Evan

I haven’t seen my best bud Evan in a few days. I am getting worried about him. He was going on a trek in the mountains alone and something may have happened to him. Sure, he can take care of himself, but what if…?

While both the same age, 26, we are very different from each other. Evan is the All-American jock, into sports, motorcycles, and anything else adventurous. Physically he is very imposing – tall and muscled. I prefer more academic ventures. I have a genius IQ and graduated top of both my high school and college classes. I am moderately thin and short. For all our differences Evan and I are as close as brothers.

I first met Evan when we were both seven and in second grade. I had just moved into town when my dad got a new job here. I never had been too good at making friends but for some strange reason Evan and I bonded quickly. Even at that age he was a very cute little boy and unusually tall for his age. I had started to develop into my nerdy self a bit - requiring glasses early and being the standout student in class. Through the years he would watch out for me. No one would dare pick on me because they would have to answer to him. Thank God for Evan. Of course it wasn’t a one-way street. I could help him out with his school work being the brain that I was. Our tastes and talents diverged from each other but we still did some things together and maintained our closeness even when I went to Ivy League and he went to Notre Dame. After college we both came back to our home town to work. He runs a construction company and I am in charge of a high-tech design division for an aerospace firm. Oh please let him be alright.

I can’t do anything tonight. Might as well get some sleep.

I am having this very vivid dream. Evan has come back okay from his trek. What a relief! Only something seems different.

“Hey dude. How ya doin’?” his typical greeting. “I need to tell you something. I’m not coming back bro. I slipped up in the mountains and fell into a deep crevice. They won’t find my body, guaranteed.”

“No Evan. This is only a dream. You can’t be dead. I won’t let you be dead.”

“Nothing you can do Mark. That’s just the way it is. But that isn’t why I am here. I have a gift for you.” He pulls out the ring with an obsidian stone set in gold that never leaves his finger. It was a present I gave to him one Christmas. The price was high but I knew it had to be Evan’s. It just fit him so perfectly. He puts it on my finger. Of course it is miles too big for my hand but somehow it stays on. “Take care bro. Remember me and be happy.” With that he disappears and I wake up trembling. Only a dream… or was it? For there on my finger, just where he had put it, is his ring. I fall back into a very uneasy sleep.

I go through the next day wondering how Evan’s ring made it onto my finger. I can’t for the life of me figure it out. I go to bed with no further news about Evan. I have a very restless night as I am having a strange and realistic dream where I am living life backwards as I regress to a new born baby. It all feels very real as I kick my legs and coo in my crib. I am in a cold sweat when I wake up the next morning.

The following night is no better. My dream resumes where the previous night left off – me as a new born. This time I am growing up but not as I grew up in real life. I am rapidly going through my early childhood. Unlike my real childhood, I am better coordinated and I don’t have problems with my eyes. I am still smart but I am also developing some athletic prowess. The biggest change is I am taller. My body is really developing into a powerhouse even this young. My best friend is Josh, not Evan. The years go by with Josh and me developing the same close bond I had with Evan. As I am the bigger of us I watch out for Josh much like Evan did for me. My high IQ has enabled me to skip two grades so I am younger than my classmates but you can’t tell that by looking at me. Now in my senior year of school and 16 years old, I am 6’ tall, have a well-toned body from all the sports I play and working out, have dirty blonde hair and blue-green eyes, and am at the top of my class academically. I am already being recruited by the top colleges in the country but I haven’t made a decision on where to go yet. Finally I go to college. My college years are spectacular. I am attending Notre Dame, am the star quarterback of the football team, and graduate with a GPA of 4.0 – brawn and brain. At 24 I start my own company and at 26 I am wealthy enough to retire. The dream over, I wake up.

I must still be groggy from my dream for I no longer recognize my surroundings. My dream has become my reality. My memories have been altered to fit my new life. I am no longer in the same apartment as when all of this started. I live in a very fashionable penthouse; have a fleet of exotic cars and motorcycles, and I love mountain climbing. Josh and I are still best friends and he often joins me on my adventures. I made him the head of high-tech design at my company.

I have done research but I can find no record of Evan ever existing nor does anyone other than me remember him. I know he was real for each time I go into the bathroom and gaze in the mirror I see Evan. That was his gift to me. He gave me his body and the athletic risk-taking part of his life. I am the best of both of us. No longer am I the self-conscious little guy who needs protecting. I topped off at 6’3 and am quite the strapping fellow.

I still have that obsidian ring. I never take it off. Thank you, Evan. Wherever you may be.