She was no longer sure why she was running. In fact, the more she ran, the more she wasn’t sure why she started in the first place. Was it a noise? A sudden impulse of fright? She whipped around trees, the rhythmic staccato of dried twigs and leaves under her feet. She wanted to get as far away from where she was as possible. She felt like she was being chased by a rabid animal, perhaps a wolf, as it growled, snarled, and bit at her ankles. But there was nothing behind her; she knew that. There was also nothing to run to, as far as she knew.

Her breath and legs began to fatigue, and she tried to stop. Her mind sent thousands of signals to her legs, but they would not heed them. It seemed that whatever had started her running set her into perpetual motion. Then, suddenly and inexplicably, the trees stopped whipping passed her, and the ground stopped beating. She set her palms on her slightly bent knees like a sprint runner that had just crossed the tape. The soles of her feet demanded an explanation for the abuse they had just sustained. She tried to stabilize her vision, but she soon realized she could hardly see the ground. In fact, the only illumination came from the nearly full moon peering through the tree branches.

She soon became aware on a thin mist that slowly loomed its way passed her shoes. It looked a bit like swamp gas, but this was not a swamp. Of course, her unsteady vision, trying to discern the pale light, might have been mistaken. She did not have long to contemplate it, however, because she soon became aware of whispers that seemed to be only a few yards away. She slowly, silently walked in their direction. As she approached, the whispers developed into what sounded like a conversation between two people. She sensed a small glint of movement between a few patches of ivy.

About ten feet away, she paused behind a tree. She could now hear the figures quite clearly, but for a moment they seemed to be speaking another language. She soon heard what sounded like, "…should be here soon…don’t want her to know…" She quietly kneeled down, and peered at them from behind some thick underbrush. She could now see that there were three of them, although it was too dark to make out any discernable features. Her initial reaction was to call out to them for help, as she suddenly realized that she might be lost.

"Why are they here?" she asked herself. "If they’re campers, where are their supplies? Why haven’t they built a fire?" Their campsite might’ve been nearby, but this was an awfully late hour for hiking, and they didn’t seem to have flashlights. She then realized that she wasn’t carrying one either. "Dammit!"

She wasn’t sure how far from the road she was. Perhaps they were a bunch of drunks who stopped to urinate. More frightening possibilities came to mind. Drug dealers? They did appear to be waiting for someone. Murders waiting to ambush someone? Dozens more ran through her head, and she soon decided to leave quickly. As she stood up, a small twig gave way under her foot. Anywhere else, it would’ve been a tiny, insignificant sound. However, in this nearly silent setting it was amplified as if her heel was a microphone, and the trees were a PA system.

"What was that?" one of the figures asked.

"I don’t know, an squirrel?" responded another.

"No, someone’s there," stated the first, just before he called out, "Hello? Who’s there?" He pulled out a flashlight (an instrument that gave him a clear advantage over both her and the dark) and pointed its beam at the now extinct sound.

Her instincts told her to run, and she desperately wanted to. However, her legs again refused to obey. She stood motionless as the figures slowly approached. They did so cautiously, as they did not know what to expect either.

The beam blindingly met her face.

"Anita!" Almost immediately after he said this, the middle figure elbowed him with the arm holding the flashlight.

"Do I know you?" was Anita’s surprised response.

"Um, you’re a cashier at the Food Mart. We’ve seen you there," was the middle figure’s rather brisk response. "What are you doing out here by yourself?"

"I’m not by myself. My boyfriend should be here soon."

They all shook their heads disgustedly. "He didn’t even walk with you," said one.

"Typical," said another.

Puzzled by their response, she looked for an excuse to leave. "Right, well I should go back and meet him. He gets lost very easily." She started to walk away.

"You shouldn’t walk alone," said a voice from behind her. "It’s too dark. You might get lost yourself."

"He’s not far. I’ll be fine."

"Why are you walking out here at this hour anyway? There are many dangers here, you know," said a different voice.

"I am aware of that, but that is only my concern."

"Want us to walk with you?"

