The Prettiest Eyes

writing prompt: start and end the short story with the same sentence

Leola always had the prettiest eyes.

They were a stunning blend of grey, blue, and green, like the eye-catching pebbles January used to look for along the beach and pretend were magical. They seemed to glow, radiating life as if the sun and moon had been combined, a far cry from January’s own dull charcoal ones that shot hostility or contempt at whatever they looked at, if anything at all. The only person they didn’t practically glare at was Leola. Sometimes it was nice having a pretty best friend, sometimes it was not. Leola drew positive attention to them both, but increasingly often, January found themself stuck in their friend’s looming shadow. They didn’t blame her, but sometimes Leola was too pretty for it to be a good thing, to January, at least.

The problem wasn’t just a simple matter of human jealousy like between so many schoolfriends. January hated the way Leola looked at them, like she was shining a spotlight onto them. They could just feel those goddamn eyes on them like the way one could feel sunbeams on their skin. It made January’s skin crawl in a viscerally unnerving way that had them wanting to gag and throttle Leola. So that was exactly what they did.

Gasping, January dropped Leola’s lifeless body onto the kitchen floor, hands shaking from both exertion and shock. Horrified, they looked down at the red, purple, green, and yellow splotches all over the girl’s neck, and her still open, dead eyes. Even in death, they still seemed to shine. Forcefully, January attempted to shut them, but it wasn’t enough. In an inexplicable way, they could still feel the deceased Leola’s gaze through her closed eyelids. Hyperventilating, January flung the cutlery drawer open, scrambling for a knife or a spoon or anything at all while keeping their eyes trained on the body. Something sharp pricked their thumb, and January pried it out. A grapefruit spoon. January grabbed onto it, ignoring the sting of the serrated edges biting into their palm and fingers. They slipped their hand down to the handle and forced Leola’s eyelids up. With a deep inhale, January plunged the edge of the spoon into the socket of the blonde’s eye, and dug.

Leola always had the prettiest eyes