Sleep story · travel, cozy
Sleep story: the night train, when you are too tired to try hard — for jet lag
Somewhere between two cities, in the dark, where nobody needs anything from you.
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 lights along the aisle are dimmed to the colour of weak tea. A station passes without stopping — a platform, a lamp, three empty benches, then dark again. Outside, the fields go past without anything in them you need to see.
There is one other person in this carriage, four rows up, asleep with a coat over their knees. Somewhere ahead of you, a door opens and closes with a soft, deliberate sound. The seat reclines one notch further than you expected it to.
Let your tongue sit heavy in your mouth. Let the mattress take all of it.
Notice how much of you has already stopped moving. Let your thighs be as heavy as they want to be.
The heating is on low, and the air smells faintly of clean metal and old upholstery. The window is cool against the side of your face.
Let your palms open if they were closed. Let your hands be completely still.
Feel the back of your knees soften into the bed. Your elbows can stop being hinges for now.
The train left a quarter of an hour ago, and the carriage has already settled into its own quiet. Every so often the wheels change their note as they cross a join in the rail.
Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again. Notice anything you're holding onto from earlier today.
Let your toes stop holding on to anything. Now feel your whole body at once, lying here, being held up.
Just the breath. You can stop listening properly.
Let your breathing do the rest. Stay. Let the next part go past without you.
Too tired to try hard is exactly the right amount of tired for this.
Let everything get quiet, including this.
14 paragraphs, roughly 2 minutes read slowly aloud. Written for travel, cozy.
If this story does not settle you, try A lake before dawn — a slow story for the end of the day, when you only have a few minutes — for a night when you do not want to think, A fire dying down (a sleep story), when you cannot concentrate on anything else — for winding down or A lake before dawn (a sleep story), when you need something unremarkable — for a restless night.