I don’t remember the beating. Whoever did it stole $28 from me, and about ten minutes of my consciousness. From the inside, however, those ten minutes felt like ten hours: It was warm, soft—gooey even. In reality, I took a violent blow to the side of my head. But I remember it as peaceful. I was floating in an infinite amniotic sea of blackness, and every time I peered in a new direction, a bloodred light would bloom out of the void and then slowly start to pulse. It was a hellish color scheme, but it felt like heaven.
One Man’s Search for an ‘Old-school New York’ Experience Leads to a Violent Attack — New York Magazine