[ WP ] Scientists have created a device that allows sharing another 's sensory experience , and you and a friend are among the first to try it out . To your surprise your friend rips the device off with a look of horror , asking “ how do you deal with constant pain like that ? ”

It was an exciting day, not just because it was the anniversary but also because today I got to be a guinea pig. Not a literal one, but part of an experiment. As part of a training program the government has started building a kit to let people trade sensations. *To help people be better* or something like that was what the advertisement said. Dave and I had signed up for a research thing quite a while ago just to earn some quick money but I was expecting sugar pills and bee stings not the future. 
 
 Together, Dave and I walked into the facility and following the instructions that had been mailed to us navigated the white halls. The kind of white that reminds you of an unused wedding dress. 
 
 `` How intense do you think it'll be?'' I asked, trying to distract myself. 
 
 Dave shrugged, `` I just hope they do n't have to stab either of us to test it out.'' I tried to laugh it off, trying not to imagine us strapped down while some maniac in a lab coat thrust a rusty knife through either of us. 
 
 `` Sorry, maybe that was a bit much,'' Dave must have seen something in my eyes, `` I did n't mean to bring that up.'' 
 
 `` I'm over it,'' I said, not sure which one of us I was trying to convince. 
 
 We walked the rest of the way in silence, trying to glance into the side rooms through thick glass and around corners we were n't permitted to walk down. We brushed past several people with clipboards and glasses, some looking like people we knew or were long since lost, until we arrived at the final door. 
 
 It burst open, and we were ushered in quickly amid comments of `` do n't touch anything'' and `` hold this'' and `` late''. Before too long we were seated, in hospital robes and had more cords than looked healthy attached to our heads and neck. I tried to push away the image that I knew would reduce me to tears. I saw her with cables before, I can get through this. 
 
 I looked at Dave, he looked at me. He gave a sympathetic smile before there was a loud crack that shook the walls as the machine was switched on. He instantly leaped from the chair, falling on to his knees while pulling chords and howling as tears streamed down his face. 
 
 `` I knew it was hard,'' he said he looked to from the floor as my eyes started to water, `` but how do you deal with constant pain like that?'' 
 
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 Hopefully that's not too cryptic. Constructive criticism welcome.
