Sleep story · travel, anonymous
A bus at night (a sleep story), when you need to stop thinking about work — for a night when you do not want to think
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 city goes past below you, shopfronts and bus stops and people waiting for other buses. The heating comes through the floor and makes your feet warm. The bus stops and starts with a slow, heavy movement.
You are on the top deck of the last bus, in the front seat, with the whole window to yourself. The driver takes the corners slowly, as if the bus were full. A streetlight passes across the ceiling every few seconds.
Let your calves spread out and flatten. Notice your hips, wide and settled.
Let the back of your neck lengthen out. Let your toes stop holding on to anything.
The lights inside are the dim blue kind that buses use at night. Outside, someone is walking a dog that does not want to be out.
Your chest can be still now. Feel the weight of your head on the pillow.
Feel your belly rise and fall without any help from you. Feel one shoulder go heavy, then the other.
You do not have to get off for another twenty minutes. There are four other people downstairs and nobody up here.
Notice the places where your body touches the bed, and let them be heavy. Let your hands be completely still.
There is a long stretch of road ahead with nothing on it. Your ticket is on the seat beside you, already used.
Feel your heels sink a little into the mattress. Feel your cheeks let go.
If you're irritated, that's allowed. Irritation is just weather. If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment.
Feel the weight of the blanket on your legs. Let your lower back sink down into the mattress.
The words can start to blur now. Almost nothing to do now.
Just the weight. Leave it there. Slower now.
Nothing here needs following closely. Let them. You can stop listening properly.
Work thoughts are allowed to be there. They just do not get to drive.
There is nothing more to follow. Let the rest happen on its own.
18 paragraphs, roughly 3 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for travel, anonymous.
If this story does not settle you, try A field under snow, when the day has been loud — for jet lag, Sleep story: a kitchen late at night, before you go back to something hard — for a restless night or A lake before dawn (a sleep story), if you are doing this in the middle of the day — for the hours after a late shift.