William has a cut that is superficial, painful but not bleeding. based on this information you would predict that the cut has penetrated to

the cut penetrated to stratum basale but did non reach dermal layers. The reason why William did not bleed is because this layer of the skin is said to be avascular. in other words it contains no blood vessels on the other hand william felt pain because there are significant number of nerves in this layer. Nerves are important in relaying pain information to the brain.