Shining Tears
by Jeremy Ray Logsdon

As the kitchen timer rang, Sydney stepped back to the sink. "So much for being different," Sydney muttered. Turning the water on, she bent down and quickly rinsed her hair out, careful not to disturb the lock of hair imprisoned in aluminum foil. The water ran dirty brown as it flowed to the drain. _Maybe for Halloween,_ Sydney mused. As the water ran clear, she pulled the aluminum foil away and wet the rest of it.

She turned the water off and wrapped a towel around her head, roughly drying her hair. Standing back up, she whipped the towel away, allowing her wet, stringy hair to fall down around her face. Save for the stretch of grey, she was once more a brunette.

So much had changed for Sydney. Just three months ago, she was deep in a relationship with a man who was a good on the surface but had a hidden darkness in him that Sydney couldn't understand. Now, he was dead, and here she was, numerous worlds later and six years younger.

Turning fourteen was what startled her more than anything. She was used to being twenty. She would be twenty-one come next Halloween. There was no changing the fact that she had been around for twenty-plus years. However, her body was fourteen.

She had spent several hours trying to decide a lot of things. Once it was established she would be permanently fourteen, she found herself trapped in a paradox to beat all. Was she a virgin again? When she turned fourteen the first time, she was still a virgin.

The first time she turned fourteen, she was a good girl. She had yet to get in trouble with the law, and she still had a mother. Just prior to her sixteenth birthday, her mother had died, essentially leaving Sydney all alone. As dictated the laws of Sydney's home Earth, she was old enough to be her own guardian. And seeing as she had absolutely no family, she became her own guardian.

And that began her downward spiral. By the time she turned seventeen, she had tried more drugs, drank more liquor, and been with more sexual partners than she could genuinely remember. Her only saving grace was a hooker named Delilah Thompson.

Delilah found Sydney drunk and naked behind a dumpster. She took Sydney to her small, slummish apartment, and for the first time in over a year, Sydney found herself in the company of someone who actually wanted to know her for who she was. Delilah and Sydney moved in together. Essentially, Delilah became the big sister that Sydney had always wanted. But even more important than that, Delilah helped Sydney develop self-worth.

The first thing Delilah made Sydney do was own up to her past. Accepting that she had taken illegal substances was the easy part. It was when she tried to count up her sexual partners that genuinely scared Sydney. Sydney had a literal panic attack when she reached fifty and she had barely scratched the surface. They counted no further, especially since Sydney was already on the road to recovery.

Delilah even made a promise to herself to change her own lifestyle. Gone were the days of prostitution. She took on a job that gave her little pay but allowed her to keep her sense of pride. Delilah was a cashier at a 7-11. On her second day of the job, the day Sydney graduated from high school, Delilah was killed during a robbery.

Sydney, though, didn't fall into the same trap she had when her mother died. She went to vocational school and plunged herself in the only thing that interested her. She adored medicine, but her grades in high school just weren't enough to merit a scholarship to an academic college. Instead, she got the training to become a Surgical Technician.

Halfway through her nineteenth year of life, she met a man named Derek. Sydney and Derek were happy, until Derek's brother Randy came into the picture. Before Sydney knew it, she was deeply embroiled in a plot to kidnap Prince Stewart. That same plot ended up having her boyfriend, the only man she had ever ACTUALLY loved, killed.

In addition to all that, she should have been dead. She was shot, fatally, and she was saved only by the influence of a blonde Methodist witch named Sabrina. Trini and Justin had brought her near-death body through the portal to another world with them, and she left her home, never to return.

To add yet another wrench, a thirteen year-old had fallen in love with her, and Sydney had been dangerously close to returning the feeling. Now there was less than a year separating their physical bodies. Sydney was going to have to be quick on her feet to weasel out of that one.

"And yada, yada, yada," Sydney muttered. "Now I'm fourteen and infinity from my old home."

Sydney crept out of the bathroom, noticing that it was still dark. She couldn't sleep, for some reason. The discomfort of the cot in Trini's room notwithstanding, she simply couldn't sleep. That was what had inspired her to wake up in the middle of the night, walk to a supermarket, and buy hair dye.

Sydney opened the back door, wincing as it creaked loudly. She tiptoed out onto the stone patio; it was cool beneath her feet. The Kwans had a gorgeous backyard. She had always wanted to own a house just like their's. It was of an old style, two-stories, two beautiful porches, and a gargantuan backyard. She hopped to the top of a brick wall, about four feet high. It was perpendicular to the house and formed a semi-wall for the patio.

Sighing, Sydney leaned back against the cool wall of the house. _What am I going to do now?_ She was seriously starting to reconsider the whole prospect of moving to another dimension, although it was definitely too late now. She should have taken Gale up on her offer, made eons ago. But the Royal Family she had offended was worlds and months away.

Then again, that old dimension held bad memories. Maybe she should be grateful that she had gotten a never-in-a-lifetime chance to start over fresh with a new cast of characters and a new set of teenage years.

"Hi," a small voice said.

Sydney turned to see Trini's younger sister standing beside her. "Hi," Sydney returned, smiling warmly.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Sydney," she said. "What's your name?"