Anita tried to be polite, but their insistence was becoming both frustrating and frightening. "Look, I’ve already said I don’t need help. Now please leave me alone!" If this was a group of crazies, they might’ve jumped her at this point. They could’ve grabbed her, restrained her, and did any number of horrible things to her. Instead, two of them backed up, while the third in the middle held out his flashlight.

"Here, then. You may need this." Sensing that she didn’t want to come closer, he tossed it to her. It landed on the ground, and rolled to her feet as she bent down to pick it up. "Don’t let him hit you again."

Anita was sure that she had run in more or less a straight line, so she simply turned around and walked in the other direction. She found a comfort in that flashlight’s beam. It made her way seem clear, every obstacle visible. However, she was haunted by the words of the tall stranger that had given it to her, and that uneasiness grew with each step she took. It eventually became so strong that whatever force haunted her legs again took hold, and she started back to where she met the three strangers.

Meanwhile, two of the dark figures were engaged in an argument.

"We should’ve told her," said one.

"That’s out of the question," said the other. "You almost blew the whole thing when you said her name."

"It would’ve been easier that way."

"She never would’ve believed."

"Well, we should try to find her."

"And if she finds that we’re following her, she’ll perceive that as threatening. Then, this’ll never work."

"What do you think we should do?" the second figure asked the third, who was seated on a tree stump a few feet away.

"Wait," came his hoarse reply.

"But what if she doesn’t return?"

"She already has." The others then became aware of a nearby light source, and a voice emerged from it.

"How did you know?" It asked.

"What?" responded the tall figure.

"How did you know he hit me?"

"The mark on your face." He gestured toward her face, and she gently touched her cheek, which she hadn’t seen herself for some time.

"I was running. I could’ve hit a tree branch."

"No, I know that mark. You can practically see his fingerprint."

Anita nervously searched for a reply. "Who are you?"

The tall figure suddenly smiled and put his palm to his forehead. "Oh! How rude of me!" This sudden gesture startled Anita. "We know your name, but never introduced ourselves." He pointed to the heavy-set figure standing next to him. "This is Three, I’m Two, and the guy over there is One."

"So, your names are One, Two, and Three?" asked Anita.

"That’s right," replied Two.

"But…those are numbers, not names."

"What’s the difference?" asked Two. "Are they not both spelled in letters…"

"O-N-E" spelled out One.

"T-W-O," said Two.

"T-H-R-E-E," said Three.

"Just like yours, A-N-I-T-A?" asked Two.

"I guess it doesn’t make much difference. Where did you get those names."

"From our father," replied Three, with a hint of malice. "He refused to call us anything else…"

"You see," interrupted Two. "we are brothers. Fraternal triplets, very rare. A blessing, some might say."

"But he didn’t see us that way," said Three. "To him, we were three burdens, the ‘Three Creeps,’ as he used to call us."

"Accidents," croaked One.

"Products of a moment of irresponsibility," said Two.

"But he wouldn’t let us or our mother go," said Three. "A sick, crazy man."

After listening intently, Anita asked, "Do you have other names?"

"We did, but they don’t matter anymore," said Two. "These names, thrust upon us as derogatory, have given us strength."

"We’re a union," said One.

"Where one is weak, another is strong," said Three.

"One thinks most, but talks least," said Two.

"Two talks most, but acts the least," said Three.

"Three acts the most, but thinks the least," said Two.

"Hey!" blurted Three.

Anita soon became very interested in these strange new people. She and the others talked for quite a while, and the conversation soon became mostly between her and Two. The tall man was her favorite. He was quite tall and stately, with dark hair that was rather curly. He had the kind of deep, matter-of-fact voice that was made for giving speeches. This was the kind of man that people elected president.

She found Three a bit intimidating. He constantly seemed angry, and he had the build of a power lifter. He wasn’t quite as tall as Two, but much more muscular.

