Harvey's walk back to his own dorm was quiet. He wasn't thinking much about his day at this point anymore, too tired to think of everything anymore. He just wanted to talk to his parents briefly and go to bed.
He unlocked his door and went straight to his bed, practically falling on to it from exhaustion. He laid, face up, and undid his turban and patka, letting his long, silky hair loose. He placed them on the desk next to his bed, as he fished his phone out of his pants pocket. He dialed his parents house phone and pressed call. After a couple of rings, his mom answered. "Harvey! How good of you to call, I wasn't expecting this!" She sounded.. normal. He was relieved that at least one thing seemed in place today.
"Hi mom," he said, tired as hell. "Thought I'd give you a ring. It's been a long day."
"Already, at the beginning of the semester?" his mother asked.
"You wouldn't believe it. I've been so busy with classes and one of my professors made me join the campus' Sikh coalition in order to pass his class. That's been more work than the rest of my classes combined, already." he complained.
"Well, it should be an easy A, at least." his mother said, trying to comfort him. "And I know that it means a lot to everyone there."
"Sure," said Harvey, trying to change the subject. "How are things with you and dad? You must miss me after the holidays."
His mom laughed, "Of course we do, hon. It's quieter with just the two of us, but we get by. Your father has been very busy at work lately. He's even there now, you know what the airport can be like sometimes." She was referring to his job as a concierge at the airport, helping people with check ins and whatnot.
Harvey sighed. "Yeah, it's kind of taxing on him."
His mom responded, "Well, you know how white people are, honey. A lot are nice, sure, but a lot take one look at him and act rude right out the gate. Still, he likes his job and it pays the bills, so he doesn't complain.. much. I think he likes the late nights a lot less."
Harvey paused for a moment, before questioning his mom's words. "White people?" he asked, slowly.
"Yes?" his mother responded, her voice taking on a bit of an accent. "You really must be tired today."
Harvey shook his head, his hair responding with a bit of a lag. "I'm fine, mom." he said, a little pained inwardly at what was going on. What was happening? He tried to picture his family in his head, but everything seemed so blurry.
"I'll take your word for it, kiddo. How is your brother doing?" she asked.
The blurriness of Harvey's mental image just increased as she asked that. "My brother?" he asked. "Why are you asking about-", but he was cut off.
"I know the semester only started but have you truly not spoken to Ravdeep? You said earlier that there have been events for the Sikh Coalition already."
That didn't make sense - Ravdeep was just his long time best friend, not his - "Sorry mom, no. I think you might be right actually. I'm going to head to bed."
"Alright, Harpinder. Sleep well." his mother said, in a heavy accented voice.
"Night mom." replied Harvey, as the two hung up. He laid his head back down on the bed. What the hell was going on? He couldn't be losing his mind like this? He opened Facebook and went to his profile - Harvey Shaw. He flipped through some photos until he saw one that his mother took. It was of him and his parents. No brother, and his family was as white as they could be. His mother was tall and proud, slightly taller than his father, a meek man with a balding head and no facial hair to speak of, and then himself after his first year at college.
Harvey stroked his sculpted beard with his free hand. These looked exactly like his parents, but he looked so different in this photo and couldn't at all put his finger as to why. He was white, of course, but this man didn't look like him at all. Confused and frustrated, he just force closed the app and plugged in his phone. He could look at the photo again in the morning. He needed sleep after such a stressful day.