Sleep story · quiet, books
Sleep story: a library at closing time, when you are doing this for the first time — 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
Your own book is heavy in your hands, and you have stopped reading it. The library closed twenty minutes ago, and the staff are working along the far shelves, switching off sections. There is a trolley of returned books beside the desk, waiting to be put back.
The clock above the door is the old kind, with a second hand that moves in small jumps. The reading room you are in has one lamp left on, and it is the one above your table. A book lies open on the next table, face down, which is technically not allowed.
Let the mattress take all of it. Let your tongue sit heavy in your mouth.
Feel your cheeks let go. Let your feet get heavy first. Heavier than they need to be.
The last of the day's light is going out of the high windows. Everything here will still be here tomorrow.
Let your toes stop holding on to anything. Your fingers can stop doing anything at all.
If you've lost track of where we were, you haven't lost anything important. You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
Let your forehead go cool and smooth. Your eyelids can be too heavy to open, and that is fine.
Leave it there. Nothing needs deciding tonight.
Let the thoughts come and go without you getting up to answer. Let the breath be the only thing you are doing. Let each breath be a little smaller than the last.
If this is your first go, stay with the plainest version of the instructions.
I will stop here. The quiet will carry on without the words.
12 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for quiet, books.
If this story does not settle you, try A field under snow — a slow story for the end of the day, when your attention is scattered — for a night when you do not want to think, Sleep story: the house after everyone is asleep, when you have tried everything else — for a racing mind or A caravan by the sea, when you are at home and cannot settle — for a restless night.