Bill Croelick clasped his hand over Brenda's mouth.

It startled her awake…

…and she came face to face with a nightmare that she had never thought she would ever have again. Bill Croelick's dark smile sent Brenda into panic mode. She instantly fought back because she knew there was no other way out. Croelick would never let her leave alive…he had tried to kill her more than once now. Brenda only stopped struggling when she felt stronger hands push down on her shoulders and pin her to the bed in order to halt her fight back.

They were not Croelick's.

They were not Croelick's!

Fritz stared down at her wild eyes that displayed a mixture of pure fear…fear that Croelick welcomed. Brenda reached for Fritz, who should have been right next to her, but he was holding her down…keeping her from fighting. His face was strange and for a brief moment, she felt as if she did not know him. Her eyes widened with the thoughts of what could have happened to him. Croelick felt her lips move beneath his hand and heard the muffled words of her protest and question.

He only laughed at her. "No questions for you Brenda," he said and reached behind to his back pant pocket and pulled out a lighter. He showed it to her. Brenda remembered the lighter. In her mind, she saw herself screaming as the flame was planted against her bare flesh. She remembered the smell of her own skin being burned. Croelick had been unforgiving when he had delivered her torture and she knew that had yet to change.

Brenda tried to free herself again, but Fritz held her in place. Her muffled protests and threats came to deaf ears. She met her husband's eyes once more and saw nothing but a stranger within them. Croelick brought the lighter closer to bare skin and she jerked her eyes back to the it. Her breathing increased. He smelled her fear. He pulled up her night shirt to reveal the scar he had left many months before. Brenda fought the urge to scream and she fought to speak. Croelick flicked the cap of the lighter a few times and each time, he watched Brenda jerk and flinch. His smile widened as he saw one tear fall from the corner of her eye and down the side of her cheek.

He had won.

Croelick clicked the lighter to life and the brilliant flame was powerfully bright against the darkness of the room. Brenda met Croelick's eyes and saw nothing but a monster…saw nothing but her death within them. As he placed the flames against her skin she screamed through his hand, suffocating in torment…

"Brenda! Brenda! BRENDA!" Fritz was practically screaming at her and holding her shoulders, rocking her almost violent to wake her. It took a few more sounds of her name to break the cycle of the nightmare and wake her. When she finally did wake, she saw nothing but what was in her nightmare. Fritz was holding her down…his eyes wild as he looked at her. She cried out again and kicked him hard in the groin to get him off of her. Fritz fell off the back of the bed and groaned, "Brenda…"

"Fritzy?" She finally said after a few moments and after her heart slowed to a somewhat normal pace.

"You were having a nightmare," he said to her and grumbled softly to himself to never wake her from one again.

Brenda blinked, shook her head and then let her face fall into her sweat soaked palms. She heard her heart still beating madly in her ears. -A nightmare-she thought to herself-to real to be a nightmare…-

Fritz, after catching his breath, finally got up from the floor once the pain to his groin slowed to a dull throbbing. He slowly moved to the edge of the bed and sat down. He gingerly place a hand on her shoulder and saw her jump slightly. He frowned. "Can you tell me?"

"It was…it…." she started to say and then stopped herself. -He would only want to protect me more-she thought. Moreover, she did not want Fritz to know just how bothered she had really been by her last run in with Bill Croelick. He was the perfect nightmare and one that she never wanted to have again. However, she had had several nightmares since…all of which ended the same way…with her being burned alive. Brenda swallowed and brought her face up to see the familiar, soft and loving eyes of the man that she loved.

"It was what, Brenda?" Fritz urged gently and touched her shoulder again. He hand felt cool against her skin.

"Nothing…" she said and noticed his frown. "I just don't want to talk about it…I just want to go back to bed…" she finished and drew the mess of sheet and blanket back around herself all the way up to her chin. She held it here and breathed evenly. Fritz stared at her, studied her, and was more than concerned. He also knew that she was stubborn and that no amount of begging or pleading would result in the answer that he wanted. Therefore, he climbed back into bed next to her. He turned his head to the side and continued to stare at her. Her chaw was tense as was her grip to the covers at her chin…

…Bill Croelick stared at a black smudge on the wall across from his cell bed. He face tight and his hand in relaxed fists. He sighed outwardly and closed his eyes after a moment. In the darkness that then surrounded him, her face came into view…Brenda's. His pale lips turned into a smile and he knew beyond a reasonable doubt that he would be seeing her again. It was all a matter of place and prefect timing.

"…Perfect timing…"he said aloud to himself and moved from his bed to stand at the back of his cell. He heard footsteps coming from farther down the hall. He smelled the familiar cologne of the prison guard and huffed a laugh. "Perfect timing," he repeated…