The Eve of the Elements

All of my life, I'd been able to do... odd things. With water and liquids that contain it. Water was always refreshing, hot or cold, it was always soothing, always filled me with energy. And I had these visions. The first that I can recall ever seeing was that of a mother, her auburn hair falling to her waist, tightly gripping two little girls. One had light hair, the other dark. They looked to be exactly the same age, and they clung to her as if they were starving kittens and she held cream. The mother made an odd sound, a sob, one that seemed to rip her resolve apart. But she shed not a tear, for it was a sob of happiness. She smiled and said something, something that I couldn't hear or make out. And then a man walked in the room.
"Is that our son - why are there two?"
He was tall, and carried with him a sense of cockiness, power and arrogance. But the woman smiled at him. "These are our daughters," said the woman, her voice ringing of pride and love.
The man seemed furious. "What of a son? I need an heir!" He had the dark hair of the second one, and the dark eyes of the first. They both shone under the light, giving him a slightly fire-like appearance.
The woman visibly wilted. "We can try again," she whispered. "I'll give you an heir."
"No!" the man roared. "You've proven yourself incapable!" He leaned down so his face was right above hers. "I will not tolerate failure henceforth."
"I won't fail."
"You won't fail - ha!"
"I won't!"
He raised an eyebrow and said, his voice a growl, "You just did."
The woman's eyes began to water and she opened her mouth to beg. And then the vision cut off. When I was little, making sense of the words I'd heard so long ago made me not realize what they meant. Now that I'm little older, I can understand it. And it horrifies me.
This vision, for some reason, played in my mind as soon as we pulled out of the driveway and onto the street for our three-day journey. But in the background was a woman screaming in pain. The hair on the back of my neck stood up and my skin crawled as if bugs were using it as a blanket. I blinked repeatedly, clearing my mind.
That had been the barrier. And every barrier existed for a reason.