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chapter thirty-four the first reunion
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NO ONE KNEW WHAT time it was anymore. They only knew it was late — perhaps it was midnight. But it felt like the moon had been out for hours, and the cool breeze that came with the night — it was blowing with the wind all day.
One thing they did know, this was the longest night of their life.
"Locked," Jonathan said after trying to open the mall's emergency exit doors.
"Are you sure?" Will asked him, stepping forward to open the doors himself — however, they were still locked. "Oh."
"Well, it's only about fifteen minutes after closing time," Alex informed, his lips stained with red from the strawberries. All of the kids had a similar red stain after they bullied Alex into sharing the snack he had bought. "Maybe ten?"
"Maybe. . ." Rue faked to be in deep thought, holding the bat with nails over her shoulder. "Maybe. . . if we just — " She stepped in front of the door, ready to swing the bat at the glass door before Nancy had stopped her.
"No, wait," She said in a hushed voice. "There might be an alarm."
"There wasn't one at Bradley's."
"This is different."
"How is this different?"
"This is the mall — it's famous and it's making a lot of money," She added when Rue rolled her eyes and said 'I know.' "That means they can afford alarms. And these are the emergency doors — the fire alarm will go off!"
