore." Harvey returned to his room and dressed himself in clothes he didn't mind getting dirty. He then walked towards the kitchen and grabbed a few trash bags from underneath the kitchen sink. He looked to his right and saw a calendar pinned on the wall, Walking up to the calendar, he saw the date.

"Saturday. Two days until the start of the new school year, school… No, I have to focus on the mess around me. Two days should be enough time to get this mess under control." Harvey talked to himself and then turned around to the mess that was his home.

"Let's get to it."

•••

Phil Dunphy hummed to one of his favorite songs, Yellow by Coldplay, as he drove to his new open house a few blocks away from his home. It was a newly remodeled mid-century home, he was excited to show it off to the potential buyers today. He should be able to sell it quickly within the next two weeks.

"Huh, where did that house come from?" Phil said as he slowed to a stop and pulled over. He then rolled down his window and stared at someone pulling weeds from the flower beds. A lawnmower stood behind the young man, sitting there after clearly finishing trimming the lawn.

"Is that the Millers home? I almost didn't recognize it. Wow, I almost forgot how good it looked!" Phil smiled at the sight, and his eyes quickly looked over at his car's clock.

"Oh no! I'm going to be late!" Phil then switched to drive and started to drive towards his open house.

•••

"There we go, that should do it." Harvey said as he stood up. His clothes were dirty and scuffed. He's been at it since yesterday. It was non-stop cleaning, and the results were shown immediately. The two-story, three-bedroom family home was no longer the neighborhood eye-sore; Harvey gave a lazy smile at his home. But the smile left just as fast.

"My home?" Harvey then thought back to the fact that all his family members were gone. His eyes then shifted to the lawnmower; when he found it under a tarp, it wouldn't immediately start. But his light familiarity with mechanical engineering and the experience from when he and his sister took apart their old lawnmower to see if they could put it back together gave him the knowledge to fix any issues that could pop up.

'Carly…' When he was troubleshooting the lawnmower, he called out to his side requesting a 1/4 socket wrench, a tool his sister would readily hand to him because they always spent time together to fix anything that broke in their home. The silence only reminded him that his little sister was no longer there, just like his mother. Or should he say, mothers?

It felt odd to think he used to be two different people, it got some getting used to being one individual with conflicting memories. He wondered where Harvey began or ended, his other name was something he could never recall. Perhaps it was for the best, the last thing he needed was an existential crisis.

He looked up at the second story of his house, he was only 17 and already owned a home. After his mother… passed away and Tommy died, the home was now his due to his parent's arranging an early will for him to inherit the house should something happen to them both. Harvey worried about being 17 without a legal guardian but remembered the emancipation he received a year ago after the… incident. Harvey also had some money saved up from the life insurance policies from his parents. It wouldn't last much longer due to his past actions when it came to buying beer and drugs, so he would need to look for a paying job soon. At least his parents paid off the home's mortgage, so he only had to worry about a few minor bills.

"I should eat something. I don't think I've eaten since yesterday." Harvey said as he pushed the lawnmower into the garage and then closed the garage door. Harvey walked through the main door in the garage that led to the kitchen, he opened the fridge and found little to no food.

"Looks like I have to go buy some groceries." Harvey then took a whiff of his clothes. "Right after a hot shower."

•••

"Luke, Honey. Don't wander off too far! We're almost done!" Claire Dunphy yelled at her son.

"Don't worry, Mom, I'm just gonna grab some snacks for school." Luke Dunphy said as he walked off down the aisle.

"Snacks? Luke, we talked about this! You can't give snacks to teachers so they can let you come late to class!" Claire said in frustration, but it fell on deaf ears as her son was too far away.

"Okay. Let's see what's left on my list. Ah okay! I need to grab a few bell peppers for tonight's recipe, and we should be good to go." Claire said as she rolled her cart full of produce towards the store's vegetable section.

"This should all be enough for the kids and Phil to cook dishes while I'm at work. Hopefully, I don't have too many late nights at the office, but it's just closets! How involved can it get?" Claire tied the produce bag after getting enough peppers; she then placed the peppers down and turned quickly. She was eager to find Luke so they could get home. In her hurry, Claire turned her cart too fast and accidentally bumped into another shopper. Causing him to grunt in pain.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" Claire gasped as she looked at the young man she bumped into in horror.

The young man had a messy bun holding his long hair in place and winced a little but was overall uninjured.

"I'm okay, don't worry about it. It was an accident."

•••

"Are you sure? I'm so sorry. I should have looked and made sure no one was there!" The blond woman said as she continued to apologize.

"I'm sure, please don't worry about it. I'm fine!" Harvey said as he backed up with his cart to give the woman space to pass him by.

"I'm sure you're in a hurry. Go on ahead." Harvey told the woman. He looked at her cart and saw some familiar ingredients.

"Oh, are you making some spicy chicken chipotle pasta?" Harvey guessed at the possible dish.

"Wow! I am! I saw it was a popular dish that everyone was trying. Did you get that from just looking at my cart?" The woman smiled and was impressed at the young man's guess.

"Yeah, I guess I just got lucky. I made something similar for my sist- I mean for myself last week. Ah, I'm so sorry. My name is Harvey Miller. Nice to meet you." Harvey raised his hand for a handshake, which she took and shook.

"Claire Dunphy, Nice to meet you too. Oh no! I'm running late. I have to look for my son. It was nice meeting you, Harvey!" Claire said as she took off and started her search for her son.

"It was nice meeting you too, Mrs. Dunphy. Take care!" Harvey waved goodbye to the woman.

"I think I should get moving too. I have enough food for the week." Harvey walked to the checkout section and wondered what to make for his dinner tonight.

•••

Harvey stood over the sink as he washed the dishes he used in cooking his dinner. It was silent in his now clean home, a stark difference from when he first walked in the night he died.

'The night we died. No, more like the night I was born.' Harvey stopped cleaning the plate in his hands and stared at shallow water with bubbles floating around. His gaze was unfocused and lost. He stared off seemingly nowhere. He was no fool. He knew he should be dead. They both should be dead, but somehow, he now stood inside this quiet house holding two people's life experiences.

"Why am I alive? Why did this happen to me?" Harvey finished the remaining dishes, dried off his hands and walked to his bedroom to brush his teeth. He was tired and wanted to go to bed.

Regardless of how many questions he asked, they would go unanswered. He couldn't talk about this to anyone because why would he? He would sound like a crazy person. Heck, he barely believed what happened himself.

"Should I go to school tomorrow?" Harvey knew nothing good would come from going. The memories of the past only cemented that he would go through some harsh treatment from the student body. It was all because of him, the man that was supposed to be his father. His actions guaranteed that his remaining years at Palisades High would be a headache.

"Damn you." Harvey cursed as he closed his eyes to go to sleep. Tomorrow was the start of the new year.