Page 77 of Little Children (Detective Kim Stone #22)

Seventy-Six

LEWIS

Lewis tried to stand after the blow to the side of his head, but his legs turned to jelly and he crumpled to the ground. He’d been blinking the blood from the cut above his other eye for minutes, and now he was too exhausted to raise his swollen lid.

Mister pulled him out of the ring and sat him against the wall next to the others, then grabbed the next boy in line.

Lewis allowed his head to loll against the wall as his body tingled and ached all over. In particular, his hands and wrists throbbed from punching the pig earlier in the day and then fighting his opponent.

His breathing started to regulate and slow in his chest. The assault on his body was luring him towards sleep.

Mister returned to stand beside him. His face looked like thunder.

Missus turned to Mister and hissed loud enough for Lewis to hear, ‘He’s done and he’s making us look bad. Cost us a fucking fortune. Take the loser out of here.’

Lewis felt himself being dragged along the ground behind the large group of men already focussed on the next fight.

He knew that it was time for him to return to his pig pen and his chain on the floor, and that Mister and Missus wouldn’t feed him again for a couple of days.

He was being returned to silence and seclusion and what felt like a fate worse than death.

The rough concrete floor ripped at the skin on the back of his legs as he was dragged along.

Right now, he didn’t care how it happened, but he prayed for this nightmare to end.