Sleep story · quiet, books
A library at closing time — a slow story for the end of the day, when the weather has kept you inside — for waking too early
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 last of the day's light is going out of the high windows. Everything here will still be here tomorrow. Someone is pushing a trolley two rows away, and you can hear each wheel separately.
Your own book is heavy in your hands, and you have stopped reading it. The clock above the door is the old kind, with a second hand that moves in small jumps. The library closed twenty minutes ago, and the staff are working along the far shelves, switching off sections.
Let your ribs stop working so hard. Let your breathing get slower without deciding to slow it.
Let the pillow take the whole weight of your head. Your ankles can go loose now.
The reading room you are in has one lamp left on, and it is the one above your table. There is a trolley of returned books beside the desk, waiting to be put back.
Let your forehead go cool and smooth. Feel one shoulder go heavy, then the other.
Your fingers can stop doing anything at all. Let your palms open if they were closed.
A book lies open on the next table, face down, which is technically not allowed. The carpet has flattened every sound in the building down to nothing.
If your mind is quiet, don't grab at it. Quiet comes and goes too. Notice the pull to make this mean something. It doesn't have to.
Let your thighs be as heavy as they want to be. Notice your hips, wide and settled.
Let the sound of this go soft at the edges. Softer.
Slower. Let your attention settle somewhere low, like your feet. You do not have to count them.
Bad weather is a decent excuse to stay in and do this.
No more sentences. Just the weight of you in the bed.
14 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for quiet, books.
If this story does not settle you, try A field under snow — a slow story for the end of the day, if you are tired of apps — for a restless night, A caravan by the sea — a slow story for the end of the day, when you are doing this for the first time — for winding down or A caravan by the sea, if you have done this a hundred times — for a restless night.