Old Friends

"Gimme 'nother." slurs Gordon.

"Jeez, Gord, this is your fifth round. Don't you think you should slow down a little? You're drunk as hell."

"I sad gimme another ya bastard. I got plenty o' money left still."

The bartender reluctantly pours his customer another shot. As long as he's known Gordon he's never drank this much before. He's asked a couple of times if anything was wrong but didn't get any answer, decided just to not bother any more. He sets the glass down on the bar and Gordon sucks it down in an instant, slamming the glass down on the bar.

"God this stuff's good! Gimme anoth-"

A gunshot rings out from in front of the bar, both Gordon and the bartender hit the floor. Gordon is immediately sobered up by this shock.

"The hell was that!?" he screams as the echo of the shot dies down. "Someone's shooting outside!" The sound of a crowd gathering rises and the two in the bar walk outside to see what all the commotion is about.

Pretty much everyone in town was gathered outside the bar and Gordon has to wade through them to get a good view. When he finally breaks through the front of the crowd he sees what they're all gathered around. There's a man in a pitch-black trench coat standing on the sidewalk, totally bald and the moonlight reflected off the top of his head. In his hand is a gun, a revolver, it's still smoking. He looks around and his deep blue eyes center on Gordon.

"Ah, Garry, there you are! Long time no see eh?" He has a strange accent that Gordon has never heard before. "You thought you could run from me, friend?" his face transforms into a smile "Well, I found you."

By this time everyone gathered around the strange man is staring at Gordon and have started to back away from him. Gordon looks down at the body laying at the man's feet and he follows his gaze.

"Oh, this guy? Yeah, this guy comes up to me and tells me to give him my money. No way am I going to do that, though this guy pulls out a knife. Pretty big blade it's got but you see a gun beats a knife every time." He notices the confused look on everyone's face, including Gordon's. "I get it now, you haven't become aware yet. Well, we'll fix that. Let's find us a private place to talk, yeah?" He walks forward, the townspeople moving away, and puts his arm around Gordon's shoulder. "Where to?"

They end up going to Gordon's house near the entrance to the town. The stranger slowly walks around the inside of the house, picking stuff up, admiring everything.

"Pretty nice place you got here. Much better than your last one."

"I'm sorry, but I don't know who you are. Though you seem to know who I am. Would you please tell me what's going on?" Gordon sits down in a chair and the stranger sits down in the chair opposite him.

"Sure thing pal, that's the entire reason I'm here. Now, I've got to warn you that all of this will sound pretty strange but it's all entirely true and you'll realize that soon enough. This thing all started a very long time ago, sometime around 3000 BC, at least that's what the people today call it. I don't remember the exact date though. We were both sons of poor families, we lived practically right next to each other and grew up together. We were, and still are, best friends and we played tag every day, that's basically what this is, a game of tag. One day we were playing when we fell, severely injuring ourselves and medicine being very primitive back then we both died from our injuries. It appeared that the strength of our friendship altered the very face of reality itself, we both are reborn after death. In the last game you beat me so then it was my turn and here I am. The rules are pretty simple:

1. The loser of the game is born aware, as I was this time.
2. When the one that is aware finds the other he speaks the code which will awaken the other. This code is our motto when we were kids.
3. We then duel, to the death might I add. The loser dies and the winner lives the rest of his life.
4. When the winner dies both of us are reborn and it starts over again.

"Pretty simple, yeah? So, lets get down to business."

Gordon listened to this entire story and thought this guy was insane, but he might as well hear the stranger out. Not like there was anything else to do then get drunk again.

"So what do I have to do for this to work?" asks Gordon.

"Nothing at all. Just sit back and relax while I awaken you." Gordon just relaxes as the man said to do. The stranger makes a series of strange hand signals and begins humming. Gordon becomes aware of a ringing in his ears. "Namgule aname agankar. Awaken, become aware."

Memories, thousands of years worth, flood his mind, flashes of past lives. There's not doubting it any more, the stranger was telling the truth. Gordon sinks farther into his chair and then rises back up.

"What was my name in my past life?" asks the stranger to test his memory.

"Samuel."

"Correct, is everything back now?" Gordon nods. "Good, now it's time to begin the duel. Here's your gun." he hands him a revolver similar to his own. "Lets go."

They both rise and walk outside of the house. A thunderstorm has begun and a few drops of rain fall from the heavens, moistening the skin of the two friends. They walk out into the middle of the yard and put their backs together.

"Now remember, Garry, ten steps then turn and shoot." They begin walking forward as the rain begins to pour. "One... two... three..." Lighting cracks and thunder shortly follows it.

Gordon continues the count as he has thousands of times before. "Four... five... six..." The wind blows and chills the two of them to the bone.

"Seven... eight... nine" Both of them prepare to turn, water running down their faces, their clothes soaked, this game has almost come to an end.

The last step is taken and both of them speak at the same time the last count. "TEN!" They both turn in an instant and fire their revolvers. The smell of gunpowder mixes with the smell of the rain and the gunfire is muffled by the thunder. Two men standing, facing each other, one falls and his life is extinguished as if he were just a candle, set out in a downpour. The one still standing is Gordon, Garry, or one of the many other names he has gone by through the millenia. He walks over and closes his friend's eyes then buries him, he has won this round. There was never any question about the missing of the stranger, he just disappeared as soon as he had appeared, nothing really strange about that.

Forty-seven years later, at the age of 88, Gordon passes away peacefully in his sleep and is mourned by the entire town. Stories are still told of the stranger that came to town and talked to him as if they were long time friends, one of the strangest things that has ever happened in the history of that small town. The very second that Gordon's life left him a baby was born in South Africa and another was born in east Russia. The world doesn't take any notice, newborn babies come into the world all the time, though at their birth they feel the presence of the other, they are linked by a bond more powerful than any other in the world.