I stood, looking at the wall, trembling with fear. I wanted to get home, but I didn't want to do this, and the sewers tunnel we had used had been blocked off until further notice. So a ridiculously idiotic run across the wall was going to be our way back. My ankle had almost fully healed now, so I could run at nearly my normal pace, but I was pretty sure that Lukas would be able to run faster than I could. Would he leave me behind if I was caught? Normally I would say of course not; he would never ever leave me behind. But now I wasn't so sure. Had our range of arguments compromised our friendship enough to allow him to not care about me anymore, or at least to consider the risk of coming back for me too high. Quite frankly, I just didn't know what would happen, or whether I would even see my mother or Friedrich again.

Lukas walked hastily back and forth down the alleyway we had found and hidden in the darkness of, waiting until the moon had concealed the suns light and brought its darkness all over the city and the wall. A few lights had come on over the wall, but as with everything, there were a few blind spots, which gave us a tiny chance of crossing. A middle aged, average build man stood guard against the wall opposite us, yawning every so often, his gun relaxed loosely against his thigh. Every 10 minutes, he would walk up the wall one way for a look out, then return and go the other way before finally resuming his position in his original spot. We just had a few more minutes to wait now until he would wander up his path.

I turned to look round at Lukas, only just being able to see his figure and a couple of his facial features, such as the thoughtful look on his face. Noticing my watchful eyes, he stopped mid walk and the expression vanished, a blank look replacing it.

"What?" He whispered harshly.

"The guard. He's about to go." I blurted out. Lukas probably already knew this, but it was something to say to fill the silence. I couldn't exactly ask what he was thinking about. His eyes glanced to the guard before nodding, pacing up to stand beside me, picking up his backpack which he had thrown on the floor.

"Are you ready?" He said without looking at me, his eyes looking everywhere but me.

"Of course." Well, I wasn't. But I couldn't say no now. This was it.

"You better be." He threatened and I winced at his harsh tone, how could he even speak to me like that? Well I knew how, I knew I wasn't innocent. But still.

The guard sighed, bored, his hand moving to clench his gun as he began walking along the wall to the left. Lukas began moving out of our alleyway, analysing the area all around us to make sure no one was watching. Grabbing my wrist, he pulled me, half running, up to the wall.

"Wait for me when you get over." He whispered, linking his hands together, opening them up and crouching down. Cradling my foot in his hands, I put one hand on his shoulder and one on the wall as he began standing up, lifting my foot, and myself, up. Forcing all my weight onto the foot in his hands, I grabbed the top of the wall with both my hands and lifted my free leg, bending it, onto the wall beside my hands so that I now was in a crawling position. My arm flinched as something touched it, a stab of fear flowing through my body. Glancing to my side I saw the barbed wire, a piece of it grazing my arm. I gently grabbed a safe part of it between my thumb and finger, not daring to touch it anymore as if it were a poisonous snake, and pulled it up, over my head, and then over my body as I slid through the gap. Dropping myself down to the ground on the other side of the wall, I bent my knees into a crouch and shuffled to the side slightly, keeping hidden in the shadow of the wall.

A few moments later, Lukas was crouched next to me, a few tears in his shirt but the wire hadn't dug into his skin at all like it had done with me. He glanced up and down the wall once again before looking toward me, checking me over to make sure I wasn't hurt. Some part of him still cared. I looked out across the Death Strip in front of us. A shiver crawled down my spine as I took in the long stretch of desert, no plants or animals or any sign of life. Then I saw the opposite us. It was no more than 100meters away, but as I watched it, it seemed to get further and further away with each passing second.

A shake brought me back to now and I glanced up at Lukas who had his hand on my shoulder. His eyes worried.

"Kirsten, are you okay?" I nodded instinctively. "Good." He put his not caring voice back on, taking away his hand and pointing out. "Those are Czech Hedgehogs." Hedgehogs? I questioned him silently. Then I noticed the metal snowflakes that stood half way between the walls in a long row. "Once we get there, I'll help you over, then we run for the wall, I'll go over first and pull you over. Got it?" I nodded once again and before I could repeat what he had said, he was already running towards the hedgehogs, slightly crouched over, avoiding the beams of light. Adrenaline began rushing through my veins and I ran after him. Don't think about the wall or the death count or anything. Just running. Run after Lukas. Run.

The sand and pebbles on the ground were slippery under my trainers and began hurting my feet but I kept running, I was nearly there. Lukas was waiting at the Hedgehogs, crouched down beside one, waving his hand in a 'hurry up' motion. Once I got to them, I realised how huge they were; their height being taller than my own. I got down on the ground beside Lukas and he put his hand on my head, pushing it down and I realised I had to crawl underneath it between the three pieces of metal. I shuffled under, my knees grazing against the ground and I could already feel the cuts and bruises forming through my now torn trousers. I got through the other side, careful not to hit my head and waited for Lukas to do the same, except he stepped, bent over, through the gap between two of the hedgehogs.

"Meet you over the other side." He smirked lightly towards me, though a hint of resentment still lingered in his words. I gave a small smile and we both began to run. As I had predicted, Lukas was much faster than me and took off. My feet thudded on the ground with even beats like my heart beat which I could feel in my ears. The wind whisked my hair back from my face and I felt free. Free like a bird. I knew that was a ridiculous thing to say but I did. I studied the area ahead of me, making sure there was no light beams and then closed my eyes as I ran. Feeling the wind and my speed and the ground beneath my feet, I was free in that moment. I wasn't running across the death strip. I wasn't in complete and utter danger. Everything was okay. My arms floated up to the sides as if I were pretending to be a bird or an airplane. A smile lingered on my lips.

Closing my eyes gave me freedom. But it was a mistake.