(tl;dr is at the end of the post)

For someone who didn't got grew up with a brother or sister and father. Most of the time I felt lonely. I still had my mother ofcourse but she worked a lot and in some ways wasn't there for me that much.

In a summer holiday in '03 there were stray cats living in our garden. And at the time I really wanted to have a pet, whether that be a dog, cat or something else. My mother always disliked having the idea of me owning a pet because she wasn't sure I would have the responsibility to take care of it.

Now there was one particular young stray cat that felt curious to enter our home . The 'at the time' boyfriend of my mother was able to quickly close the frontdoor and in a way captured that young stray cat into my home.
My mother arrived shortly from her work and saw that young stray cat nerviously sitting underneeth the kitchen table. I explained what happened and begged her to keep the cat and that i'll prove that i'll be very responsible towards the cat.
After some persuasion from me (and with the help of my mother's boyfriend), I was able to keep that young cat. And boy, I was the happiest kid in the world!

Over the years I grew really fond of my pet cat and in a way we created a close bond (sounds weird perhaps but it's true). This cat was really wild if he wanted to play, usually claws were involved but we never minded that (until he went too far and started to hurt us ofcourse). It was never a dull moment watching him play. Or he had times he wouldn't do anything productive and just chill all day. He was a very nice cat, very loveable when you get to know his personality. And demanded lot's of attention which I always liked giving him. He was always around when I called out his name, in a way I never felt alone anymore.

In the summer of '06 I went abroad for 1 month on a sport camp. This was the first time I went away from home for a long periode of time.
At camp we were allowed to call our parents from time to time. Apart from talking to my mother I also asked how things were with our pet cat. According to my mother our cat was acting very strangly, walking to every corner around the house like he's looking for something or someone. He meows more often than he used too. One day my mother couldn't find our cat for a whole day, which was really odd since he would always come back home after we call out his name.
My mother did the laundry that day and went up the stairs to put my clothes in my bedroom, upon which she surprisingly found our cat sleeping on my pillow. ( The door for going up the house using the staircase was apparently open, we normally always close that door because our pet cat wasn't allowed to go upstairs.)
When I got back from sport camp and finally arrived home I saw my cat looking out the window. I called out his name, he slowly turned his face around and looked at me with a surprised yet happy expression with wide open eyes. You clearly saw how happy he looked when he saw me again. He ran at me like a cheetah and jumped at me with full joy. It was truly a memorable moment .

In the begining of 2012 is where everything went dark. It wasn't a good time in our lives, we had to move out to different homes almost every year...
In the last home we got, my cat seemed extremely happy. He would roll around on the floor in almost every spot in and out of the house.
On morning I discoverd a big dead insect on the floor close to my pet cat. Obviously my cat killed it but I was in a way shocked what that insect was and hoped my cat didn't got poisend or something b/c it wasn't anything like I've ever seen before.

Days go by and we notice that my cat stopped eating and drinking. Something was clearly wrong and we rushed him to a vet. The vet saw nothing wrong, also no indication he was poisoned. He gave us some medication for our cat and that was it.
We had to force feed our cat (with medication) and give him water because when the medication would wear off his condition was just getting worse. He lost weight and therefore strenght and every night he would sleep very badly, he was somehow in constant pain. When he couldn't sleep well on his own I took him onto my bed to let him sleep with me and in some way he was able to sleep a bit better. But he still struggled in his sleep, I kept awake almost every night so that everything is ok with him. Me and my mother often swiched roles so that I could sleep well and she would stay awake and guard over him.

The reality of him going to die soon was starting to come closer and it was killing me on the inside. Because it wasn't just any pet cat that I would lose, it was my pet cat. One I considered as a close companion in life. An animal that i've had a close bond with. In a way was familiy to me.
One morning before my mother went to work she came into my bedroom and would look at how our pet cat was holding up as he was laying close to me in my bed.
On 14th of March 2012 at 8:45AM my pet cat died in my arms. It felt like a rock that was attached around my heart that suddenly felt 10 times heavier than before and dragged it down into a bodemless pit that grew darker and darker the deeper it went.
I was devasted and felt alone again.


Now everytime I go to the grocery store I always avoid going through the pet food supplies aisle because it reminds me of my house pet that died years ago. From which I still grieve from to this day...
To me, my pet cat can't be replaced.

TL;DR: had a lonely childhood and always wanted to have a pet. Adopted a stray cat and instantly grew fond of it. Never felt alone anymore. Went abroad for a long period of time, after I returned my pet cat showed he missed me. In a way me and my cat had a strong bond for each other. Later my pet got unexplainably ill. He died into my arms. To this day I still grieve.