In what seemed like the short few seconds that she closed her eyes, the last bus came and went, and the sky turned from sunset to twilight. Napping at work was common for her, especially on slow days, but she was usually too excited to get home to sleep while waiting for the bus. She awoke feeling only disappointed that her next day of work wouldn’t be spent being productive.

She was struggling to keep her eyes open, until she saw some small, black thing run beneath the bench she was sitting on. It left ashy marks wherever it touched the ground, and was about the size of a bunny. Turning around, she realized it had already disappeared deep into the forest behind the bus stop.

She should’ve ignored it, maybe tried catching up on sleep, but she had already broken her usual daily cycle; why not break it more? Besides, curiosity already took over her thoughts.

She sped into the forest and followed its trail until she found herself in front of a large pile of rocks and boulders; some of the small crevices in the pile were covered with ash. She managed to move a few of the smaller boulders out of the way before she became too weak, where she walked back with that creature still on her mind.

The next day, after work, she wasted no time heading back to the forest. This time she felt energized, although she never actually got the chance to sleep. She managed to uncover some more ash-covered passages, but none were big enough to fit her hand into.

She decided to skip work the day after that one and head directly to the forest. After reducing the pile of boulders to a few pebbles in a few hours, she found a hole large enough for her arm in the ground below it, which was exactly what she did. She touched something fuzzy and cold and pulled her arm out in fear, which quickly turned to excitement once she noticed it was completely covered in ash. She tried again and felt the thing touch her skin. She attempted to grab it by twisting her hand around, but it quickly jumped to the other side of the hole.

It ping-ponged around for a good while, evading her capture, until she finally managed to grab it by the scruff of its neck. She pulled it into daylight slowly, and both her and the thing were exhausted. Her heart raced with anticipation. Suddenly, it stopped moving and fell into a pile of ash. She tried to catch some of it, but her efforts were in vain. Maybe she was just wasting her time. Maybe she should’ve just stuck with what she always did, everyday, and worked.

A small glimmer in the ground caught her eye just as she was turning to go back home: a tiny, precious gemstone that had fallen from the creature.