Jared Hammer

“Lady Gray” by Jared Hammer

Everyday at six thirty, right before final call.  That's when he'd see her standing there, right in front of the Belladonna in Cruiz’s Monumentos collection. It was like watching her look into a mirror, both painting and patron with iron gray hair, the faintest of smiles on their faces, as if concealing a secret that was only meant for those most intimate with them.  Everyday at six thirty-five, he'd straighten the docent tag on his chest, polish the name Earl engraved in gold, waffle back and forth for a while until the closing an...

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“The Timekeeper's Tap” by Jared Hammer

I was fifteen hundred miles away when they told me Nate was in the hospital.He was hit by a drunk driver, my commander said. He’s in emergency surgery now, but it’s pretty severe. I think we need to send you home right now. The words didn’t even seem real, like he was telling someone else all of this instead of me. Because abnormal stuff doesn’t happen to normal people. And I’m a normal person. Right?I packed up all my stuff right away, got my buddy in command staff to give me a ride to the airport next door to base, then found myself waving...

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“Are You Ready” by Jared Hammer

Submitted to Contest #106

Have you ever met Death? She’s quite nice. Oh yes, and she is a she. Before I met her, I always imagined Death to be some sort of scary looking thing with a cloak—not quite human, not quite monster. Death is actually quite beautiful, to be honest. Nothing to be afraid of in the least; on the contrary, I imagine people wouldn’t dread the actual event itself if they knew Death. It’s not the first time I’ve met her—right now, that is. I’ve caught glimpses of her passing by probably a hundred times during my career; I’m a fireman, you see. I sa...

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“Zoe” by Jared Hammer

Submitted to Contest #102

There are very few things I remember about childhood. The taste of mac' n' cheese with hotdog slices, summers at the community pool. And Zoe.  Zoe was my next-door neighbor. Her family moved into the neighborhood at the beginning of our fifth-grade year. She was tall for her age—almost five feet—had a pet iguana named “Ziggy”, and always wore the same pair of sandals that were designed to look like a couple of sharks eating her feet. But the most interesting thing about her is a certain ability that I still can’t explain to this day. ...

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“The Justifier” by Jared Hammer

Submitted to Contest #92

The universe is an amazing thing. Vast. Beautiful. And perfectly balanced—as a whole that is. There may be localized anomalies, little pockets of ups and downs here and there, but in general, balanced. A cosmic yin and yang. You can think of it like very poorly microwaved leftovers. Some parts are boiling hot, some parts are freezing cold. There’s light, and there is darkness. The weak and strong, rich and poor. And yes, even good and evil. But there’s always balance. Every time you gain something that you don’t deserve to gain, someone some...

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“Ready to Stand” by Jared Hammer

Submitted to Contest #88

I was never very popular growing up. You'd think I would be. My family was rich. My dad owned an aerospace engineering and technology conglomerate. "The King of California" they called him. He was worth over a trillion dollars by the time he was thirty. And yet, nothing about his net worth could do anything to help my genetic disorder—my special sauce, as he always called it—a funny little walk I have caused by weakened muscles in my legs. I was born that way. It's been a part of me for as long as I remember, so I never thought I was weird u...

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“The Obsolescence of War” by Jared Hammer

Submitted to Contest #78

CRACK I pull the bolt back on my rifle, drinking in the lingering smell of gunpowder as the empty cartridge is ejected from the firing chamber. Another round slips into the barrel as I lock the bolt in place, and I align my sights back on target. That last shot was a bit high and to the left—not great. But I’m getting old. And it’s been almost twenty-five years since I’ve had to use these skills to earn my pay. Besides, there aren’t many people left on Earth that can do even half that well anymore. “Jeez, what are you aiming for, Liz?” “K...

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“Time Flies” by Jared Hammer

Submitted to Contest #74

0:10 Time is such a funny thing. It’s fake, really, when you think about it. Nothing natural about it. I mean, who was the first person who decided how long a second would be? Or that a week would be seven days? No, no, don’t go look it up on Wikipedia. You can do that later. Besides, that’s not my point. My point is, time is manmade, a tool, something we use to measure or modify reality. Just like a ruler, or a hammer, a weed whacker. An airplane. And just like any tool, it can break. Time broke for me a while ago. Or was it a while ag...

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