..:^:.. Colorado, 1958

She was no fool, that was for sure. Brigid Tenenbaum looked down at the child, her eyes perked with curiosity and playful teasing.

"Lucina... Go to sleep." Brigid replied, her harsh, German- European accent matched with vivid green eyes should seem fairly intimidating to the 9-year-old. Who was she kidding, Brigid had know the child since she was 4 years old... Lucina could not have pretended to be afraid of her motherly figure if she tried.

"But... you still havent answered my question." Lucina's eyes widened with her growing smile of anticipation.

"Child-" Brigid's efforts to avoid the subject only added to the little girl's obvious excitement to hear an answer.

"PLLEEEAAASSSEEEE?" Lucina rested her head on Tenenbaum's lap, her black hair spilling onto the woman's skirt and her pale face decorated a lovely grin. "Are you and Daddy going to be together for ever and ever? Are you and Daddy going to get married? What does Daddy say to you? Do you love Daddy? Does he love you? Does-"

"Hush," Brigid felt the hot rush of blood creep into her face as her cheeks blush. Jack, she closed her eyes and thought about him for a moment, relishing the thought. Jack, standing tall in the doorway of their newly purchased apartment, his magical laugh lighting the hallways of a new beginning. She toyed with the memories of Jack spinning Alcyone and Psyche around their emptied living room, the way he looked at her recently, the way his lips would quiver every now and then she she brushed his shoulder or whispered to herself little nothings. "Your father and I are not in a relationship Lucina."

The girl's shoulders fell, she tipped her head to the side- her arms wrapping around the older woman's legs.

"Oh... I just thought-"

"Go to bed Lucina..." Tenenbaum brushed the girl's hair away from her face, cradling the child's jaw in her han for a moment. Each second of serenity and affection passing agonizingly slower then the last. Brigid looked down at Lucina's bright blue eyes - the child looking back up at her with equal apology.

"... Goodnight Tenenbaum." Lucina stood, stretched her scrawny arms and yawned.

"Goodnight child." Brigid watched her retreat from her room until her shadow was the only piece left of the tiny girl, then that too disappeared with the closing of the door and the click of a light switch going off in the hallway. She stood from her chair at her desk, sighing with the heaviness in her chest. She stumbled across the carpet to her window, watching the stars and moon glare down at her, judging her, laughing at her, mocking her.

"Oh Jack... " Tenenbaum's thick, rusted voice rang in the air. She could see the reflection of a 28-year-old woman with brown hair and green eyes speaking to her through the glass. She touched the cold, frost backing away from the reflection she knew was her own. "After all we have been through... "

- November 3rd, 1939 Hessen, Germany-

"Brigid Tenenbaum." The woman in the front of the classroom called her name loudly and with a nervous jump Brigid stood up, knocking her knees against the wooden desk in front of her.

"Vorhanden Frau." Present Mrs. Tenenbaum stood up tall despite the chuckles and snickers from her classmates, her knees stung but she stared straight ahead, her eyes fixated on the black board ahead. She did not make eye contact with the soldiers standing by the doorway, she did not let them see the increase in her heartbeat or the sweat she could feel crawling down her back.

Angst nein, angst nein, No fear, no fear.

"Gehen," Go. Tenenbaum reached for her bags and school supplies leaning against her desk. "Verlassen es." Leave it. The woman looked at Brigid with anger and intense hatred, it burned in her eyes. Tenenbaum wondered if it stung her throat to say her name. She gulped, straightened her face and out of pure instinct she snatched the first thing her fingers ran against a photo of her family. She shoved the paper into her sock before she stood, and uniformly marched to the front of the classroom, she went to her teacher but the young woman backed away, almost in disgust. She gestured towards the soldiers.

The men looked straight ahead, one of them placing a cold, toxic hand on her shoulder when she stepped towards them.

"Jack Wynand." Frau Kunstler motioned for her classmate to join, Jack rose- his brown eyes shattered and his usually confident stature shattered. Brigid barely reacognised her classmate, this was a boy who had once been caught stealing bread from a shop in the square and once his mother asked him why he'd replied "das schweinnigel sagte Amerikans verdient holle und nien mehr." The dirty pig said all Americans deserved hell and no greater. The boy shuffled to the front next to Tenenbaum and they looked out over a sea of their classmates. Each either smirking or indifferent about the subject.

"Gehen." The man shoved Tenenbaum and the two children made their way down the hall of the school, the lobbyist nodding at the soldiers who escorted them to the front doors. Brigid could feel Jack staring at her, his gaze burning holes in her skin.

"Was guckst du Amerikan?" What are you looking at American? She hissed through her teeth, sounding a few levels harsher then she meant to.

Jack recoiled and his eyes were sent ablaze- he stared at her for a few moments and growled words she did not understand. "Shut up stupid bitch."

"Ziemlich." Quite. The soldier gripping Tenenbaum's arm shook her roughly.

The odd group walked down the streets, towns people Brigid recognized staring at them and spitting on the asphalt. A black truck awaited at the end of the street, the man's grip tensed as they came closer. The pain shot up Brigid's arm and made her arm quiver, her feet barely touching the cement as the soldier's rage stabbed into her bones. They open the back of the trunk, first the soldier picks up Tenenbaum by her one arm- forcing her to let out a tiny sound of pain. They tell her to shut up and the soldier sets her in the trunk of the truck, pushing her into one of the benchs on either side of the truck's bed. Jack follows and they slam it shut, the sounds of the outer locks echoing inside of the enclosed space like a doomsday bell.

