I never went to college, but I am aware that the four years there go by faster than one would expect. Merle, on the other hand, felt time slow to a crawl and his first semester felt like four years.

The morning after his last final exam, Merle woke up in the common room in Goodbody Residence Hall. Like most mornings when he slept there he woke up wearing the same clothes he wore the day before. He checked the time. If he hurried and skipped his shower, he could make this morning's appointment on time.

He ran to his room and pounded on the door.

Ferris's voice carried through from the otherside. "You're too early. It's not time yet."

"I have to be somewhere." Merle countered.

"Use your key."

"Quit joking around! This is important." Merle's key had the quality of never being where he left it. He was under no delusion, though. Ferris was the culprit, but he could never prove it. After the disappearance of his third copy, he stopped going to the Residence Advisor for new ones and resigned himself to the fact that he could only be in his room when Ferris allowed him in.

Ferris swung the door open. He was wearing his heavy jacket with a backpack slung over his right side. "You're lucky I have my last final in a few minutes; otherwise, I would have made you wait." Then he shoulder-checked Merle as he walked past and added, "You'd better not be here when I get back."

My own experience walking through Goodbody Residence Hall wouldn't come until the spring. Like many college dormitories over fifty years ago, it was designed to squeeze in a hundred more teenagers than anyone alive now would consider wise.

Rooms in Goodbody Residence Hall technically came in two sizes, singles and doubles. His "double" would be more accurately named a "narrow." Between two desks, two beds, two closets, there was not much room left over for a single person. But as the name implies, someone else lived there too.

Inside, Merle locked the door behind him and then pushed aside a pile of dirty laundry in his closet that the money in the bankers box was still there. If his roommate could steal his room key, he didn't want to find out what he'd do with cash.

He didn't bother to count the money and just judged by a glance whether it looked any different than last time before filling an envolope with a stack of bills. The he piled the dirty laundry back on top of the moldy-smelling box. The same pile he had moved here with.

Before heading out to his appointment, he put on a winter jacket, hat, and gloves to protect him from the elements.

He walked past the usual stares and giggles that seemed to follow him. It was pointless to wonder what made-up nonsense Ferris had told people. At first, Merle tried to change whatever Ferris found disagreeable, but it only seemed to fuel more rumors.

Outside of the Goodbody Residence Hall, he endured the frigid walk to Gran's pickup, which he hadn't needed to use in over a month. The snow from last week's winter storm had all been pushed to the sides of the campus walkways, and the mounds had turned to ice. He had parked in a lot considered "off-campus" even though it was owned and operated by the University. One person, he crossed paths with asked, "Hey, aren't you the farm boy that wore overalls to class?"

Merle hated answering these questions, but he always tried to answer those that weren't rooted in truth.

"No, that wasn't me."

At the edge of campus, while waiting at a crosswalk for the signal to change, another stranger asked, "Aren't you the one who said the milk in the dining hall wasn't any good because the farmers didn't sing to their cows?"

Again, Merle gave his canned response, "No, that wasn't me."

The windshield of Gran's pickup was covered in snow and ice, and chipping it off would set him back a few more minutes. Starting the car would, but when Merle turned his key, nothing happened. Everything remained silent. He tried again. This time he turned it a little harder.

Merle squeezed his eyes tight as his memory of Gran punished him with yet another lecture.
"Gotta start that ol' tin can at least once a day in the winter, or Old Man Winter will take a crap on the battery."

Merle could wait around and ask someone for help jumping the battery, or he could call for a service. But then he'd still have to wait, and then he'd have to pay.

He could walk to his appointment, but it wouldn't speed things up. Nothing could change the fact that he was going to be late. At least, walking would feel like he'd be doing something instead of just waiting in the cold.

The fastest route was to cut through campus, now that he couldn't drive around it. This meant he'd have to backtrack the way he came. He wanted to feel frustrated, but his anxiety about what might happen if he missed the appointment drove him to walk at an uncomfortably fast pace. At one point, he crossed paths with the person he saw at the crosswalk.

"Didn't I just see you?" the guy asked, implying something strange was going on. Surely it would be the seed of some other absurd rumor. One final one of the semester since most people on campus would be leaving for winter break. Only Merle and a few others would remain behind.

He hadn't figured out how he'd be able to get into his room once Ferris left. He considered his options while he walked, harnessing the anxiety of his situation with his roommate to propel him faster.

