Why use a hammer?

‘So you accidentally hit her with a hammer?’

Tyner stared at the table top.  ‘I lashed out with the first thing at hand.’

‘Why not use your fists?’ Carter suggested.  ‘Why use a hammer?’

‘It was there.’

‘Conveniently at hand where you were having an argument with your girlfriend.’

‘She wasn’t my girlfriend.’

‘She was carrying your child.’

‘It wasn’t mine.’

‘But you were sleeping with her.’

Tyner shrugged.  ‘She was threatening me. My family.’

‘So you hit her sixteen times with a hammer as a warning?’

‘I didn’t mean …’

‘Yes, you did, Jack.  We both know you did.’


A drabble is a story of exactly 100 words.