One Minute of Pain
“If you will endure one minute of discomfort, your wife shall live again,” the voice said. “Such an opportunity is not without risk. If you cannot endure, break the timepiece on your arm. The pain will stop, but both your souls shall be mine.” Jin Lee nodded at the arrangement. That was all, a minute? His wife would be back in the time it took to blink! The pain would undoubtedly hurt, but Jin Lee had kidney stones. They taught him how to live with pain. Jin Lee waited, staring, as the second hand of his watch ticked closer to the top of the minute. His legs felt a little weary. Had it already started? At the top of the minute, Jin Lee was hit with an avalanche. He was on fire, he was being crushed, he was freezing, his limbs were ripping from their sockets, all at once. Jin didn’t know such overwhelming pain was possible. He screamed, and screamed again, and then the screaming began to hurt. He collapsed to the ground, his legs splintering under him. Jin Lee couldn’t see his watch through his tears. This had surely been a minute. He endured it still, in case he was shy a second. He rolled on the ground, trying to find a position that hurt less, every position hurting more. Jin held out for what felt like an hour, two hours, so in pain he couldn’t breathe. This wouldn’t automatically stop. It would go on forever. When Jin Lee felt like he was literally about to die from the pain, he smashed his wrist against a rock. The pain vanished. Jin Lee sat up, unhurt, as if from a dream. He looked at his watch. The shattered face said he had endured eight seconds.
