Sleep story · quiet, books
A library at closing time (a sleep story), before you go back to something hard — for winding down
The last hour, when the lights go down row by row.
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 carpet has flattened every sound in the building down to nothing. The last of the day's light is going out of the high windows. The library closed twenty minutes ago, and the staff are working along the far shelves, switching off sections.
A book lies open on the next table, face down, which is technically not allowed. Your own book is heavy in your hands, and you have stopped reading it. Everything here will still be here tomorrow.
Notice the places where your body touches the bed, and let them be heavy. Feel your heels sink a little into the mattress.
Let the space between your eyebrows smooth out. Feel the top of your head relax into the pillow.
Someone is pushing a trolley two rows away, and you can hear each wheel separately. The windows are dark enough now to reflect the room back at you.
Let your upper arms fall wherever gravity puts them. Let the mattress take all of it.
Let your tongue sit heavy in your mouth. Feel the back of your knees soften into the bed.
The air smells of paper, dust and floor polish. The reading room you are in has one lamp left on, and it is the one above your table.
Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it. Notice if you've been frowning at your own thoughts.
Your eyelids can be too heavy to open, and that is fine. Let everything you were holding today stay on the floor beside the bed.
Nothing needs deciding tonight. Let the next part go past without you.
Let your attention settle somewhere low, like your feet. The words can start to blur now. Slower now.
Five minutes here is cheaper than an hour of grinding.
The room is dark, the day is finished, and nothing is required of you.
14 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for quiet, books.
If this story does not settle you, try Sleep story: a fire dying down, when you feel restless rather than tired — for a restless night, A fire dying down (a sleep story), when you are doing this for the first time — for a restless night or A field under snow — a slow story for the end of the day, when the house is busy — for jet lag.