Angst nein, angst nein. No fear, no fear.

" Brigid." Jack's voice quivers with fear and when he looks at her his face is distorted. "They are taking us to prison, aren't they?"

"We don't know that." Tenenbaum focuses on the bench across from her were the word 'Help' is scratched into the wood.

"That's what my parents said, they are taking all the Jews to prison."

"Your parents are just American fools." She looks over at the terrified boy, his eyes filling with salty tears and his shoulders shaking.

"How are you so brave?"

"Angst nein." She looks over at the boy who is her age - his features distorted from the obvious terror of what awaits them. Jack stands taller than she, but crumpled in his state of distress she sits up taller than he does. She'd always seen Jack as the daring, fearless boy who would always get the school questions wrong but would laugh at the boy who could only say the answer in French.

"Angst nein... No fear?" Jack's English surprised her- she'd only heard words like 'bitch' or 'stoo-pid' or 'dum- ass'. But the syllables rolled off her tongue with rigid accent, involuntarily.

"No fear." She squinted at the boy and folded her hands in her lap. No fear.

..:^:.. Colorado. 1958

Fire. Gasoline. Burning Flesh. Emily. Loud Trucks. Soldiers. Gunshots. The Smell of Blood. Barns. Ponds. Swamps. Chain Link Fences. Scratches on Her fingertips. 079120

Tenenbaum bolted upright in bed screaming at the top of her lungs, panting for air, clawing at her hair. She scratched her skin until it bled just to know she was alive. She tore the sheets off her body, searching for her legs- she felt her body shake with horror. Tenebaum touched her lips and willed her lungs to stop burning and covered her mouth to stop the screams. The tears ran hot off her cheeks- yes she was alive.

Am I alive?

Jack opened the door, bolting across the room to Brigid's bed where he sat next to her. He wrapped his arms around her- pulling her close to him. She could hear his heartbeat and her muffled screams mix in her own safe haven she'd created in Jack's embrace.

"Shh... Brigid... Brigid I'm here its ok..." His voice touched her ears with gentle- sincere concern. He rubbed her back comfortingly, her breath starting to settle, her heart finishing it's race and beginning to rest again. His chest was warm while she was freezing cold. Her shaking and somewhat skinny figure pressed against him.

The door creaked open, a pair of glowing blue eyes peaking around the door.

"... Tenenbaum?" Alcyone's voice traveled across the room- four additional pairs of eyes following her gaze. Nine years old, the age she and Jack had been when they were taken from school that day.

"Girls go back to sleep, it's alright." Jack looked over at the group and they tip toed back to their rooms. His arm stayed locked around her, he whispered sweet nothings in her ear until her mind would stop playing the memories. Each photographic angst stuck on pause. She looked up into his brown eyes, seeing the only friend she'd ever known.

"Jack..." She began to speak, her fragile words attempting to be voiced but to weak to ever be heard. She tucked herself into his arms and continued to listen to that beating in his chest until she was lulled into sleep.

-November 4th, 1939 Auschwitz -

The bench was grinding into her back and her stomach growled with hunger. Fatigue and a sense of helplessness thickened the air between herself and Jack. She was beginning to feel the tragedy Jack had at first, and now with her companion asleep on the bench beside her she allowed her emotions to run wold and gave herself over to body wracking sobs and salty tears. She took the folded picture out of her sock, The faces of her father and mother were no longer distinguishable, the mud from the road and the creases from folding the Polaroid too quickly had destroyed their figures. At this Tenenbaum cried harder, clutching her hair in her hands - would she forget their faces? Would she see her parents again? Would these creases in the pages make it impossible for Brigid to find them once she arrived where the soldiers were taking her?

Her cries stopped when her eyes ran out of water and she rubbed the sorrow off her face. The bumping and rocking of the truck slowly beckoned her into sleep.

She woke when the trunk opened, the unfamiliar light burning her eyes. She slammed them shut blinking slowly to open them without damaging her blurring vision. Outside of the truck voices where yelling and arms were grabbing at Jack. He gazed up at her with a look of utter despair. She looked back, her face hollow and strong, she stared back at him as they pulled the children out of the trunk and pushed them towards chain link fences.

She looked at him one more time, the soldiers taking her one way as he disappeared another. Alone, she gazed around slowly while instide her heart did somersaults. Her lungs filled slowly- her cool and collected figure never changing. The inside of the fence showed dirt grounds and tiny huts scattered everywhere. Sad-looking people skinny to the bone stared at her grimly. She was sat down in a hut were these sad-looking people stripped her of her clothes, including the ruined picture. A woman with no flesh left and deep sockets around her eyes handed her a shirt and pants.

"Wo bin ich?" Where am I? Brigid looked up at the woman. Angst nein, Angst nein she repeated, allowing her face to stay straight and her voice to remain steady.

"Auschwitz." The woman looked down at her with sad eyes as Brigid dressed. "Wie heissen Sie?" What is your name?

"Brigid Tenenbaum."

The woman nodded, touched her shoulder and then said with depression hanging heavy in her voice.

"Now you are 079120."

Brigid looked down at the light blue shirt where is was stitched very plainly on her chest.

079120.