Emery was tired.

Sitting at her desk in her dorm room working for the past hour was bound to make her tired, though. With a hand supporting her chin as her elbow rested at her desk, she let out an exhausted sigh. She’d been working on her schoolwork – mostly mathematics and science. What she wouldn’t mind working on was her pyrokinesis, but that course typically had work done in class and not outside. When she thought about it, she supposed it made sense that way. After all, the last thing the school needed was someone to be lit on fire, trying to perfect their elemental manipulation.

Erasing the previous answer she’d written, Emery brushed aside the bits of eraser and rewrote her sentence into words with proper English. She found she often felt dissatisfied with her answers, and it wasn’t uncommon for her to rewrite a sentence three to five times. She was a perfectionist to a fault when it came to her schoolwork. Everything had to be just so.

A breeze flew through her open window, and it was at that moment Emery sensed another presence leap in her room. Startled, she dropped her pencil on her desk and swirled around in her chair, surprised to find the intruder to be a small kitten. Where on earth did that animal come from? Glancing toward her window, she supposed it was her own fault for leaving it open and shrugged it off as that. But what was she to do with a kitten?

Standing from her chair, she walked over to the kitten and cautiously reached her hand out, eventually gaining the courage needed to pet the small feline. “Good kitty,” she murmured, smiling thoughtfully. Emery scooped the kitten up in her arms and held it close to her chest, rubbing her face against its furry body. It was so cute, she couldn’t help herself! “What am I to do with you?” she wondered aloud, scratching behind its ears with her finger.

Emery continued scratching the kitten’s ears, content with hearing the animal purring affectionately. She’d never owned a pet before, so her experience with animals was limited. There was a time when she was younger Emery had wanted a hamster as a pet, but her mother shot it down, saying she could barely take care of herself as it was. A pet certainly would’ve taught her responsibility, she wanted to argue, but chose to wisely keep her mouth shut in agreement.

Still, there was something different about this kitten that Emery couldn’t place her finger on. Perhaps it was the fact that the animal was well-behaved. She wondered if the kitten had an owner looking for it at this very moment. It would be irresponsible of her to keep the cat to herself. Still, it was too late at that moment to go searching for its owner. She vowed to make posters for a ‘found kitten’ over the dorms the next morning.

Nodding at the thought, she lowered the kitten down to sit on her bed, plopping beside the animal and staring at it in wonder. “You probably have an owner, huh?” she asked, knowing the kitten couldn’t respond. “Are you a boy or girl?” Emery wondered, trying to glance down and check but unable to do so at her current angle. “Meow once for a boy and twice if you’re a girl,” she joked, realizing she was having too much fun with the small animal.

Emery noticed a tickling feeling on her neck and laughed, realizing the kitten was licking her neck. “S-stop,” she giggled, nuzzling her head against the cat. “That tickles.”

She realized at that moment she had yet to finish her last assignment. Leaving the kitten on her bed, she got up and stretched before making her way back over to her desk, sitting down in her chair and swirling around to face her work. Picking up her pencil once more, she tapped the desk lightly and hummed to herself as she continued her schoolwork. These particular assignments were due the next day, and she couldn’t afford to miss any grades. She had a straight A reputation to protect.

Glancing back at the kitten, realizing she was neglecting it, she decided to speak aloud, “I’ll be done in a few minutes, then we can go to bed. Tomorrow we’ll search for your owner.” Despite that being the responsible thing to do, she felt a sting in her chest of guilt.