"Believe me, if I could change things, I would have by now." Juliet took a step away from the tree, and realized that she could no longer feel her feet. She glanced down and saw black beginning to creep up the underside of her foot, curling around the large toe on her right.
Her arms moved to hug herself around the middle, but no amount of movement made any difference. She could feel her heart sinking in her breast, the same sense of defanged terror that would numbly move through her body until she fell into a freezing slumber that would take her away bit by bit.
Juliet suddenly gave a desperate laugh. "If this is your dream after all, would you do me a kindness and wake up now?"