Ch 991 - Proper Email Etiquette

Louis's heart shuddered in his chest when he saw the notification: "New email from Riley Naysmith."

When will this guy leave me alone? Louis thought. He looked around the dojo, turning in a slow circle. He couldn't see anyone, but he had the distinct feeling that he was being watched. Something was going very wrong here. Riley had hired Mark to spy on Alex, there was every chance he had hired someone to spy on Louis, too.

Louis looked down at his phone, his blood running cold. He could hardly feel his fingers as he opened up the notifications. He was a fairly tidy person, so he almost never had an excess of unread emails. For the moment, Riley's latest message was the only unread message he had. Save for the ones he had sent to the trash folder.

"Louis," Ken said, coming up behind him. "Are you okay?"

Slowly, Louis shook his head. "It's Riley again," he said, showing Ken his phone.

Ken took the phone and scowled when he saw Riley's name. Handing back the phone, he said, "Kid, just delete it and be done with this psychopath."

Louis took his phone back. "But if he just keeps hounding me?" he asked. He turned away, directing his attention to the dojo's entrance. "He's just going to inundate me with calls, texts, and emails until I finally respond!" He turned back to Ken, his heart pounding in his chest, and vice growing shrill. "Don't you see?"

Louis stood in the middle of the dojo, his eyes wide and his breathing coming in heavy. He was beginning to feel lightheaded as Ken took a few steps back, holding up his hands in a soothing gesture. Louis could feel the eyes of everyone in the dojo resting on him after his little display of anxiety. A deep red blush crept up his neck and bled into his face as he realized how he must have looked.

"Easy, kid," Ken said in a soft voice. "Come one, let's get you somewhere you can relax and catch your breath."

Ken took Louis by the hand and drew him to one side, out of the way of prying eyes. Stefan followed them, his normally peaceful face a mask of concern. Louis was led to a small nook in the men's changing room, where Stefan and Ken sat him down. Stefan went to a nearby vending machine and grabbed Louis a bottle of water.

Louis drank it eagerly, the cool water refreshing. He held the cold battle up to his face, savoring its coolness.

"Thank you," he said, taking the bottle away from his face and looking to the floor. "I'm sorry about that little display. I didn't mean to completely lose my cool like that."

Ken sat down next to Louis and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Kid," he said. "This is really eating you up something terrible, huh?"

Unsure what to say, Louis simply nodded. "Terrible" was an understatement. He was being harassed and harangued by the man who had been trying to bring down Alex for however long. He couldn't help but worry that it was now his turn. Louis wasn't anything special. He was just Louis, and he just happened to be one of Alex's closest friends. Riley had to have an angle here, somewhere, and Louis was a part of it. He knew for a fact that he didn't enjoy being on the receiving end of Riley's shenanigans.

"Louis," Stefan said, crouching down so the two men were eye to eye. "I realize it has been a while since we last connected," he said, "so, don't feel obligated to explain everything in gruesome detail. That being said, I would appreciate some context for your outburst."

Louis hung his head in shame. "It's pretty complicated," he said, cringing. "I don't know how it started, but this guy, Riley, he's a bit of a recurring enemy me and my friends are constantly coming up against…"

Louis tried to be brief with the story of Riley, and how he had come to start harassing Louis and his friends. He told Stefan everything that had happened over the past few weeks, including the super soldiers, how the tower had blown up, and even Christopher's lost memories. By the time he had gotten it all out, it felt like a weight had been lifted from his chest, and he could breathe freely again.

Stefan let out a long, low whistle.

"That," he said, with both eyebrows raised, "is quite the tale."

Louis nodded. "You're telling me," he said. "Try living it."

Stefan grimaced. "My life has been interesting enough," he said, with a slight tilt of his head. "Allow me to indulge you, sometime. But, for now, thank you for the context. I appreciate now why this must have been so terrifying." He paused for a moment. "If I may ask, what exactly inspired the outburst?"

Louis took a deep breath and produced his phone, displaying the still unread email from Riley. Stefan took the phone and regarded it for a moment. He and Ken exchanged a glance. Ken nodded, and Stefan handed the phone back to Louis.

"Open the email," Stefan instructed.

"What?" Ken sputtered. "Open an email from a dead man? Are you crazy?"

