Sleep story · travel, anonymous
A hotel room somewhere (a sleep story), when you want to be left alone — for a racing mind
A room you did not choose, in a city you do not have to know.
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
There is a small card on the desk with the breakfast times on it, which do not matter tonight. The curtains are heavy and close properly, which is rarer than it should be. The room is on the fourth floor, and the window looks out onto a street with one lit shop.
The bathroom light is off, and the fan has finally stopped. There is a bottle of water on the bedside table with the cap already loosened. The carpet is the colour of weak coffee and absorbs every sound.
Let your hands be completely still. Let your forearms get heavy and warm.
Feel your heartbeat somewhere far away. Notice your hips, wide and settled.
The pillow is slightly too soft, and you fold it in half, which fixes it. A tram goes past below, and you hear it before you see it.
Feel the weight of the blanket on your legs. Let the back of your neck lengthen out.
Notice any tension that arrived while you weren't looking. If a song is stuck in your head, let it play in the background.
Feel the weight of your head on the pillow. Let your thumbs rest where they landed.
The words can start to blur now. Let the dark be ordinary.
Let the breath be the only thing you are doing. Just the weight. Sleep.
Nothing here asks anything of you socially.
That is the end of the story. Sleep is the next part, and it does not need instructions.
12 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for travel, anonymous.