Note from the Author: I wrote this when I was 12 and my English teacher said it wasn't great. 4 years later, I found a copy of it, and thought I would ask what you guys think. I typed it out again and tweaked it a little, but I really want to know what you guys think of it. Please review, and be brutally honest! If you aren't impressed, there is more to upload, which might be slightly better, I hope! Enjoy.
Chapter 1
Jana sat by her Grandpa's side. She didn't know what to say. It wasn't that she was in shock, it was guilt. Her grandfather had collapsed earlier that day and had been struggling to breathe all day. Yet, Jana had not shed a single tear. She didn't know why. Sometimes she felt like crying, but the tears never appeared. Maybe it was living a life for sixteen years in the back alleys of the Eastern side of the Berlin Wall. She had been living where ever she could. She moved through the city and out of trouble and out of sight, solitary and alone, sleeping anywhere that was quiet, eating anything that was edible.
Helga, the Austrian girl, who was staying with them until she earned enough money to return home, was fighting back the tears. Jana could tell that she was being strong for her sake. But still Jana didn't need to be strong. She loved her Grandpa more than anything in the world, but had only stayed with him for a few weeks. She barely knew the man who had, in the past few days, had become a father to her. She valued her grandfather and was glad to have him in her life and was sad to let him go. But the truth was, she had never truly let him in. She was reserved and cold with him. She wouldn't show emotion to him. She wouldn't be the normal girl that she really wanted to be. She told herself it was because she didn't want to get hurt, she didn't want to be vulnerable, she said she didn't need support. She didn't know why, but she never let anyone in.
Jana heard her Grandpa's breathing increase. She suddenly became alert and composed herself. He grabbed her hand, squeezed it tightly and pulled her close. He whispered into her ear.
"Get out of Germany. Whatever the cost. Do what it takes. Khrushchev's built that wall, there's no knowing what he'll do next. Go to Geneva. I know people. They will help you bring the wall down."
Then kissed her on the forehead, and rested back on his pillow, closing his eyes as he went. He was gone before his head hit the pillow.
Helga, unable to control herself, collapsed onto the bed in a flood of tears, her body shaking. Jana stood up, desperate to keep her composure. She struggled to keep morose and morbid thoughts out of her head, stopping herself from linking other memories of her grandfather to this. But all she could think about was the image of her grandfather lying on the bed, dead. Over the moans and shrieks of Helga, Jana felt for probably the first time in her life, a sense of real sadness. Yet, still no tears would come. Then she did as she had always done in moments of despair. She turned her back on the body of the last living relative. As she stepped out of the door into the twilight, Helga's screams could still be heard, but only though Jana's ears.