And then there was One, the enigma of the group. He constantly seemed to be on his own, lost in his own thoughts. Her natural reaction was to feel sorry for him. His head was shaved bald, and he was much smaller and shorter than the other two, though still a bit taller than she was. He hardly spoke at all, and when he did, he sounded like a frog. Anita timidly asked Two why that was.

"His father punched him in the throat when he was five," he replied. "Shattered his voice box. It’s a miracle he can talk at all."

Anita walked over to where One was seated. He seemed to be in some trance as he sat with his legs crossed, stared at some point in the distance. That tree stump seemed to be his favorite spot. She walked up beside him, unsure of what to say, as people usually are when they speak to someone for the first time.

"Is that relaxing?" He was a bit startled, and she apologized. He invited her to sit next to him.

"Can be. It can also be very disturbing." Anita had to listen very closely to his raspy words to understand them.

"What were you looking at?"

"A leaf. It doesn’t matter…what you look at, as long as you focus..." He started to cough a bit. Talking seemed to be hard on him.

"I’m sorry," she said.

"For what?" he asked.

"Your voice. I’m sorry that happened to you."

One smiled wide and said, "I don’t like…to talk much anyway." There was a pause for a while after that, and finally, One asked, "Could I ask a favor of you?" She tilted her head slightly. "Well, this may sound strange, but…could you hug me, please?" Anita smiled and, without hesitation, put one arm around his upper back and shoulders, and the other around the front of his chest. She squeezed gently as she rested her head on his shoulder. Of the emotional deluge that surged inside him, all but a single tear was held back by his stoic barrier, and he said, audible only to himself, "Where were you during my childhood?"

"Anita!" Yelled a voice from somewhere in the distance.

"What was that?" asked Three.

"Todd," said Anita. "My boyfriend." She suddenly became very concerned. She now realized that she’d been away from camp for over an hour. He must’ve been crazy with worry. She grabbed the flashlight and ran toward the voice that continued to call. However, it was hard to tell where it came from as it bounced between the trees. She called out and scanned the area with the light. Finally, it caught a glint of his figure, and he noticed her at almost the same instant. They ran toward each other, and she began to put her arms out to hold him. But he stopped a few feet away.

"Dammit, Anita! Where’ve you been?"

"I was…"

He didn’t let her finish. "Just wondering around the woods, alone, in the dark. Geez!"

"There are other people here, Todd," she said sternly. "They know me from the grocery store. We were…"

He flashed his eyes. "People? Guys?" She nodded slightly. "Where are they, I’ll kick their asses in." He stormed in the direction she came from. Anita called after him, but he wouldn’t listen.

"I don’t know, I guess they left."

"I think your goddamn crazy!" He pushed her slightly, but it was enough to knock her off-balance.

"Do that again…" stated a looming voice behind him.

"…and I’ll KO your ass!" continued a heavy-set figure.

A much smaller third figure leapt from a branch of a nearby tree, and croaked something resembling "Hi" after landing on his feet.

"Who’re you assholes?" demanded Todd.

"These’re the people I was talking about," said Anita. "This is One, Two, and Three."

"I can count! Who are they?"

"That’s not important…Todd…Trelvik," rasped One.

"How did you…?"

"You’ve been drinking again Mr. Trelvik," observed Two. "That seems to have affected your judgement." Todd soon found himself surrounded by the three.

"That’s it! I’ll kick all your asses at once!"

"That won’t be necessary. I sense that you are a gambling man, Mr. Trelvik?"

"Sometimes, why? Is there a wager?"

"There is. You fight one of us, and only one. If you win, we’ll leave you to your…business. If we win, you take us back to your camp for some food, as we are all quite hungry."

"Okay."

"C’mon Pops, take me on! I want it bad!" grunted Three.

"What, do you think I’m stupid? I wanna win, I want the little guy." He pointed toward One. One humbly stepped up.

"Coward," muttered Three.

"Are you sure you’re up to it?" Two asked One, who modestly shrugged his shoulders. Todd was at least a head taller than him, with a much larger build.

