Barriers Broken

Chapter 1

The door was absolutely filthy, covered in grime and residues of a night that had ended badly. It paled in comparison to the stench that was almost an entity in itself. The hallway was very small, dank and dark, as if sunlight has forsaken it. The living room was on the left, where there was a group of people lying together laughing and talking in affectionate camaraderie. Smoke surrounded everything and a burnt smell of various parts of the carpet, clothes and foil overwhelms every sense. A game of cards was being heavily betted on with insults and decadent and frankly perverse promises. Most of the other people were stretched out lazily on the couch and the floor staring at the T.V.

'I can see the stars ... can you?' asked a woman lying curled up on the floor next to a defeated looking blond man.

She pushed back her long mousy-coloured hair and rolled on her back blinking at the ceiling.

Just then, a girl walked into the room, carrying some shopping. Nobody looked up except the mousy-haired woman and smiled crookedly at the girl.

'Hey Yenene, did you bring food?' she asked, while dragging herself from the floor. She knocked over a glass and giggled like a little girl, still kneeling on the floor.

Yenene watched her pityingly, and put down her food shopping before she went to help her mother to her feet. As soon as she left the bags, every pair of hands went and rummaged through the bags, looking for food.

Yenene could not help but smile at the scene. Regardless of age, everyone behaves the same around food. She crossed the room to where her mother had gotten to her feet and was swaying on the spot. Yenene wrapped her arm around her mom's tiny waist, where she felt all her ribs. A look of concern crossed her deep green eyes, a look that would have looked out of place on a 16 year old girl, had anyone else been in the room.

She gently kissed her mother on her cheek, which brought to her attention that her mom had not showered in a few days.

'Let's go, Mom, I'm running you a bath and -no, please - I don't want to hear it,' she said in a mature voice, quelling her mother's feeble protests.

Feeble, because she took too much today, and passed out for hours at a time with no one realising that she had not eaten at all, thought Yenene, as she helped her mom slowly up the stairs to the bath.

It took nearly an hour to get Mary in the bath, and nearly another one to convince her to eat something. There was no problem, though, putting her to sleep. Yenene stayed a few minutes by Mary's side, gently massaging her mom's head. I have to give her a haircut, she thought affectionately, covering her mother with the blanket. As she turned to leave, a drowsy voice, free from any effects of drugs, came from the bed.

'I love you, Baby.'

Yenene stopped, feeling a rush of blood to her head, and hot tears stung behind her aching eyes. She steadied her breath and said normally, even though she knew her mom was already asleep and would not remember any of this....

'I love you too... Mom,' she sighed.

Yenene closed her bedroom door, leaning against it more for strength than exhaustion. She mentally shook herself from her moment of despondency and proceeded to check her room for any signs of entry and, of course, she thought dryly, whether she was missing anything.

As usual, Yenene woke up early the next morning and proceeded to do her morning checks and routine.

Okay, she thought, counting each point off by heart: one) mom still in bed; two) clean clothes for her; three) the swarm of flies still downstairs. Ok, bucket ....

She filled up a bucket with cold water and carried it to the living room. There, in general disarray, were limbs spread out with some of their owners emitting truly amazing noises. This used to make her angry; they would wreck the whole house, cause chaos, shout, make noise ... but she quickly realised that their presence was vital. They made sure Mary was never alone, and would always help her whenever she needed a fix.

The last time had been pretty bad; Mary had been in hysterics complaining that there were people injecting her brain with radio waves, the bees were everywhere ... and who was Yenene anyway? She started raining blows with her fragile fists when Yenene had attempted to approach her. Rick, the nicest, but the filthiest in the bunch, had then come and restrained Mary, found a vein with the seasoned experience of a doctor and injected whatever concoction he felt Mary needed. Mary stopped thrashing and immediately went limp, eyes closed, mouth agape, spent and in peace for the rest of the day. It had left Yenene beyond exhaustion and she had gone through the day in a daze.

She still found it hard to believe that she herself had been an addict as a child. Every day was a stark reminder of her fears. From the age of six, the only mantra she had was that she would not end up like her mother. She loved her mother dearly, and could not think her life without the 'flies.' However, she longed for a normal life, so much it was a dull ache sometimes. She had promised herself a future and she was not afraid to make her own path to achieve it.

With a deep breath, she heaved the bucket into her arms, walked to the centre of the room and drenched all of them. Yells, colourful words, threats and a few laughs responded to this unusual wake up call.

'GOOD MORNING EVERYONE!' screamed Yenene. She earned herself a few more vicious swear words.

A pissed off looking woman was coming towards her with a sadistic gleam in her eye.

'I don't think that will be physically possible Lucy,' said Yenene.

She was trying very hard not to laugh and was failing completely.

A drenched Mark came up behind Lucy just in time and held her around the waist while she tried desperately to get her hands on a laughing Yenene. Rick squinted around and focused bleary eyes on Yenene. Sensing Mark may be losing the battle with a still struggling Lucy, Yenene quickly grabbed Rick by the arm and ushered him into the kitchen.

