The second time around, he could see more of the room. The walls were concrete with a ring in the centre, which looked like it was the same mat.
"This is the guy I picked from off the street," Vincent was saying. He had an arm around him. "Put him in the ring! I bet two hundred that he'll win!"
The room erupted in laughter. In the audience, a person yelled something insulting. Unintelligible words that still cut like a knife.
Raymond couldn’t speak. His throat closed at the thought of the sound that would come out.
They knew. They knew instantly. Why the fuck had he come here, why did he think it was a good idea, what was he hoping to achieve when he clearly couldn't?! Nothing was worth this!
Vincent shoved him forward.
"Go on," he said.
He climbed into the ring.
Someone else was already standing there. It was the same man as last time.
Distantly, a bell dinged.
Once, there was a bear. The bear lived in cage. It had lived there for all its life, which was many years. The cage was not big enough for the bear to move much, so most of its days were spent pacing in circles.
Then, someone freed the bear. People took the cage down. The bear was no longer in it. It still paced in circles where the cage should have been, and didn't leave the same patch of dirt.
A mere anecdote that had nothing to do with the story at hand, of course.
The light shone on the ring. The fighters circled around the mat, sizing each other up. In the audience, Vincent was counting his money, but his face was indistinguishable from everyone else in the crowd.
At present, Raymond was being beaten to within an inch of his life.