Sleep story · travel, anonymous
A bus at night (a sleep story), when you are waiting for something — for jet lag
Upper deck, front seat, a city going past that you do not have to join.
Lights off. Press begin and let the story read itself to you, at the pace of sleep.
Screen on or off — we suggest dimming it, or simply closing your eyes after the first paragraph.
The story, in full
The driver takes the corners slowly, as if the bus were full. A streetlight passes across the ceiling every few seconds. Outside, someone is walking a dog that does not want to be out.
Your ticket is on the seat beside you, already used. There are four other people downstairs and nobody up here. You do not have to get off for another twenty minutes.
Your jaw can drop slightly. Let your teeth part. Your chest can be still now.
Your eyelids can be too heavy to open, and that is fine. Let the mattress take all of it.
The city goes past below you, shopfronts and bus stops and people waiting for other buses. There is a long stretch of road ahead with nothing on it.
Notice how much of you has already stopped moving. Your ankles can go loose now.
Notice anything you're holding onto from earlier today. If your mind has wandered, that's not a mistake. Noticing is the practice.
Let your lower back sink down into the mattress. Your elbows can stop being hinges for now.
They will find their own way out. Leave it there.
Let the room get slightly further away. Just the dark. You do not have to count them.
Waiting is dead time you can spend on this instead.
I will stop here. The quiet will carry on without the words.
12 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for travel, anonymous.
If this story does not settle you, try The night train (a sleep story), when you are cold and want to be warm — for waking too early, A kitchen late at night — a slow story for the end of the day, when you are doing this for the first time — for an overtired night or A fire dying down (a sleep story), when you are somewhere noisy — for a racing mind.