'Listen,' she said firmly. 'I need you to make sure she eats something today. You'll have to force her. I have work today, but I'll be back around dinner time. Her pills need to be taken as well. They are in the drawer; crush them to stop her from throwing them down the toilet. Make sure she takes them, because the doctor said not taking them could make another panic attack.'

While she listed the things that Mary needed, Rick looked at her with an unusually focused and clear gaze, appraising her. She was 16, but she spoke like she was older than his thirty two years. She was looking and talking to him with a no-nonsense green gleam that obviously meant business.

Rick interrupted her diatribe by giving his trademark crooked grin and spreading his arms wide.

'You know you can trust me Angel, I'm the daddy,' he joked with an innocent look.

'Just feed her will you?' She tiptoed and kissed his prickly red cheek. 'Thanks. See you later and don't make a mess,' she warned the now grudgingly awake room flies.

Thirty minutes later, she was leaning against the wind and making her way to the bus stop to go to college. At 16, she was in her second year of A-levels. She was what the authorities had labelled as a young girl who 'despite her unfortunate upbringing, had cognitive abilities far greater than her peers.' She had read the letter and laughed at that part, but was relieved that she would finish her education sooner than anticipated. The council had placed her in a very prestigious college. She didn't particularly enjoy attending her classes what with the resident dictator McLair and his henchmen, but as with anything Yenene does, she does it to completion, facing any obstacles onwards and unflinchingly ... except ....

The noise of her boots snapping a twig brought her back from her thoughts.

She looked around. Most houses were quiet and only a few lights from the windows provided any comforting sight of life. It was bitterly cold and with every lick the wind seemed to freeze her extremities even more. She hugged herself tighter and walked faster up the hill feeling annoyed.

'Where is the damn bus?' She looked desperately up the road praying to spot the double-decker bus. Fifteen minutes afterward, when the bus still showed no sign of arrival, Yenene concentrated and thought 'warm' thoughts. A warm, thick duvet, a roaring fire, a hot cup of coffee ....

Slowly, but unmistakably, she felt warmth return to her toes. It slowly crept up her legs; she felt her circulation pulsing and strong when it reached her knees. It made its way up her thighs, causing her to gasp loudly in surprise. When it reached her chest she found that she had to remove her scarf ... she was boiling hot, her skin was flushed and there was a faint film of sweat along her brow. She removed her jacket as well and standing there tried to find an explanation to her sudden hot flush. No, this was more than a hot flush. Her cheeks were actually red as if she had spent an entire day in the blazing Sahara Sun.

'Mind over matter, it's nothing but mind over matter,' she repeated like a record, holding onto it for dear life and she felt her sanity. A nasty mocking voice disturbed her mental prayers, and like a learned lecturer, listed the reasons why it was anything but mind over matter.

'While you may try to explain that the extreme heat you felt is a result of a homeostatic response, this theory is ludicrous as you have failed to notice the timed response to your initial need for warmth.'

'Oh piss off jerk!' she swore angrily at the rude voice, causing a man walking past her to stare at her offended. Scandalised he retorted with something like 'what's the youth coming to these days?'

Yenene did not hear him. She had gone deathly pale and she painfully acceded the truth of the mocking voice. But more than that, it was not the first time.

Two days ago, she had been late yet again for her lectures and was looking for her keys getting more angry and desperate as the minutes flew by. She had finally given up and shouted, 'I need my keys! Where are they?'

Before she knew it, her keys had flown across the room from behind the table into her open hands. She had stood there for what seemed like hours while her shocked brain worked at dizzying speed trying to assimilate what had just happened. All thoughts about her pending lectures were pushed to a dark corner of her already heavy brain. She suddenly turned and barely made it to the toilet before she started retching violently. Apparently, her brain had difficulties processing the recent flying abilities of her keys. She did not speak for the whole day.

'Hey love, you planning on staying there forever or are you going to get on the bus?' shouted the bus driver.

Most of the people on the bus were now staring at Yenene. She felt her face go red with embarrassment as she saw the bus driver and another man rudely leering at her.

Shit! How long have I been like this?

She mentally scolded herself as she took the furthest seat she could find, avoiding everyone's amused and annoyed looks. She gave an unnecessary amount of concentration to her walkman and pretended to be engrossed in her music.

Please let me go through the day without this thing. Anything but this! I am begging you please just this once make my day normal, she silently prayed with a desperate fervour.

Her silent prayer continued through her A-level classes and lunch until she had to attend her Mythology classes. Mythology was her best and favourite subject. She had to fight, argue and finally cajole the principal to allow her to take up the subject when she had first started college. 'It is not becoming of someone of your calibre to take such useless lessons,' he had sneered.

She had a deep sense of understanding and awe for the mythical characters. If she had had a particularly bad day, she would lose herself in those stories, their lives and she would find the peace and contentment that she silently craved. At night, she would sometimes dream about them and their lives. She would experience their pain, sorrows, love, lust, and even death. Whenever that happened, she would wake up with tears on her face, with a splitting heart, causing her to stop breathing for a few seconds. Nobody would share her panic that goes through her head as she lay there on the dirty floor focusing all her energy on breathing. She would no longer be the mature busybody that looked after everything. She would be on the floor, a sobbing mass of fear and pain. She hated whenever that happened but it only increased her need to immerse herself in that mythic world even more deeply.

