Waving to Keep the Lights On

I'm the only one left on the floor. The lights over the far cubicles clicked off an hour ago and nobody's there to turn them back on. Mine cut out too if I sit still long enough, so every few minutes I lift an arm like I'm answering a question nobody asked.

I've quit in my head maybe forty times tonight. It's easy at this hour. The speech is clean, I don't flinch, my boss takes it well in the version where the room is dark and empty. By 9am it always softens into thank you for the opportunity.

The actual letter's in my notes app. I open it, change one word, close it. I've been doing that for so long the date I typed at the top is from a job I don't even have anymore.

The light over me goes out. I don't lift my arm this time. Turns out the dark is fine. I just wanted to see how long I'd keep reaching for nobody.