An Appointment with Death

A man is sitting in a tavern in Damascus, He looks up from his wine and sees Death staring at him from across the room. He cries out "But this cannot be my time!" 

He flees Damascus. He rides his horse fast, right across the desert to Samarra. When he arrives, he is thirsty. Standing before him at the well...is Death. 

Seeing Death for the second time, he cries out, "This cannot be. For I escaped you in Damascus!" Death lays his hand upon the shoulder of the man and said, 

"I was also surprised to see you in Damascus. For my appointment with you was always to be here, in Damascus."

"The Appointment in Samarra" (as retold by W. Somerset Maugham [1933])