The May air deluged through his spectral skin, and we remained on the concrete sharing our meager dinner. The horizon billowed into a drab blue the longer we refused to face each other, and the sweat caked to us like the unwanted grass betwixt the pavement. The lots emptied in a hum, and we chose to continue sitting there, as two lamenting bodies upon the small hill. We continued eating, watching as the engines trekked against the gravel road, lazily drifting off into the black periphery. He wouldn’t look at me, as if being seen was already too much to bear. I didn’t want to get up, and neither did he, as we continued eating in a state of detachment, plucking each piece of chicken out of the rustling plastic. We just wanted to watch. This journey had me reaffirm what I wanted, to be a phantom. To disengage. To relinquish my need to be seen. Eventually, we stayed to admire even the clouds settling into their ephemeral forms, becoming wisps of drifting white paint, and as I looked back at him, I could recognize only the phantom, and no one else.

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Brian Van Lau is a photographer based out of Seattle, WA. To see more of his work visit — Website / Instagram