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The first sensation to return was Tom’s hearing. His eyelids felt like lead weights, and his body was a distant, numb thing, hardly worth bothering about. Did he have a body? But he must have ears, for he could hear a faint voice, no louder than a whisper. It was familiar, but he couldn’t make out the words — although he almost thought he discerned his own name, amongst the nonsense. He drifted, and when he came back again there was nothing but pain, a searing, throbbing misery that filled his consciousness and seemed to come from everywhere at once and envelop his entire being. There were more voices, and then something at his lips. It was bitter, so very bitter, and though he desperately tried to turn his head and spit it out someone held his head in place and forced him to drink. Tom wo
- Writer
