just a rubbish story from my english book * * * I crouch in the shrubbery, my breath pluming out in front of me. My heart is pumping so loudly in my chest that I am sure the guards must be able to hear it. I can feel Liesel's cold hand in mine, and I remember the danger I am putting her through for this. "Not long now" I whisper to her. She smiles weakly at me. Just as the guards start the patrol back in my direction. I give her a small, curt nod. She cups her hands round her mouth as I've seen her do so many times before and lets out a shout, throwing her voice away from us. I hold my breath as the guards whip around. They start to advance away from us and I heave a sigh of relief. A tug from Liesel jerks me back to reality, and we start to climb the tree towering above us, bough after bough, climbing closer to freedom. We reach the height of the wall when I gasp. The gap that stretches between the branch and the crest of the wall is over three feet wide. I can easily jump over it, but Liesel? I'm not so sure. I shake off the feeling of dread that threatens to engulf me. There's no going back now. I make sure Liesel is firmly planted on the branch before jumping across to the top of the wall. A fierce pain travels up my legs, but I ignore it. I stretch an arm out to Liesel. "You'll have to jump" I tell her softly. "I'll catch you!" She looks nervous, but I can see in her eyes that she trusts me. Maybe she shouldn't. What happens next is a blur. She launches herself off the branch; I reach out to grab her hand just a second too late; it slips out of my grip and she hurtles towards the ground, landing with a resounding thud. Gunshots echo: she does not move. I hear a strangled sort of scream and realise that it is my own. Someone from the west shouts up to me, telling me that I have to jump. I do and I feel a pair of arms cradling me. I lay on the ground and gaze up at the blanket of darkness above me. She's gone... she's gone.
Based on the Berlin Wall. On August 13, 1961, the Communist government of the German Democratic Republic began to build a barbed wire and concrete “antifascist bulwark,” between East and West Berlin. The purpose of this Berlin Wall was to keep Western “fascists” from entering East Germany and undermining the socialist state, but it mainly was to stem mass defections from East to West. However, this is not the full story. The wall was built overnight and with no warning at all. All it took was for you to be spending the night at a friends house for you to be separated from your entire family for the unforeseeable future. Nobody could cross from either side, (soldiers were instructed to shoot attempted escapees on sight) and it stretched for miles and miles, spitting Germany in two. It devastated the lives of some families: imagine waking up tomorrow morning and finding out that you could not see your family for possibly the rest of your life. It was love that led to escapes like that of Liesel and her sister, a desperate attempt to reunite with their parents, and while some were successful, others were fatal. The Berlin Wall stood until November 9, 1989, when the head of the East German Communist Party announced that anyone could cross. Families were reunited at last. To this day, the Berlin Wall remains one of the most powerful and enduring symbols of the Cold War. Apologies for historical inaccuracies in my writing.
