Sleep story · quiet, books
A library at closing time, when you have been on screens all day — for a restless night
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 library closed twenty minutes ago, and the staff are working along the far shelves, switching off sections. The reading room you are in has one lamp left on, and it is the one above your table. The last of the day's light is going out of the high windows.
Everything here will still be here tomorrow. 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.
Let your thumbs rest where they landed. Your ankles can go loose now.
Feel your cheeks let go. Let your upper arms fall wherever gravity puts them.
The air smells of paper, dust and floor polish. Someone is pushing a trolley two rows away, and you can hear each wheel separately.
Your fingers can stop doing anything at all. Feel the top of your head relax into the pillow.
Now feel your whole body at once, lying here, being held up. Let your forehead go cool and smooth.
A book lies open on the next table, face down, which is technically not allowed. There is a trolley of returned books beside the desk, waiting to be put back.
If you're sleepy, sit up a little. Or let the sleepiness be there. Notice whether you're breathing or holding. Start breathing again.
Feel your wrists loosen. Let the space between your eyebrows smooth out.
You can stop listening properly. Nothing needs deciding tonight.
Almost nothing to do now. Let your attention settle somewhere low, like your feet. Follow the breath out, and let the next one arrive by itself.
After a day of screens, the eyes and the shoulders need this first.
There is nothing more to follow. Let the rest happen on its own.
14 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for quiet, books.
If this story does not settle you, try A library at closing time, when you have been on screens all day — for waking too early, The house after everyone is asleep (a sleep story), when you are somewhere unfamiliar — for a restless night or An attic room, when you are doing this for the first time — for jet lag.