I always see his eyes first as I enter the front room, doesn't matter how long I wait and put it off, always his eyes filling the screen. I know he's Korean. Just know it somehow, subconsciously, I'm no Asian scholar and until this began I'd have been hard pressed to tell the difference between a Chinese or Japanese face, but I know he's Korean.
We sit there in the darkness, he and I. It can last minutes or hours, he holding my gaze for as I long as I hold his. That first time lasted a minute or two, I thought him a character on a TV show but as I pressed the power button the camera pulled back, revealing his lack of a body, his mouth wide, screaming, eyes closed as he turned and disappeared into the darkness.
And it always ends that way, his head screaming into the abyss and if I turn the TV back on he's not there. If I sit and watch he waits with me, only if I go to turn him off does it happen.
It's been twelve days now, I can hear him in there, last night I'm sure he started speaking.
