The Joys of Triplets

     It was all to be done in thirds.

     The cake was cut, the chores were done, the money was divided; it had been like this since they were born, 19 years ago. Raoul, the oldest, sat at the head of the table with Jasper and Lenny on either side of him. Despite the fact that they are triplets, the boys couldn’t have been more diverse. Raoul was the guardian, sturdy and willful; Jasper was the troublemaker, witty and cunning; Lenny was the wimp, weak and nerdy. They were only similar in feature: luscious dark brown hair, blue eyes, and the same crooked nose.

     Raoul gave each of them a perfect piece of cake from their quaint little bakery below the house. Unlike the cake however, the relationship between the brothers was far from ideal. Ever since their parents died in a horrible accident a few years ago, things had been rough. Someone had cut the breaks on their parent’s car and each brother immediately turned on the other. They had pledged their undying love to their parents, but it had to have been one of them; no one else had been around that fateful night. The three sat in deathly silence. To make matters worse, sales for the past month had been atrocious. They weren’t eating cake to celebrate, but because it was all they had to eat. Something had to change and fast.

     Jasper slammed his hand down on the table, “I’m sick and tired of sharing everything with the two of you! If it wasn’t for y’all, this place would be a success. Our parents dream would’ve been realized!” Eyes down cast, Jasper pushed out his chair, leaving for his room. Lenny and Raoul ate their cake in an even heavier silence now, the candle in the center of the table flickered and crickets chirped outside the window.

     Raoul cleared his throat, “He’s right Lenny, it really is too crowded. I know we have been inseparable, practically joined at the hip, but now that Ma and Pa are gone…we have to move forward somehow. We simply can’t support this lifestyle.”

     Lenny trembled, as he as he always does around others. His social anxiety was through the roof and he found Raoul especially intimidating. Lenny’s color blind eyes scanned his brothers flawless figure, Raoul was twice his size and all muscle.

     “I-I don’t know Raoul, I like it…just the three of us I mean. I just wish we were closer. I wish…” he trails off and stares hard at his ashy palms.

     Raoul’s lips curl into a smile at his brother’s meekness, “I want things to be better too, Len. I could make them better.” He gets up in one swift motion, positioning himself behind his younger brother’s chair.

     Lenny’s face brightened as his brother wrapped his arms around him. “You’re so warm, could you really fix all of this. I know we are the same age but I’m scared, I’m so sorry I’m like this.”

     Raoul moved his hands to Lenny’s shoulders, “Oh yes, I promise. In fact, come tomorrow everything will be better. There will be more food and money, noting will be as it was.”

     Lenny smiled bashfully, “I really love you Raoul, and you always seem so sure and ready with a plan even when the chips are down.”

     Raoul gently traces his fingers down Lenny’s back in a comforting motion. “I love you too little Len, always remember that. Sweet dreams…”

     “Going to bed so soon Ra-“ Lenny gasped as blood gushed forth from his mouth, staining his white skin forever scarlet. He choked and groaned as the life fled his body. Grasping at his neck, his fingers find a stainless steel butter knife protruding just above his Adams apple. He sputtered the last syllable of his brother’s name and collapsed onto the table, all this in a matter of seconds. Raoul wrapped Lenny’s neck in a thick towel to stop the bleeding and carefully cleaned the area around the scene. Then he dragged his brother’s body down to the lake and tossed it in. It was their own private lake and no one other than Lenny ever used it; Lenny had been incredibly fond of it so Raoul thought it fitting.

     It was all to be done is halves.

     The next morning Raoul was up early fixing two of the three eggs that had been saved for their breakfast.

     Jasper hopped downstairs. “Where is Lenny? He wasn’t up playing his lyre like usual.” Lenny would play his lyre every morning in an effort to wake his brothers up in a good mood. There was no lyre today, something was wrong.

     “You scared him away, he thought he was a burden to us both so he up and left. Besides, he’s much more... at peace now. I’m sure he ran away with his girlfriend to that bard’s college he always went on about.”

     “Oh... I suppose it can’t be helped.” A deep sadness cascaded upon Jasper’s face, Lenny was the happiness of the household and with him gone everything felt, dead.

     Jasper took his seat and Raoul placed his eggs in front of him; he hugged Jasper from behind, a fork in his left hand. “Here, for your eggs. I know its painful little bro, but things will get easier. He’s in a better place now and you and I are the only ones left to have to share things, so in a way we have more than we have had in a long time. I promise I’ll keep making things as easy as I can.”

     “Dude, you talk about him like he passed. I’m sure he will visit us once he settles down.”

     Suddenly, Raoul sat back. “Well of course not silly.”

     Jaspers skin tingled and he spun around just in time to catch Raoul’s arm as he was driving the fork down to Jaspers neck. “What the hell man! Are you wacko?”

     Jasper pushed Raoul to the floor and in that moment he made a connection. “You… you were the one who cut the breaks! It was you all along. You always wanted this place for yourself!” He proceeded to pummel Raoul’s face with punch after punch, bloodied blow after bloodied blow.

     “Where the fuck is my baby brother!?” The two wrestled around on the wooden floor, blood from Raoul’s face speckling their chests and slipping into cracks in the floor.

     Jasper had the fork now and he held it at his brother’s throat, “Tell.Me.”

     Raoul reached up and started to strangle Jasper, that was all the answer he needed. He used every bit of strength he had to push himself forward and drive the fork through his older brother’s throat.

     It was all to be done by one.

     Jasper sat back gasping, a bloody fork in one hand and his brother’s limp head lolling in the other. Crimson spilled out onto the intricately painted tiles of the kitchen, a section that would never quite wash out. He was terrified, he had killed his own flesh and blood, despite the fact that Raoul had killed his parents and beloved bother, he was still mortified and deeply stricken with guilt.

     A darkness came over Jasper, the likes of which he had never known. His world was empty now, a total bottomless void. He had no family and no girlfriend or passion like his brothers had had. His pleasure had come from every day he got to spend with them.

     He wandered carefully over to the back door and followed the little path to the lake. As he stood looking out across the clear blue water grieving and contemplating, a dark figure caught his eye. He waded in after it only to recoil in horror at his cherished sibling’s bloated corpse. His face was ghost pail and an inhumane cry of agony leaped from his throat. He held Lenny close and waded deeper. He never learned to swim.

     It was done.