The pain didn’t start until day two. I had a slow twist that made me lose my breath. I lay in bed, unable to move and wondering what was going on. Two months of my cycle went by with a tense, pulse, stab. I felt like I was being hollowed out with a spoon, the metal clinking against soft tissue. I was in denial that this pain was even related to menstruation. To the store again for pads. Eyeing every woman closely. Women pushing shopping carts, placing cereal in their baskets, feeling for ripe avocados, as if nothing ever had afflicted them.