Sleep story · quiet, books
Sleep story: a library at closing time, when you are doing this for the first time — for an overtired 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
The clock above the door is the old kind, with a second hand that moves in small jumps. The windows are dark enough now to reflect the room back at you. The air smells of paper, dust and floor polish.
The library closed twenty minutes ago, and the staff are working along the far shelves, switching off sections. Someone is pushing a trolley two rows away, and you can hear each wheel separately. There is a trolley of returned books beside the desk, waiting to be put back.
Let your lower back sink down into the mattress. Let your thighs be as heavy as they want to be.
Let your ribs stop working so hard. Feel your wrists loosen.
The last of the day's light is going out of the high windows. The reading room you are in has one lamp left on, and it is the one above your table.
Let the back of your neck lengthen out. Let the pillow take the whole weight of your head.
Notice any part of you that wants this to be over. Notice if you've been frowning at your own thoughts.
Your fingers can stop doing anything at all. Let your shoulder blades spread out and drop.
Follow the breath out, and let the next one arrive by itself. Almost nothing to do now.
Just the breath. Let each breath be a little smaller than the last. Just the dark.
If this is your first go, stay with the plainest version of the instructions.
There is nothing more to follow. Let the rest happen on its own.
12 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for quiet, books.