• Vol. 08
  • Chapter 08

Don’t Look

The Eyes have arrived.

"But that isn't a name!"

Perhaps you're right.
Perhaps they would find it degrading if it was used to their faces. Still, that's what they're known as. What people call them behind their backs. Backstage. Their fan base. Other celebrities. Everyone.

It makes sense, really. They're always seen together, like a pair of eyes. Like eyes, they watch. Their eyes, deep blue in their olive faces, seem to observe and consider everyone and everything around them, even though they are blind. They still observe, their spirits drinking the atmosphere.

Still, this is not what gave them their nickname. It springs from something as simple as attire. No matter what extravagant garb they otherwise don, what royal boon they flaunt for the eager photographers, there's always the big earring in one lobe each. No one knows what they're meant to represent. Everyone agrees it looks like an eye. A pair of eyes, as their owners are as inseparable after their birth as they were before it. Readily posing together, heads close to each other, the big jewellery look like they're observing everyone watching their owners. They always carry the earring on the same side, too; Tamira's always on the left side, while Nadina's worn on the right. Journalists, interviewers, politicians; everyone relies on this definitive when directly addressing the duo.

They look radiant tonight, as always. Their dresses are identical in cut but different in colour; another of their trademark moves. Nadina wears a nude hue, while Tamira shows off a radiant warm pink. The Eyes give them away, rather than what colour they wear. Unlike other Fame-Twins, they don't appear to discern between each other by wearing their favourite colours in public. In fact, they do not appear to have a favourite colour.

1

Don’t Look

Truth be told, whenever someone attempts to guess either sister's taste in anything, they seem to make a point of proving how wrong the world is about them.

They have stopped by the photographers now, ready for The Shot. Tamira's hand comes to rest under her bust, her head faced down, turned to the right. Nadina comes up behind her, with Nadina's left hand wrapped around her sister, her face turned in the opposite direction. Between their heads they hang, dangling from the earlobes, all-seeing and judging.

The Eyes watch the crowd, staring expectantly. They're massive; an obsidian pupil, surrounded by sapphire blue irises, surrounded by a diamond white, framed by eyelids made from pink alexandrite. They shimmer seductively, mesmerising in the spotlight the sisters stand under. While all marvel at the duo's everlasting youth, a youth that has spanned for several centuries, no one asks how it is even possible.

No one bothers with such questions, for all gets lost in the glittering, lifelike Eyes. Lost in their beauty, no one really remembers that whenever the sisters are seen, imminent, unexpected death follows. Someone from the audience, without fault, collapses

Whatever you do, don't look into The Eyes.

DON'T LOOK-!

2