There he stood with a lost look over the dead body of his pet cat. He was with her for more than five years now.

James still remembered the first time he saw her. She was extremely afraid - a kitten of a few months. She was crying and whining beside her mother's dead body. The pain in her eyes reached out to his soul. He remembered his suffering as a nine year old child, when he lost his mother. How he was deprived of motherly affection from a very young age. He named her ‘Shelly’ after his mother and adopted her. He became her mother and father and took care of her. From playing games with her to giving her a warm bath to taking her out for a walk; he cared for her more than anyone else. Not even for a single day were they apart. 

They both loved spending time together and were a happy family. He taught her various tricks and trained her well to stay inside the apartment while he went out to work in his office. A couple of years later, he realised that Shelly needed a partner to stay with her while James was out to work as her life was becoming monotonous living alone.

He married her to Rocky - his neighbour's cat. The couple had many babies and all of them lived together with James as a big family. James was their only parent and they were all his children. He was content with his life, but just like everything else, happiness has an end to it. 

One morning, when James set out to work, he met with an accident and was admitted to a hospital. After two days, when he regained consciousness he ran straight towards his home to find out that Shelly was laying dead on his doormat. There was enough food for the cat family to survive for weeks. 

On the day of the accident, he had prepared their breakfast, lunch and dinner in case he might be late from work, but Shelly was dead. 

On enquiring Mr. Philip - his neighbour, James learnt that Shelly refused to eat while he disappeared. Mr. Philip tried his best to make her eat but to no avail. She was in extreme depression and anxiety had overtaken her. The thought of her master and her only parent being in some kind of a danger kept disturbing her. She succumbed to the emotional pain of losing her parent and perished only two hours before the arrival of James. 

James recalled all the good times that he had spent with her. How he used to come home earlier on Fridays to spend some extra time with her. How she used to snuggle into his arms while sleeping. He thought of all this as tears rolled down his cheeks.