Recently, I’ve noticed that everyone on campus is looking increasingly miserable. The morale level around Romulus University is so low already that it could trip up an earthworm, but everybody around here looks morose.

If anybody should be walking around campus in shambles, it should be me. I know that once May arrives, I will no longer be employed here. Heaven knows I am applying to any gig that might take me, even in the states where professors claim they are fleeing for various political reasons. The only job security I have right now is knowing that I won’t have a job. So why do I feel fine, and everybody else looks like they are doomed?

I know that there are a few faculty members who will miss me, but I doubt that my impending absence is causing them depression. The days are getting shorter and colder, but that can’t be the only reason. Very few faculty around here are smiling, and the ones who do are terrible at faking it, and others need to use their toothbrush more often. Most of them have that pained look that reminds me of hostage photos. There is no way that they could be jealous of me. I know that many of them cling to their job with a death grip because I don’t think that they would fare too well outside of this campus environment.

I don’t just mean that they would crumble under the weight of the real-world consequences of commercial business. I also believe that many of them would struggle to find another gig if Romulus were to suddenly disappear. I know several people are comfortable with their positions here. Some of them, as I have stated in other posts, seem content to rot until retirement. I don’t know what they do around here aside from teach their classes. If that is all I did, I would be bored out of my skull. That’s why I conduct my research, and when my brain tells me to take a break, I start writing on this blog or continue working on the sequel books to Remus College.

So, why do I feel or look better than most of the people around me? Is it because I feel liberated from this place, even though I still come to work every day? I should be down in the dumps, but I am not. I know that anything I do around here will have little consequence anymore. I could curl up and do the minimum, but I can’t. It isn’t in my nature. My grandmother was still mowing her own lawn at the age of 93, for goodness’ sake. I don’t think my body will allow me to be lazy.

Are those who remain the unlucky ones? I mentioned in previous articles that something feels off about Romulus, but is there substance to that suspicion? I can’t put my finger on it, but I feel like I am the “unlucky” person who missed out on boarding the Titanic.