Sleep story · quiet, books
Sleep story: a library at closing time
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 reading room you are in has one lamp left on, and it is the one above your table. Your own book is heavy in your hands, and you have stopped reading it. The windows are dark enough now to reflect the room back at you.
Everything here will still be here tomorrow. The carpet has flattened every sound in the building down to nothing. The clock above the door is the old kind, with a second hand that moves in small jumps.
Your jaw can drop slightly. Let your teeth part. Let your upper arms fall wherever gravity puts them.
Let your calves spread out and flatten. Feel your belly rise and fall without any help from you.
A book lies open on the next table, face down, which is technically not allowed. Someone is pushing a trolley two rows away, and you can hear each wheel separately.
Let your tongue sit heavy in your mouth. Notice how much of you has already stopped moving.
Your chest can be still now. Feel your cheeks let go.
The air smells of paper, dust and floor polish. The last of the day's light is going out of the high windows.
Notice the pull to make this mean something. It doesn't have to. Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
Let your thumbs rest where they landed. Let your forehead go cool and smooth.
Leave it there. Let the next part go past without you.
Let the quiet be boring. Nothing needs deciding tonight. Stay with the weight of your body.
Five minutes here is cheaper than an hour of grinding.
The end. Sleep well.
14 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for quiet, books.
If this story does not settle you, try Sleep story: a fire dying down, A fire dying down (a sleep story) for jet lag or A boat at anchor (a sleep story), if you are sceptical about all of this — for a racing mind.