Friday. November 14 - The Berlin Wall

As a young boy living in Eastern Berlin I had never seen the outside world. This was my home and it was normal to have guns pointed at you daily. I thought that this happened everywhere in the world but they told me it was just in this half of Berlin. They said the wall was there to protect us but my parents told me that was a lie.
Later when I was at the age of 15, I decided that I couldn't take this life anymore. I wanted to get away but I did not know how. Approaching the wall would get me shot and that was really the only option I could think of. My parents told me I had an older brother living on the West side of the wall that they hadn't spoken to in years, and whom I've never met. I had to get to him somehow. Then it hit me; I would have to travel through the sewers.
I had spent an entire six months plotting courses and finding routes where the sewers lead. My parents did not want me to do this, but they didn't want to stop me either. They said I had a much better chance than them at escaping, but I had a choice. Leave East Berlin and probably never see my parents again to live a better life, or I stick with them through thick and thin. After careful consideration, I told them I was doing this for them. I left later that night, past curfew. I studied the guards nightly routines daily which made it easier for me to leave.
I made it into the sewer carrying only a flashlight, a little bit of food and clothes, and my map. I was now on my own for the rest of my days it seemed. Traversing the epic sewage systems was the only way I could get across the wall. If you can't go over a wall, you might as well go under it. I was in there for so long I had no idea if it was light or dark on the surface. Eventually, I reached what I thought was my destination and opening the manhole showed I was on the other side of the wall. I had made it! Finding my brother, the one who I have never met or even seen a photograph of, was now the real problem. To make a long story short, I never found him. I spent the rest of the days in West Berlin as a street rat, living off old bread and other nasty food. I could tell no one my name as they could easily send me back to the East. This is how life had to be, and I lived it as best as I could.