"Everybody calls me Ashley, but I wish they'd call me LeAnn," she said. "My name is Ashley Ann Kwan, but I want to be called LeAnn."

"I'll call you LeAnn," Sydney promised.

"Thanks!" LeAnn cried, quite happy.

"Ashley?" a matronly voice asked.

"I'm out here, Mom," Ashley called.

"It's barely dawn, child," Mrs. Kwan said.

"She's out here with me, Mrs. Kwan," Sydney announced.

"Good morning, Sydney, and call me Mai-Ly," she said. "Ashley, go inside..."

"All right, Mom."

"Talk to you later, LeAnn," Sydney smiled. LeAnn flashed her a big grin as she ran back into the house.

"Well you've just made a friend in her for life," Mai-Ly said. She sat down on a nearby patio chair. "So..."

"Have you been told a bit about my unique history?" Sydney asked.

"Just that you are from another dimension," Mai-Ly told her. "This is so strange. I mean, my daughter is a Power Ranger, and I've got a houseguest from a different Earth."

"I'm also twenty years old," Sydney announced. "I'm-"

"I also knew that," Mai-Ly said. "Trini mentioned last night that you don't have a home..."

"Not at the moment," Sydney said with a shrug. "But I'm sure I'll work something out soon enough. Even if I'm in a fourteen year old body, I'm still old enough mentally to support myself. I'm not concerned."

"Yes, you are," Mai-Ly announced, a sympathetic smile on her face. "If I am nothing else, I am an excellent judge of character."

"I'm worried, yes, but... Everything always works out for the best," Sydney sighed.

"You have my personal invitation to stay here for as long as you need to," Mai-Ly said.

"I can't impose," Sydney said, horrified. "I'll-"

"It's not an imposition if you are invited," Mai-Ly insisted. "I'm going to go get the paper, Sydney. If you'd like anything to eat, feel free to help yourself."

"I will," Sydney said. "And thank you."

"Hey Syd?" Trini asked. "You want to go to church with us this morning?"

"What are you?" Sydney asked.

"Interdenominational Christian," Trini answered.

"You all don't dance in the name of Jesus, do you?"

Smiling, Trini said, "We're the ones who can't make up their minds."

"Yeah, I suppose I would," Sydney said. "I haven't really been to church since my mother died. But I don't have anything to wear."

"Taken care of," Trini told her. "I've got all my old clothes around here someplace. I-"

"Trini, will you braid my hair?" LeAnn asked hopefully.

"I don't have time, Ashley. I have to find a dress for Sydney to wear to church," Trini said.

LeAnn frowned, but Sydney was quick to volunteer. "I'll braid your hair," Sydney said.

"Yay!" LeAnn cried. Sydney smiled happily. The eight year-old's attitude was infectious.

"So how do you want it?" Sydney asked. "Two on each side and one in back?"

"No," LeAnn giggled. "Like Trini does, straight down."

"How about a French Braid?" Sydney offered, turning LeAnn around.

"Do you know how?"

"I sure do," Sydney said, parting LeAnn's hair into three sections.

Jim Kwan, LeAnn and Trini's father, stood in the doorway of his bedroom, watching as Sydney braided LeAnn's hair, the both of them giggling and laughing.

"She's very good with Ashley, isn't she?" Mai-Ly asked.

"She calls her LeAnn," Jim grinned. "Ashley adores her for it."

"She has no place to go, Jim," Mai-Ly announced.

"I assumed as much," Jim sighed.

"Can I come in?" Trini asked from the side door to their bedroom. She held a pink dress in her arms.

"Sure," her mother said. "We were just talking about Sydney."

"How did she get that grey streak?" Jim asked.

"She had a dream that she was falling into hell," Trini said. "Scared her so badly it happened instantly." Trini paused before asking, "What's going to happen to her?"

"She'll be all right, Trini," Mai-Ly said. "I promise." Jim raised his eyebrows at his wife, but he said nothing.

"She has quite a voice," Jim whispered.

"Yes, she does," Mai-Ly agreed. Sydney, sitting in the pew before them with LeAnn and Trini, was singing along with the rest of the church. Sydney's voice, though, was evident above all others. In a quiet tone, Mai-Ly continued, "I've made arrangements to talk to the pastor after church."

"What about?" Jim asked. However, he had no more than looked his wife in the eyes when he got the answer. "Mai?"

After church, Trini took Sydney and LeAnn back home. Jim and Mai-Ly stayed after to talk to the pastor. As they walked across the nearly empty parking lot, the two continued to talk.

"From a purely selfish point of view, it wouldn't be a bit of trouble," Mai-Ly said. "She's fourteen, in between Trini and Ashley. She's in the middle, so we've already done it once with Trini. No surprises there..."

"It's just- Mai-Ly, we've only known this girl for twelve hours. How can we make such a big decision in only a few hours?!" Jim cried.

"You know how I am with first impressions," Mai-Ly said. "This girl..."

"Don't tell me those colors of yours are going to come into play again," Jim sighed.

"Would you please not make fun of it?" Mai-Ly asked. "Just because you don't und-"

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "What did you learn from the colors?"

