Sidney felt the darkness first, the road crunching underfoot, frozen with snow, the ice cracking on the trees far above her head, sharp and jagged shards of ice falling on her shawl. The sounds woke her from a slumber that felt more like death than sleep.

The sluggish swaying of her head indicated to her that she was walking, although why she had no idea. Her eyes opened, or at least she thought they did, only to confirm the utter lack of light punctuated by a sliver of gleaming white some distance ahead. The bitter cold assaulted her eyes. It appeared to be a reflected light, a light without an apparent source, a light much too bright for the oppressive blackness surrounding her.

Confused, she opened her mouth as if to ask a question, only to find that she was incapable of speaking. Her lips parted, her stomach pulled in slightly with the effort of her diaphragm pushing air from her lungs, through her mouth, past her teeth; but, no sound came. Only the fog of breath escaped her quivering lips.