Sleep story · cozy, rain
An attic room, when you are doing this for the first time — for the hours after a late shift
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
There is a dormer window with a deep sill, and a mug left on it from last night. A carrier bag of shopping is still on the chair, unpacked. The radiator is small and makes a ticking sound as it cools.
The lamp is on the floor beside the bed because there is no room for a table. The roof is holding, and the rain is outside, and that is the whole arrangement. The bed is pushed into the low corner, which makes it feel like a den.
Your ankles can go loose now. Feel your heels sink a little into the mattress.
Let your forehead go cool and smooth. Feel your heartbeat somewhere far away.
The room is in the roof, and the ceiling slopes so steeply that you have to duck near the window. The floorboards are bare and slightly uneven, and one of them always creaks.
Your jaw can drop slightly. Let your teeth part. Feel the top of your head relax into the pillow.
Let your breathing get slower without deciding to slow it. Your elbows can stop being hinges for now.
The rain changes intensity every few minutes and never quite stops. There is a box of things under the eaves that nobody has opened in years.
Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this. If you've lost track of where we were, you haven't lost anything important.
Let your toes stop holding on to anything. Feel your cheeks let go.
Slower. Nothing here needs following closely.
Stay. Just the dark. Slower now.
If this is your first go, stay with the plainest version of the instructions.
No more sentences. Just the weight of you in the bed.
14 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for cozy, rain.
If this story does not settle you, try A garden in the rain (a sleep story), if you are tired of apps — for a racing mind, A library at closing time, when you have already had a long week — for jet lag or A library at closing time — a slow story for the end of the day, after a long day — for the hours after a late shift.