Days bled into nights and the sun shifted to change seasons. The new friendship grew stronger and the bond more loving and understanding. But just as good things were happening, other things were also happening, bad habits were being culminated but Adrian was blind to them.
A change so slow was breeding in the friendship that Adrian could not see it or even feel it remotely. Only the onlookers noticed the changes such as Adrian’s way of forgetting to greet people. Russel hardly greeted the town residents, he was new to it and his roots did not belong to this village. Adrian, on the other hand, knew everybody and everybody knew him and his parents. His parents had made it a point that their boy greeted people whenever he met them.
Slowly, the habit was leaving Adrian. Once or twice he forgot to meet the town people, other times he would meet and talk to people, just as his old habit. Over the days, however, Russel’s company polluted him and the habit finally left his soul.
Adrian also had respect for all the people but what started as a small joke of laughing at the elderly became a constant source of fun. Adrian would no longer help the blind lady to walk through the streets or help her get a loaf of bread. There were other changes too, the ones that changed the habits and persona of Adrian.
Now, for the sake of fun, Adrian started to steal bits of bread from the baker and pick innocent peoples’ pockets too. Russel showed him how it was done. The first time Adrian did it, he was nervous and could not do it. For a long time, he ignored the fact that he could not do an act as simple as pickpocketing, it was an art among almost all the growing-up boys in the town. Adrian also had to grow up one day, stop following his parents’ instructions all the time just as the other boys did. Weeks collapsed before Adrian did it again but when he did it, he was heavily appreciated by his friend. He loved the adrenaline pump and the adventure like touch that came with stealing when people did not notice, it showed how weak people really were. Deep inside though, Adrian knew that these were just the superficial reasons, he really did all this to keep his friend because he never wanted to be lonely.
