Joe didn’t remember how his face hit the pavement. All he knew was that his nose was bleeding, his eyes were watering, and he felt as if he were about to defecate in his own pants any second. He tried to stagger to his feet, and managed for a few seconds, stumbling drunkenly a few steps before careening off a lamp post and slipping on something. For a brief moment Joe was suspended in time and space as both of his legs lifted up off the ground, just enough for him to feel like he was flying. Then the ground rushed up ever so suddenly to meet him, and his head hit something solid with incredible force.

Darkness.

Joe was lying half on his side and half on his stomach, half on-half off the sidewalk curb. He slowly tilted his head up, and in the brief moment before darkness consumed him again, he noticed two things and managed to have one, fleeting, thought. One thing he noticed was the massive pain in his head as soon as he moved. The other was a single shoe about two feet from his upraised eyes. How do people lose only one shoe? he thought.

Darkness.