"She's the most honest person I've ever met in my life!" Mai-Ly cried. "There is just this... I don't know, sense of being around her that is absolutely phenomenal. She's wonderful, and I already love her dearly."

"Just let me get to know her, okay?"

"Honey, you know I'll do whatever you decide," Mai-Ly told him. "I know adopting another daughter is a BIG move, and I wouldn't dream of doing anything you aren't comfortable with. I'll fully support you in whatever you decide, even if it isn't what I want to hear."

Bending over, Jim kissed his wife on the forehead. "Thank you," he said. "And I promise to give some serious, genuine thought."

"Where's Sydney?" Jim asked.

"In the backyard with LeAnn," Trini said. "Heck, she's got me doing it. With Ashley. Your other daughter has made herself a new best friend."

"I've gathered that," Mai-Ly commented.

"How did your meeting with Rev. Applegate go?" Trini asked.

"Good," Jim answered simply.

"Are you going do it?"

"How did you find out?" Jim asked. "You haven't said anything to Sydney or Ashley, have you?"

"Not a thing, Dad," Trini told him. "Are you going to do it?"

"We're going to think about it," Mai-Ly said. "Aren't we?"

"Yes, ma'am," Jim returned.

"Clean up for lunch," Jim said, pointing his youngest daughter to the house.

"Lunch isn't fun," LeAnn complained as she walked back to the house.

"How are you doing, Sydney?" Jim asked.

"I'm having fun," she said. "It's been years since I've actually played. Maybe I should have tried to turn eight years old instead."

"Ashley really enjoys your company."

"I enjoy her company, too," Sydney said. "I have always wished I had a little sister." Smiling, she spun around and looked at the backyard. "I really like being here." The two began to slowly walk down the long backyard. "It's like being in a family. A real family, even if it isn't mine. I mean, I can just barely remember my dad... It's so great seeing you and LeAnn interact together. And Mai-Ly is so nice. I get such wonderful colors and smells from this whole house."

"Pardon?"

"Oh, my bad," Sydney apologized. As they stepped up on the stone patio, "I'm a synesthete. My mind associates colors and smells with body language, words, things like that."

"That sounds like Mai-Ly," Jim realized as he ushered Sydney into the kitchen.

"What does?" Mai-Ly asked, turning around from the counter.

"I can see colors and hear sounds in things I shouldn't, like words," Sydney said. "You can, too? It's called synesthesia."

"I've never met anyone like me," Mai-Ly said softly.

"Me neither," Sydney smiled. "We'll have to talk about it sometime. Apparently we have quite a bit in common."

"Apparently so," Mai-Ly said, looking at her husband.

All that afternoon, Sydney spent most of her time playing with LeAnn. LeAnn even suckered Trini into playing with them. Sydney wasn't sure if she had ever had so much fun. For that afternoon, she didn't worry about her past or her future. She just had fun.

As the Kwans sat down to dinner, with Sydney as their guest, LeAnn asked, "Mom, can Sydney come over and play some other time?"

"She sure can, if she wants to," Mai-Ly told her.

"I'd love to, LeAnn," Sydney promised, smiling.

"Mom, can I dye a streak of my hair grey like Sydney?" LeAnn continued.

"No," Mai-Ly told her.

"Mom, can I get a butterfly tattoo on my ankle like Sydney?"

"You have a tattoo?" Trini asked.

"It's little, the size of a quarter, and I've been putting make-up on it all summer," Sydney said, blushing. "I guess I forgot this morning..."

"Can I, Mom?" LeAnn asked.

"Not until you're fourteen, dear," Jim joked.

"Mom, can Sydney spend the night here tonight?" LeAnn continued.

"She's going to, dear," Mai-Ly said.

"Mom, can I get two earrings in my left ear like Sydney?"

"LeAnn, I think it's great that we're close," Sydney said, "but I'm not the best person to emulate."

"I don't know what emulate means," LeAnn said. "What does it mean?"

"It means you should be you, and I'll be me," Sydney told her.

"Ohhh," LeAnn sighed, nodding slowly. "Mom, can you and Dad adopt Sydney?"

The entire dining room became deathly silent. Trini carefully set her fork down on her placemat. "Let's go outside, Ash-," Trini started.

"No, stay," Jim said.

"I don't know where this came from," Sydney said, pale-faced. "I promise I haven't said anything about this. I swear."

"We know, Sydney," Mai-Ly assured her.

"Well Mom-?"

"Hush," Trini told her through clenched teeth.

The five diners sat in silence for several moments longer. After a few seconds, LeAnn began to eat again. "Well," Jim said slowly, "if we were to adopt Sydney, we would have to discuss it as a family. So I guess if we all wanted to make Sydney a Kwan, then we'd have to all agree on it... Including Sydney."

"I think it's okay!" LeAnn cried happily.

The other four sat in silence for a while longer before Jim added, "Me too."

"What do you say, Sydney?" Mai-Ly asked.

"You'd really disrupt your lives for me? Twenty-four hours ago, you hadn't even met me!" Sydney cried. "Oh my God... I mean..." Tears were shining in her eyes as she said, "Of course..."

The End