Sleep story · travel, anonymous
Sleep story: a hotel room somewhere, when you are short on time — for the hours after a late shift
A room you did not choose, in a city you do not have to know.
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 bed has been turned down, and the sheets are cool on the side you have not been lying on. Nobody in this city knows where you are, and that is restful. The curtains are heavy and close properly, which is rarer than it should be.
Your case is open on the luggage rack, half unpacked. The bathroom light is off, and the fan has finally stopped. A tram goes past below, and you hear it before you see it.
Feel your cheeks let go. Feel the weight of your head on the pillow.
Your jaw can drop slightly. Let your teeth part. Let your thumbs rest where they landed.
There is a bottle of water on the bedside table with the cap already loosened. The air conditioning makes a low sound that you will stop noticing within a minute.
Let everything you were holding today stay on the floor beside the bed. Let your shoulder blades spread out and drop.
If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment. If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
Feel the top of your head relax into the pillow. Let the pillow take the whole weight of your head.
Let the thoughts come and go without you getting up to answer. Softer.
Let your breathing do the rest. You can stop listening properly. Let the room get slightly further away.
Pick this one when you are short on time.
I will stop here. The quiet will carry on without the words.
12 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for travel, anonymous.
If this story does not settle you, try A lighthouse at the end of a long day (a sleep story), when you have woken up too early — for an overtired night, Sleep story: a field under snow, when you have just finished work — for waking too early or Sleep story: a field under snow, when you are cold and want to be warm — for a night when you do not want to think.