"C’mon, Toady, " snarled Todd. If anyone else had said that, it wouldn’t have bothered One. He’s lived with that nickname his entire life. This time, however, it took all of his strict mental discipline to contain his rage, which was like a wild, rabid horse in a small pen. "Let’s see what ya got."

Todd danced around with his fists in front of his face like a boxer. One stood relatively still, with his hands near his side, waiting. Todd threw the first punch, a right jab. One dodged it quite easily, but Todd’s left hook connected to his right cheek. Anita covered her eyes, as she was sure she was going to witness a slaughter. She soon would.

One dodged more half-hearted punches by bobbing and weaving, and Todd soon grew frustrated. He brought his arm back far, and threw a solid right cross. This was the punch One was waiting for. He spun his arms in front of him like a windmill while side-stepping, thus blocking the punch. He then took hold of Todd’s right wrist in his left hand, and punched him square in the nose with his right. Todd flew back and hit the ground, though not as hard as he would have if One let go of his wrist sooner. It seemed that the fight was over, but Todd was crazy drunk, which may or may not have been to his advantage.

He charged wildly at One, flailing his arms and yelling. One simply took a step to the side, and Todd stumbled over his own feet just before One kicked him in the stomach with the top of his foot. He didn’t hit him very hard, but he hoped that the ox would get the hint. He didn’t. Almost immediately, he got back up and tried to tackle One. One side-stepped again. This time he folded his left fist into his right palm, and with the bottom of the resulting structure, clubbed Todd in the small of his back. The word "Aak" spurted from the larger man’s mouth, and he hit the ground hard.

In an attempt to end the other man’s habit of getting back up, One sat on his now-injured back, and put him into a headlock. This arched his back painfully, and his colorful language let everyone present know. One took the opportunity to rub Todd’s hair-laden head with his knuckles. If he felt that his life was in any danger, he wouldn’t have taken such a showy indulgence.

The others in the crowd seemed to enjoy the show. "I taught him that move," boasted Three. Anita looked on with concern for both contestants, but a part of her found the situation very exciting. Perhaps it was the part that makes people want to watch car accidents.

The larger man suddenly threw the smaller off and stood up, despite his pain. Todd yelled brutally, but whatever he planned to do next was anyone’s guess; he never had a chance to do it. One sprang from the ground with a powerful uppercut, which hit Todd squarely in the jaw. This lifted him several inches from the ground, and several feet back. By the time he returned to the ground, he was nearly unconscious. Blood ran in a steady stream from his nose.

"My nose," he complained weakly. "He broke my nose."

Three examined it briefly and said, "It’s not broken, just bleeding. Tilt your head forward, and use some gauze to catch the blood. You’ll be fine." Todd sat up holding his cheek, as he searched his mouth with his tongue for missing teeth. Luckily, they all seemed intact. "How embarrassing," he thought to himself. "Lost to a goddamn shrimp."

Two and Three offered to carry him, but Todd preferred to walk the distance back to camp, step for painful step. The campfire that had been left unattended had nearly burned itself out. Two and Three pulled a rather large foldable cot from out of the tent, and Three helped Todd into it. By now, his nosebleed had nearly stopped, but his face, knees, and back still hurt. Three knew the pain of these injuries well, and gave Todd a few of his favorite painkillers.

"Take these, Buddy. You’ll be fine," said Three.

"Hey, where’s One?" asked Two.

"There he is," said Anita, pointing to the top of her van. There sat One, tranquilly eating an apple.

"Don’t be rude, One," scolded Two. "You should’ve asked for that."

One held it up. "Good!" he said. Anita giggled.

"Step down from there," Two said.

"Oh, let him be," said Anita, then shouted to One, "You’re welcome to as many apples as you like." They smiled gently to each other for a brief moment, then One noticed the moon far above her head. It would have been full without the small bite mark on its side. He held the apple out far in front of him, between his eye and the moon, and the two shapes matched up well. He often noticed things like this.

"Little idiot…" mumbled Todd as he drifted to sleep.

