When you live with it long enough certain things you begin to grow numb too. Credence lived for so long with so much pain that what he felt and what he dealt with were totally different things. Cracked and bleeding knuckles were normal, an inconvenience perhaps but, for the most part it was RARELY painful in the sense that most people would think that it should be.
The lash marks his back typically was adorned with became a welcome feeling. One that was almost like constantly poking a bruise. Only every once in a while they’d break open a bleed. The stinging at that would cause pain-- sharp and shooting. The kind of pain that made it difficult to sit down, turn in your own clothing or just move around. It was when he was dealing with this pain that Credence wished for something better.
Enduring the punishment was simply something that he did-- that’s what he needed to do. Crying out in pain would do no good. It would simply encourage Mary Lou to be just as hard on him next time or make things worse. Both options weren’t something that he wanted to consider a possibility.
Pain for so long was one of the only sensations that he felt on a regular basis that Credence sometimes sought out the feeling just to know that he was still able to feel SOMETHING. That way he knew he was alive. It wasn’t something that he liked. Not when so many parts of him knew that he was being hurt ( abused ) and it wasn’t right, even when people passed him marred and scarred on the streets doing N O T H I N G but look the other way.