Stefan gave Ken a cool, unphased look. "I am nothing of the sort," he said. "At least, not that I'm aware of." He turned back to Louis. "This is going to keep eating away at you until you contend with it. Like an opponent, you must know what this Riley's present moves are, so that you can respond appropriately. If you cannot anticipate what he has for you at the present moment, you are doomed to let fear of him rule you."

Louis weighed the words carefully, then closed his eyes and sighed heavily. Stefan was, of course, right. Louis had allowed fear of Riley to overcome him, and it was not something he had realized until Stefan had pointed it out. It was time to stop running for fear of Riley, and actually face whatever was in the email.

It might not be that bad, he told himself. You could just be overreacting. Even if Riley had a track record of being a psychopath.

And so, at Stefan's urging and with a deep sense of morbid curiosity, Louis found himself opening an email from a man who was supposed to be dead.

It read:

"Hey Louis. Why did you hang up on me earlier? Come on. I know we have bad blood but help a guy out! I swear I'll find you! Riley."

Louis read the email aloud, then looked up at Stefan and Ken. They both wore confused expressions, with Ken looking more confused than Stefan di. Stefan simply looked placid and serene with a slight arch to one eyebrow.

"How to you feel?" Stefan asked, clasping his hands together.

Louis thought about it. "I guess I feel a little better," he said honestly. "Just knowing what was in the email took off a whole lot of pressure."

Stefan smiled and nodded his head once. "Anticipation is at the root of all fear," he explained. "You anticipated that the email would contain something negative, so you feared it would be something detrimental to your wellbeing."

Louis chuckled wryly, then shook his head. "Thank you, Stefan," he said. He looked at Ken. "Maybe I should just read the emails from now on, now that I know they'll contain mostly empty threats."

Ken rolled his eyes, then said, "Whatever works for you, kid." He looked down at Louis's phone. "I'd burn the damn phone, but that's just me."

Louis was inclined to agree. He shivered as he deleted the email. 

Stefan kept Louis and Ken at the dojo for a full day. It was helpful for Louis. He was able to forget about all the drama with Alex and Debbie, Christopher and Yvonne, and he even forgot about the possibility that Riley was stalking him. There was something peaceful and meditative about going through the motions of a conditioning sequence and reminding yourself of the fundamentals of martial arts.

Throughout the day, Louis kept getting phone calls from an unknown number, and emails from Riley. He ignored every single one of them and focused on retraining his long-dormant skills.

By the time the last hour of training rolled around, Louis had completely forgotten about Riley. It was almost as if Riley truly was dead.

Until Riley, in all of his glory, strolled through the door of the Screaming Eagle dojo. 

The entire dojo went silent as Riley strolled up to Louis and loudly, demanded, "Why haven't you been returning my emails?"

Louis stared at him. "Dude," he said. "How did you even know I was here?"

Riley went pale but pulled out his phone and showed Louis the reel he had seen earlier, of his demonstration fight with Stefan. 

That makes sense, he thought. 

"I thought you were dead!" Louis said. "Why would I return the emails of a dead man?"

"You have me there," Riley relented. "But I'm here, in person, just asking for your help. Louis, I am tired of being the bad guy. I'd go to Alex for help, but you know why that would never work out. Christopher already thinks of me as evil-"

"I think of you as evil!" Louis protested. "Get out of the dojo!" He was breathing heavily, his eyes open with fear and anger. Riley was tainting the sanctity of the dojo just by being there. 

Riley looked helplessly at the ground, then he looked back at Louis. It was then that Louis realized that Riley might actually be remorseful for the things he had done. On one hand, he could believe that someone might get tired of being the bad guy. On the other, this was very uncharacteristic of Riley. Still, if he was coming to Louis for help, didn't that mean he was ready to try getting better?

Confused, he turned to Stefan, who had been watching patiently. 

"What should I do?" Louis asked in a quiet voice. 

Stefan bowed his head in thought, then looked up at Louis. 

"There is an honesty to him," Stefan said. "However, I cannot say whether his intentions are pure. If you help him, it will be up to you to handle the consequences. Best- or worst-case scenario, that is for you to discover."

Well that's no help, Louis thought grouchily. 

He turned back to Riley. 

"Fine," he said, sighing heavily. "I'll help you. But you have to promise: don't kidnap me or my friends, and you aren't allowed to try to kill us."

A thankful smile broke across Riley's face as he said, "You have my word."