Pop Life: Volume 2

Chapter 33

As we trailed behind Prince we heard the buzzer at the door.

  "Yo! Skip!" Someone had called.

Prince raced down the steps to the lobby as fast has he could go until he met up with Morris and Jerome. Dez and I weren't too far behind.

  "What's going on?" Prince said alread annoyed.

  "That's what I wanna know brotha! What's this all about!?!?!"

Jerome handed Prince a small package with a note stapled to the front. His face was getting red as he read the note out loud.

  "For ex band mate and weak friend Morris Day. I hope this tape finds you in time. This envelope contains footage of our last days as friends. Enjoy while while it lasts. Don't watch it until 9pm. Get ready for the boom after. Signed Prince."

I looked at the note as Prince read it aloud. I noticed a very distinct flaw that was jumping off the page at me almost immediately. My eyes got wide with my discovery.

  "Morris that's not Prince's handwriting and you should know that! Prince won't just write the letter 'I' he spells it out for his friends so they know it's him and not a copycat." I told him as I looked the note over.

Morris looked at the letter again and then he realized that I was telling the truth.

  "Well what does this all mean man?" Morris asked.

  "It means that this mother fucker had a death wish." Prince said.

He was beginning to turn into that dark and angry soul that nearly stabbed Marcus just over a month ago.

  "I'm about to end this shit once and for all." Prince said as he balled his hands into tight fists.

He turned and made a mad dash for the elevator.

  "Where is he going?" Jerome asked.

I already knew the answer to the question seconds before it was asked.

  "He's getting the gun." I said to him as I looked at Morris.

I took off behind him leaving the guys behind.

  "Regan wait!" Dez shouted as he chased behind me.

  "What's going on? Who's sending crazy shit to me?" Morris asked as he followed.

  "It's not just you Morris it's all of us." Dez replied.

  "Wait what are you saying?"

  "We're saying that Marcus is trying to trap us somehow and Prince is gonna kill him." I yelled back still pushing the elevator button as hard as I could.

The door to the elevator finally opened and we quickly went inside and pushed the button for the basement. It felt like it was taking forever to get there.

  "You think Skip is really going to use it on him?" Jerome asked nervously.

  "Let's hope for his career sake that he doesn't." I said worried that he was going to really go through with killing Marcus.

We finally got the to basement and the door came open. The security staff that usually blocks me from going any further was no where in sight. We made our way to the room with the white door. As we came closer we heard small clicks as if he was practicing his aim and taking a shot.

  "Wait here." I told the others and slowly went into the room leaving the door behind me open.

  "Prince? What are you doing?" I asked as calm as I could.

  "You shouldn't be down here Regan. Who's with you?" The guys but I made them wait in the hall. They won't come in I swear. Just tell me what's going on."

  "I know I made a promise to you about getting rid of the gun but I have to get rid of Marcus first."

Prince pointed the gun to himself and stared down the barrel with one eye. I squirmed at the sight of him pointing the gun at himself.

  "Please god tell me it's not loaded." I inquired anxiously.

  "I wouldn't point it at myself if it was." He said with a small smile.

  "Think about what this could do to the rest of your life. Prince I don't.....I don't wanna lose you."

I felt my eyes tearing up and my heart breaking as the thought of me never seeing him again was bombarding my soul. Prince put the gun down and touched my face wiping my tears.

  "Imagine how I would feel if I lost you." He said to me softly.

  "Please don't do this. There's always another way right? Just like you said! There's another way it had to be!"

His eyes were warm and his tone was sweet.

  "I hate seeing you like this. But I also hate the fact that he's still out there tormenting you. Now he's not just attacking you but my friends as well. His ass needs to be six feet under and I'm gonna make sure that happens."

  "What about the tape?" I asked.

  "What about it? It's not 9 yet."

  "Well let's watch it at 9 like he wants. Maybe we'll get some answers."

He let out a sigh and locked the gun back inside the box.

  "Ok. We need to call Andre. He should have been here by now."

I took Prince by the hand and we left the room with Prince closing the door and making sure that it was locked. Morris, Jerome and Dez were glad to see Prince without his gun and calm enough to leave it behind.

  "So now what?" Dez had asked.

  "We have to get Andre here." Prince said.

We got on the elevator and went back up to the main floor. When the door came open we found Tony in front of us with an alarming look of fear on his face.

  "Boss we got trouble." He said.

  "What's wrong?" Prince asked in a more worried than usual tone.

Tony handed over a small stack of black and white pictures. He flipped through the them furiously.

  "These are pictures of René." He said as he continued looking though them.

I noticed something eerie about those very pictures.

  "Prince these pictures were taken yesterday!" I exclaimed pointing out the outfit René had on the day she decided to fly back to Ohio.

We got to the very last picture and it was definitely René but she was laying in a pool of blood in what looked like an abandoned building. The back of the last picture with René laying lifeless said one thing. 'Regan'.

  "That son of a bitch!" Prince shouted.

René was murdered. Her blood was covered on Marcus' hands.