Todd awoke a few hours later. By then, the alcohol had lost its grip, and he was left with a pounding headache. "Don’t think I’ve ever had a hangover before sunrise before," he thought to himself. He scanned the area with his squinting eyes, trying to piece together what had happened earlier. He soon became aware of a man kneeling next to the fire, poking it with a long stick.

"Who the hell are you?" asked Todd with a scratchy voice.

"You don’t remember? Your fight with the ‘little guy?’"

The memory was fuzzy, but there. "Hmmm…boy, that kid was fast." Todd sat up a bit too suddenly, and held his face to keep his eyes from rolling out. The other man stood up, showing his true height.

"He went surprisingly easy on you. He’s a third degree black belt. You’re fortunate he didn’t use the good stuff."

"No shit, a black belt. What about the big guy?"

"Pro wrestler turned boxer. He wants to be a cop. You should’ve picked me; I’m just tall. I’m working on my law degree."

"Where’s Anita?"

"She and the other two went to collect some wood for the fire. We’ve still got a few hours before sun up, and this won’t last that long."

"So, what’re you three here for anyway? Are you camping?"

There was a pause as Two decided how to answer. "Well, we actually came here to fix something."

"Fix something? What’s out here to fix? A broken tree? Or did the wolves call you to fix their microwave?"

"Well, this has more to do with fixing... Well, you see, when we were about ten years old, we saw something."

"What?"

"We saw our father kill our mother."

Todd’s eyes widened slightly. "Jesus…"

"Yeah. All three of us stood at the top of the stairs during a fierce argument between them. He finally started pushing her, then hitting her, and finally, in the heat of his own rage, stabbed her in the chest. Upon realizing what he’d just done, he called an ambulance, but she died on the way to the hospital."

"Jeez, Man. That’s tough."

"Well, in a way all of us saw it coming. He beat us all terribly for the first ten years of our lives. By then, our mother was so broken and beaten down, that she’d given up trying to stop him. Whenever he got into one of his "moods," she would simply vanish into the air. Sometimes she cried, but what’s important is that she did nothing but stand there and watch. We knew that she loved us, deep inside we could tell. She called us by our names, our real names. That’s what made the difference. No one else, not even each other, called us by them. She never hugged us, though. She refused; she was so beaten down emotionally that she could hardly stand to even look at us. It was almost was if we were a burden to her, just as we were to our father."

"Wow, kinda reminds me of my family."

"Really?" Curiosity swept across Two’s face.

"Hell yeah. You don’t think you have the corner on the market of childhood abuse, do ya? My father once hit me with a baseball bat. Once, when I was six, he threw a brick at my head. It ended up hitting me square in the jewels. He thought that was funny! My dear old man. So, what happened to yours?"

"He ended up in prison, a sentence of sixty years for second degree murder. He died after a few months there."

"So now he burns in hell with my dad, eh?"

"No. Today my dad is alive and well."

"So you believe in reincarnation?"

"Not really. I believe that every once in a while, when something goes very wrong, time gives you a chance to set it right."

There was a silent pause for a few seconds, and then Todd said, to Two’s astonishment, "I hope I never become like my father."

Two replied, "Then I hope you learned something tonight."

Throughout the rest of the night, Todd sorted the fuzzy images in his mind. They were vague not because of the alcohol, but because he refused to look at them. He saw himself slap Anita across her face. Tears ran from her face, and she with them. Not the first time. She would return, he took for granted. He knew that he truly loved her, and that he would be devastated to lose her. Why did I do it? Was it anger? An attempt to maintain control? Control of what? Do I need help? He looked back a bit further. They made love on the carpeted floor of the van. He was drunk and out of his mind the whole time, but she was sincere.

"Anita drove miles out to this place just to be alone with me, and I treated her like a…" He looked into a small puddle and saw his reflection in the moonlight. "Christ…I’m disgusting." The reflection turned to some of his earliest memories. "Worse than disgusting, I am my father…"

Anita and the others returned carrying several long sticks. They set them down next to the fire, which by now was starting to dwindle. As the others gathered around it to roast hot dogs and marshmallows, One reclaimed his spot on the roof of Anita’s van.

