Jack Hammer-A Rip in Time Part 2: December’s Birthday

Noir Detective Jack Hammer begins living the shocking revelations he learned about himself in A Rip in Time Part 1. If you’d like to read that book first, you can find it here.  Jack Hammer: A Rip in Time Part 1

If you prefer a music enhanced audiobook of this chapter you can find it here. Jack Hammer-A Rip in Time Part 2: – Enhanced Audio Book

December’s Birthday

The black was a solid wall, thick enough to drown a man. Then, the black tore. It wasn’t light that poured through, but a fine, stinging gray static, the sound of a thousand lost radio signals clawing their way home. It felt like being dragged from a deep, frozen river and slammed onto a soft, warm bank.

I blinked. The buzz died in my ears, replaced by the scent of melted wax and something home-baked.

I was sitting at a table made of worn oak, the air thick and cozy—a kind of warmth that hadn’t touched me since I was a kid stealing a dime’s worth of heat from a steam grate. A mug of coffee sat by my hand, steam lazy and white against the dark wood, and a slice of birthday cake on a plate.

But the cake didn’t matter. The whole damn room could have been burning down, and I wouldn’t have noticed.

Because there they were.

To my left, Jackie Angel. Her hair was dark, her eyes were shining, and the look she gave me wasn’t the kind of look you get from a mark or a witness. It was the look of a lifetime of quiet, true mornings.

And across the table, Angela. The soft light caught the clean, honest lines of her face, and her smile… it was the first true thing I’d seen since I was wearing short pants. I looked into her eyes, and the static was gone. The buzzing in my head cleared. It really was them.

I didn’t know the how or the why, and for the first time in my life, I didn’t care to ask.

This room, this little apartment—I’d never seen it before, but I’d always been here. My head was suddenly stuffed with a million memories of that old life, the trench coat, the shadows, and the dead ends. But now, it was also full of a million memories of this life: quiet evenings, shared laughter, and the soft sound of their voices. The two timelines had merged inside my skull, and this one felt right.

Was the old life a nightmare I just woke up from? Is this life a dream I’ll eventually wake up from? I didn’t know. But the fear that it might not last hit me harder than any fist ever had.

If The Controller said I could change my past, and this was the prize, then I’d take it. I’d take a long drink of that coffee, sit here, and make it last forever.

This was the life I should have had. This is the life I deserved.