Just like arranged, we all arrived at the alleyway Sebastian and I had met at a few days before. Sebastian turned out to be a 34 year old shop keeper who was, as I said before, incredibly tall, had pitch black hair and dark eyes and dressed in dark clothes, like everyone else in the group. He had been staying with his parents the night the wall was put up and so was now split off from his wife and 3 year old son. So yeah, he had a pretty good reason to try get over, better than mine which I felt ridiculous for even saying in my head so I just kept it to myself. Thankfully, due to everything that's been happening, he agreed to let me have my secret. Sebastian had brought together a group of 5 others; Sophie and Hugo, who were in their 20s wanting a new, better life in West Berlin for their future family; Tobias and Sven, two brothers, Tobias in his late teens and Sven no older than 25 who were separated from their parents, and of course little old Mathilde, retired, secretive and suspicious of everyone and everything. Of course her story was unknown to the whole group, no one knew her name until recently.

They all glanced warily at me, seeing that I was a newcomer, but seeing as Sebastian had allowed it, then either gave an unsure but welcome smile, or a silent nod of the head as a recognition. All except for Mathilde who refused to even glance at me, and Sven who couldn't stop watching me as if his life depended on it, making sure that I didn't try anything I guess.

Sebastian looked around his group to make sure everyone was here and everyone had what they needed, checking to make sure everyone's rucksacks were done up properly so nothing fell out, making sure everyone had suitable shoes, but not loud ones; he was literally like a father to this odd family. I assumed they had known each other for a while. Then it came to my turn and he glanced at me briefly, checking I wasn't going to lash out at him or anything, before doing the same as the others.

"Right. From now on, no one speaks, no one laughs, no one makes a single sound. You walk in single file, one behind the other, and I suggest putting your hand on the person in front of you's shoulder, it will get dark. If you need anything or need to stop, squeeze the shoulder of the person in front of you and pass it on until it reaches me. Do not stop unless necessary. Everyone got that?" Everyone gave a quick sharp nod, and once again, he turned to me and gave me a longer, stern look, to make sure I had been listening and had understood. He didn't trust me yet. But nowadays, who could you trust?

He nodded once again to himself before walking further down the alley to a manhole cover in the group and kneeling down, he pulled out a crowbar from the side of his rucksack and slotted it in the side of the cover. Giving it a quick but sure push, it popped open and he pushed it to the side. Sven, who I hadn't noticed had been standing, towering, behind me, pushed passed and began climbing down the manhole, followed by his brother, Hugo and Sophie and Mathilde. Before I began shuffling forward, Sebastian put his hand out in front of me.

"Are you sure you want to and can do this? Once you go down, you're not leaving. Once you're in, you're in to the end." Resembling the others, I gave a quick sharp nod. I didn't need to be part of this family thing, but I needed him to respect me and trust me as much as the others, so what better way, than to just copy them. He moved his arm out the way and let me past. As I glanced down, all I could see was endless darkness and I wished they had brought a torch, but I turned round and began to lower myself down onto the cold metal bars of the ladder. As I got lower and lower, the stench of the sewers hit me and I almost gagged and choked, but managed to save myself from the humiliation. The moonlight from the entrance was then shut away from us, and as he had said, it was dark, to say the least.

I got to the bottom, my shoes being greeted by a centimeter or two of water over a hard solid ground, which I was grateful for. I could only just make out the silhouettes of the others in front of me, already in their designed line, holding each others shoulders, and as my eyes adjusted, the curved walls of the sewer corridor were visible, luckily they were quite far apart so I would have no trouble crashing into them.

A shiver went down my spine and I jumped as a hand grabbed my forearm, before realising Sebastian was just putting my hand on...oh great, on Mathilde's shoulder. He let my arm go and then patted my hand before moving to the front of the row. I heard a tiny whisper, but couldn't make out what it was, but I soon found out as a tall figure started approaching and then stood behind me, putting his huge hand, perfectly capable of wrapping around my neck itself, on my shoulder, grazing my neck. Yet again, a shiver spread through my body like a plague and I could almost feel him smirking to that fact. I was stuck between Mathilde and Sven. I knew Sebastian didn't trust me, but was this necessary?

A small tug under my hand notified me that we had begun walking and I told my feet to start moving, being careful of anything on the floor that was there for the sole purpose of tripping me up. The silence and darkness were not something that I welcomed, and as we got further and further through the sewer, without any sign of light, shapes started appearing around me as my mind played tricks on me. Shaking my head, I clenched my eyes shut, rubbing them before having to adjust once again to the darkness.

I don't know how long we had been walking before we stopped, but my legs ached and refused to move once we had stopped. We had twisted down a few different sewers but had stuck to a straight one as best we could, which had made the trip even more tedious. A small whisper of light shone on the wall, from where I don't know, giving us a little guidance. Sebastian removed Hugo's hand from his shoulder and turned to the right, where the light shone, pulling the crowbar back out from his rucksack and began digging it into the lighter coloured part of the wall. Sven then let go of my shoulder, which cried with relief after his strong grip had left and let blood flow back into it, and went to help Sebastian.

It took a while to realise what they were doing, but it was clear afterwards. Tiny clumps of plaster were being pulled off the wall to reveal a hole, and more light. I smiled, they had definitely been planning this for some time. Sebastian put the crowbar back in his bag and looked around at us briefly once again, the light now shining on him, showing a sorrowful glint to his eyes.

"Once you go through there, there's three ladders up to different streets, I've told you about them all. Just go, remember to put the covers back on and for the life of me, don't get caught, stay in the shadows. It was nice knowing you all, hope to see you around. Well maybe not you Sven." He said, giving a cheeky wink to Sven. The others began walking past Sebastian, shaking his hand, giving him a nod, or like Sophie, just going in for a hug and thanking him a hundred times under her breath. Sebastian gave me a look and then walked through the hole, bending down and stepping over the last of the plaster, barely able to fit through it from his height. Sven began following, and then so did I. I was finally going to get to the West. I was going to find Lukas and make things right, it was going to be okay-

"Where do you think you're going?" A huge rough hand shoved me against the wall next to the plaster hole, by the throat, and I began to feel my head pounding like loud music was being played. I clawed at his hands, trying to pry them away from my throat but it was no good."You really think you could just hitch onto our plan which took months to make? You think I would let you see our way out and possibly go report it to everyone? Report it to Them?"

"I...I wasn't-" I managed to get out before his put more pressure against my neck, pushing against my windpipe so hard I felt my throat was just going to be flattened.

"Don't talk crap to me. You're not getting past, you understand?" I tried to cry out, I tried to say something, shout for Sebastian but all that came out was groaning and croaking. I carried on croaking, hoping Sebastian hadn't gone far and maybe heard that. Sven started to raise his hand, clenching his fist into a ball, but then froze. I tried to look around for what had frozen him but couldn't see anything.

"What-" I managed to make out before he span me round, pulling me to his chest, covering my mouth with his hand and dived through the hole, pressing against the wall to the side of it.

"Shut it!" He whispered harshly down my ear and after a moment silence, I could hear what he had heard.

Whistling.