"One, why’re you being so antisocial?" asked Two. One did not answer. Instead, he lay on his back, looking up at the stars, whose light wrapped around him like a quilt. One thought of how they would soon be covered by the steadily rising sun. His thoughts were interrupted as he felt the van under him shift a bit. He became aware that someone was climbing up the ladder in the back. He brought his head back as far as his neck would allow, and saw Anita’s face appear over the roof, upside down. She remained on the ladder and rested her arms on the roof’s metallic surface.

"Why do you stay away from the others so much?" asked Anita.

One paused, then said, "I’m not away. They’re there, and I’m here. Always been that way."

"Are you lonely?"

"No, not lonely. Just…by myself."

"I admire your autonomy. You don’t seem to let anyone push you around." There was a brief pause, then Anita asked, "What you were doing earlier, could you teach me how to do that?"

"Sure." Anita took a seat next to One, and did as he instructed her. She faced forward, her eyes open but unfocused. She tried to keep her mind free of thought and concentrated how she was breathing. Inhale, Exhale, one breath, then another. She soon began to become aware of things overlooked by a mind busy. Several staccato heartbeats keep time with the legato breaths. She felt a sneeze well up, then subside before reaching fruition. Her legs complained, as her knees had been bent for longer than she was used to, but she was able to ignore it. A sensation that she found hard to explain captivated her. It was almost like a heat, like she had swallowed a speck of stardust. Indeed, at first she thought the feeling was coming from her stomach. As she examined it further, however, she became aware that it was somewhere deeper, and growing in intensity...

The sun began to rise slowly, and eventually crawled its way to the tops of the trees. One remained on the roof of the van. Two and three reclined in the only two lawn chairs Todd and Anita brought with them. Todd and Anita themselves slept on a cot nearby. Todd held her deep in his arms as if the heat of the campfire had melded her back with his chest.

Meanwhile, deep within the forest, a large bobcat caught the scent of the food. Typically, wild animals avoid humans, but with the scarcity of food and the cold of winter setting in, this animal grew desperate. It approached slowly, silently, steadily, until it was close enough to lunge in surprise attack...

From where he sat, One could see everything. He could see the gravel on the ground just below the van, which was where his gaze started. He then saw Two and Three lounging in their lawn chairs. He watched as Todd and Anita as they left their cot to begin preparing breakfast. Anita held a pan in one hand, and in the other, she held Todd’s fingers like a ring. He looked passed them, deep into the forest, to two luminescent eyes as they suddenly lunged at Anita.

One let out a yell, a reflex. He knew that he was unable to utter a sound much louder than the tear of thin paper. Still, he yelled.

It wasn’t a croak or a hiss, but a cry that reached far beyond the camp, resonated between the trees until it reached the road beyond. Indeed, it was a word that nearly resonated across the state, perhaps even around the world. And that word was, "MOTHER!"

More importantly, it caused Anita to dodge, and Todd to dive on top of her, shielding her from the animal’s claws as they tore at his arms and back. He cried out in pain. The law student, who’s speech was now useless, could only watch in horror. However, the man of action grabbed a stick that was half out of the fire. The other end still burned, and its ashes and smoke created a whisping trail as Three ran. He waved it in front of the bobcat’s face in an attempt to scare it. It was distracted for a second, then it grew angry and hissed at Three. By now, the stick’s fire had shrunk to embers, and Three knocked them off by hitting the bobcat in the leg. This caused more pain than it wanted, and it darted back into the forest.

A strange silence accompanied the end of the fight. Todd’s back still hurt, but the cuts were quite shallow. Anita shielded her face through the entire ordeal, and saw nothing of it.

"Are you all right?" asked Todd.

"Yes, but you’re not. Three, there’s some bandage in my bag. Could you…?" But Three wasn’t there. Nor was Two in the chair behind him. One no longer sat at the top of the van.

Several months later, Anita gave birth to three little boys—fraternal triplets.