The rusty guillotine flies through my neck in an instant, causing no pain except for the roar of cheers that suddenly fills my head. I see the world begin to rotate around me like I’m looking out the fingerholes of a bowling ball, and as my face turns backwards I see my stump of a neck spraying blood out of the wooden shackle. Some of it splashes me in the face. As my head drops down into the crowd, I am surprised to be aware of the situation. Suddenly I remember a strange thing I heard long ago, which said that after your head is severed, there are about 20 seconds of consciousness before you black out forever. I now feel pain in my neck, and as a dirt-covered beggar woman catches my head I feel stinging on my face, because her fingers clutch my cheeks and her thumbs press against my eyes. My sense of balance is completely destroyed, and I begin to gag, although I don’t have any stomach to empty. I can feel the world fading, and as the beggar woman raises my head above the crowd to the cheers of the onlookers, they are all a grey mass with only the slightest detail. Their screams are faint, and I feel the end rushing towards me like the tomatoes and lettuce sailing through the air.