She reached her classes and tried to settle in. As she gazed down at her hands, all she could think was how normal they looked at the moment. Various wrinkles etched into her warm, pink skin. With her left hand, she slowly traced the right fingertips, feeling the tingling feeling through her arm. Three days ago, she had a particularly nasty dream and again woke up with her burning eyes staring down at the floor. She gingerly sat up trying to breathe. Her heart had started hammering and she felt her throat constricting. She closed her eyes trying to abate the panic. All she saw was an old man with a knife in one hand and an odd ring on the other ... eyes facing opposite ways ... a high pitched laugh coming from her head ... it left her with iced insides.

Her alarm grew and suddenly her window panes exploded, nearly cutting her face with the shards. Yenene slowly processed this and dimly realised that the window had exploded from inside her room. She approached the window and saw that shards were now lying on the small dirty lawn below. She had felt it so strong this time. The air seemed to crackle with some electrifying power as if it needed free reign to unleash its potential once more. All the pores in her body were responding the same way. She looked down at her fingertips and saw that her hands were glowing with a pulsing force. A faint violet colour was emanating through her skin.

She woke up that morning, feeling icy pellets of hail greeting her from her newly shattered window. She had blamed the entire thing on a particularly real dream and made arrangements to have the window fixed. She clung on to the belief that nothing was happening, making every excuse to explain the extraordinary things that were occurring around her.

She barely managed to absorb any information from her classes. She reached her Mythology course, hoping her favourite class would bring the familiar nirvana she craved. Today, they were discussing the cockatrice, a strange cross between a rooster and a dragon or a snake, often confused with a basilisk. She sleepwalked through her class barely paying attention to the teacher or the sniggers and loud taunts she was getting.

Finally disgusted with herself, she excused herself and left for the bathroom. Feeling it seemed perennially hot; she splashed cold water on her face and stared at her reflection. 'Get a grip you stupid fuck up,' she whispered, staring at her reflection. She closed her eyes in an effort to stop the tears and opened them in shock again.

She felt the mirror crack underneath her cheek bone and the shards sliced through her skin. Blood was pouring from her nose. Another sharp push made sure the other side of her had the same treatment. She started to feel the room whirlpool around her. She grabbed the sink to steady herself, but a sharp well aimed lick in both her knees made her kneel at the feet of her attacker ... how many were there? She tried to assess the situation through her mind, which was quickly fogging over. She looked up and saw two boys she knew too well. The banes of her existence.

'Hello Yenene,' said Bruce McLair. 'You're looking better these days, aren't you?'

And to illustrate this, he arched his leg and with all his strength kicked Yenene in her stomach causing her to black out.

When she came round she was sitting on a toilet in one of the cubicles. She was strapped to the toilet with thick ropes across her wrists. Bruce's henchman, Dick, leered at her and leaning forward licked her neck. She nearly gagged but managed to hold her own.

'One word Dick,' Yenene spat out emphasising his name. 'Mouthwash!'

That earned her a sharp slap across the face, nearly breaking her jaw.

'It pains me so much to see you like this Yenene,' said Bruce mockingly. 'If you would just listen like a good little tramp, there would be no need to do this. So for the last time: where is the stuff? I want all your stash of whatever shit you have in that hell hole of yours!'

'Go fuck yourself! And while your at it, get a life,' Yenene managed to rasp out. She felt awkward. She hurt from the beating, but not as much as she should have. She felt weird, as if she was trying to suppress something inside her.

'Do you remember what I said I'd do to you and your mother?' whispered Bruce crouching near her and taking hold of her chin roughly. He leaned closer and whispered a death sentence into Yenene's ear.

Yenene's eyes went very bright. For a few seconds, Bruce mistook it for tears. The laughter died and caught in his throat. Yenene was vaguely aware that she had stood up; her wrists were no longer bound. Afterwards, she would say to Albus Dumbledore that she had felt the part of herself that she knew, screaming in fear and receding into the deepest corners of her heart and mind. All she could feel was the power that she had at her fingertips right now. A deep baritone voice spoke through Yenene. Whatever part of her that was still there merely heard a foreign language coming through her lips.

The first blast flattened the cubicle's wall around her and threw Bruce so hard that his back making a sickening noise at the opposite wall. He slid down staring dumbly at Yenene. Dick caught the second force emanating from Yenene's hand. He fell on his back, unconscious, a dribble of blood escaping his mouth.

Yenene turned around and caught her many reflections from the bathroom mirrors. This incensed her somehow. With one flick of her hand she shattered all the mirrors in her wake. She felt amazing, as if destruction was cleaning her of some sort of barrier she had put upon herself. She felt connected to something so special, so unique. For the first time in her life, Yenene lost control and she had no qualms about it. Thoughts or memories were no other longer with her; she only felt the magic and rejoiced.

She turned around and found herself staring into twinkling blue eyes.

'Well this is a bit of a pickle!'