Sleep story · cozy, rain
An attic room — a slow story for the end of the day, when you have more time than usual — for a restless night
Sloping ceiling, rain on the roof a foot above your head.
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 rain changes intensity every few minutes and never quite stops. A carrier bag of shopping is still on the chair, unpacked. There is a dormer window with a deep sill, and a mug left on it from last night.
The bed is pushed into the low corner, which makes it feel like a den. The radiator is small and makes a ticking sound as it cools. The room is in the roof, and the ceiling slopes so steeply that you have to duck near the window.
Feel your cheeks let go. Notice how much of you has already stopped moving.
Feel your belly rise and fall without any help from you. Feel the weight of your head on the pillow.
The roof is holding, and the rain is outside, and that is the whole arrangement. The rain on the roof tiles is much closer and louder up here than anywhere else in the house.
Let your forearms get heavy and warm. Let everything you were holding today stay on the floor beside the bed.
Notice any part of you that wants this to be over. If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
Let your palms open if they were closed. Let the pillow take the whole weight of your head.
Slower now. Sleep.
The words can start to blur now. Softer. They will find their own way out.
This is the longer version, for a day with some slack in it.
I will stop here. The quiet will carry on without the words.
12 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for cozy, rain.
If this story does not settle you, try A field under snow, when you have tried everything else — for a restless night, The night train (a sleep story), when you are cold and want to be warm — for waking too early or A garden in the rain — a slow story for the end of the day, if you are new to this — for winding down.