Before I proceed with the story, I need to preface it with a message. I'm looking for a man named Ryan Sweeney. My algorithms indicate that he's very likely to visit this subreddit within the next 24 hours. If your name is Ryan Sweeney, you'll know you're the one I'm looking for because this story will be personal. The nightmare you've been living was never supposed to happen. I can help. All I ask is that you reach out to me when I've found you. Please include the answers to the questions at the end of the story in your message to me, since I only know parts of what happened... but do it quickly, there isn't much time.

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In 2002, a young boy awoke to the sound of rain outside his bedroom window in the early morning. It was April, and spring had just begun. The young boy always longed for spring because winter was terrifying. Winter brought cold. Winter brought death.

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The winter of 2001 introduced two new variables into the young boy's life. A man and a woman. The former, short, and the latter, tall. Always watching, observing, but never interfering. They followed the young boy as if they were scientists studying a lost species. He saw them watching him, but learned quickly no one else could see them. At night, they would peer into his bedroom window and stare. Their breath clouded the window and their eyes never blinked.

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The spring of 2002 was supposed to bring solace, but it didn't. The man and the woman were still there, watching. The young boy pleaded with his parents that he was being followed, and eventually he was introduced to a therapist. He was given medication after months of no meaningful progress. However, he soon noticed that only the woman was following him now.

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He began to learn how to live with her watching him. She never talked to him, or gestured for him to come closer, and so eventually he came to ignore her. After several winters, the young boy had become a young man.

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In college, the young man met a girl and they became close. He told her about the woman who followed him, but she was more intrigued than afraid. She whispered into his ear one day that he should pretend to take his own life and see what the woman would do. That was a mistake.

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The young man learned that the woman who followed him was dangerous. The night that he and his girlfriend tried to fake his death would end up being the last time the two would be together.

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Their plan was simple. She would shoot him with a gun filled with blanks and he would play the part of a dead man. As she pulled the trigger, the sound of the gun went off and the young man fell over, clutching his chest. To his surprise, there was pain, and soon after, blood. Panicked, he looked up and saw his girlfriend standing side by side with the woman. He soon felt the presence of someone behind him. A set of hands began to apply pressure to his wound and as he looked up, he saw the face of the man who had followed him as boy.

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He awoke in his dorm room and quickly grabbed at his chest. No wound. He sprang out of bed and ran out the door. In the hallway, he saw them. Not just the man and woman, but his girlfriend too. All smiling and waving at him.

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Questions:

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What exactly happened after therapy? Were you sent anywhere, or did you continue to live your life normally?

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Would you say it's possible that your therapist resembled your college girlfriend, but much older?

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The night you faked your death, what did you put into the man's pocket as he applied pressure to your wound? This question is critical.

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Thank you, Ryan.