For a moment the pain was so intense that it seemed not to exist. In its place for the briefest of moments was a sense of coldness like he’d bitten into an ice cube. But that only lasted for a millisecond. And when the pain came, it was like slamming face-first into a fence post. It was sticking his finger in a light socket. It was taking a punch to the mouth with a handful of quarters. It was all these things all at once.