It wouldn't make him on time, just less late, which might make the difference between keeping the appointment and missing it.

Campus was less crowded than normal. Most students were either taking an exam or had already left. Still, he ran into someone midway across campus who asked him, "Aren't you the guy who moved dirty laundry to his dorm on Move-In day?"

Merle just kept walking. Pretending he didn't hear the person.

He passed the library, which had been his refuge from Ferris and anyone else who rallied to the cause of publicly humiliating him. Inside that building, no one seemed to bother him.

A moment later, Merle was met by another question minutes later by a different person, "Are you the person who talks about their grandma all the time?"

Again he pushed past the person. He never understood why people thought his attachment to Gran was considered childish. Gran had dominated his life. The only connections he had were her friends, as he had none of his own.

He had almost reached the far boundary of campus when someone called out, "Aren't you Ferris Tanner's roommate?"

Merle walked past without responding and stepped into the intersection before the signal. A car slammed on its breaks to avoid colliding with him. He didn't bother to wait for the driver to start screaming at him before he took off running. Off-campus, it might look weird to see someone running in dirty clothes, but at least there wouldn't be rumors of him trying to chase down a pig or some other farm animal. People would just go on with their day.

He arrived at the diner out of breath. When he rushed inside, the bell at the top of the door rang violently. Merle looked around and couldn't see the man with women's eyeglasses. What would he do now?

The bell jingled behind him, followed by the voice of the administrative assistant who had taken over for Mr. Rolland.

"I was in my car about ready to leave when I saw you run in. What happened?"

Merle was so winded that by the time he was ready to speak, the man said, "Never mind," and signaled to a waitress that they were ready for their table.

A waitress full of sunshine and smiles led them to an empty booth. The man ordered coffee, while Merle ordered a full meal. After she walked away with their orders, the man asked for the paperwork to be handed under the table. Once in his possession, the man got stood up and said,
"Next time, please don't be late. You nearly gave me a heart attack. Do you have any idea how much trouble I'd be in for this program?"

"No." Merle understood that the program was unusual, but he wasn't under the impression it was inappropriate.

And then the admin left. The server returned with Merle's meal and the man's coffee which went untouched. Merle always carried around a little extra cash for emergencies, only this time, he hadn't had enough. Maybe if he hadn't been in a rush this morning, he would have made sure to grab a little extra.

He explained the situation as best he could to the server, who cursed him and told him to get out and never come back.

He walked straight to the library, where he spent most of the day, leaving only to grab a quick bite to eat. And he was grateful that he was able to dodge any more questions. In that sense, it was like any other day. The library was the one place he was safe from Ferris. The shelves of books shielded him from the circulating rumors. While he was there he used his studies as a means to escape his social struggles, which in turn helped him make the Dean's List.

But none of that did anything to remedy his awkwardness in the eyes of his classmates.
The issue of getting into his room once Ferris left pushed into his mind, but the best solution seemed to be just to wait him out. Ferris was leaving today.

On his way out, he spotted a girl leaving alone. She wasn't carrying any books and, from the looks of her revealing outfit, appeared unaware of how cold it was outside.

Maybe it was the fact that Ferris was going to be gone by the time Merle got back to the room or that he'd practically have the entire campus to himself. Whatever the reason, Merle found half a droplet of confidence and, in an unsteady voice, offered to lend her his jacket and walk her back to her room. You would think she had bitten into rotten fruit.

Merle returned to his double to find the door wide open and his RA inside disassembling Ferris's bunk. All of Ferris's belongings had been removed, not one thing of his was left in the room to come back to after winter break.

Merle had caught the RA by surprise, "Oh, hey. I just assumed you wanted his bed removed now that you've got a single."

This was how Merle learned Ferris was switching roommates.

Where most people would find relief, Merle found guilt and self-pity. He was convinced he had done something wrong. Maybe even something terrible. What weighed on him the most was he didn't know how to make it right.

"Ferris returned me two keys. But I assume one of them is yours?"

Merle nodded. Then helped the RA disassemble the bunk and move it out.

Despite making the dean's list, having a single the size of a double, and having paid for the next semester, Merle considered dropping out. But he had nowhere to go if he quit.
Maybe things would improve during winter break. He'd put off any decision until then.

Nowhere in his considerations for his future did vampires factor in.